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Tag: nimitta

So enjoyable

In chapter 11 verse 33 of the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord uses the word “enjoy”.

Oh that’s great news isn’t it?

Because everyone thinks spirituality is boring and means the aspirant has to become boring as well. No smiling or laughing. Only sitting in a serious padmasana pose and meditating all day long. Know anyone who can really do this? Hardly.

That’s why the Lord is very clear. Do your duty well, and then enjoy the result. This is what he tells Arjuna in this outstanding shloka, “Therefore do arise and win glory. Conquering foes, enjoy the affluent kingdom. These warriors already stand slain by me. Be you only an instrument.”

Isn’t this just amazing advice? Don’t make your life boring and morose. Instead, do your duty, do not worry about the result, and have a grand gala time, enjoying the journey as well as the eventual result!

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Nimittas – part 1 of 3

There’s a branch of astrology called Nimmita astrology. Nimmita really means ‘instrument’. Astrologers that work on this principle look for cues from the world around us.

For instance, if someone were to come to the astrologer with a question, “Do you think my child will be a boy or a girl?”, and at that very moment there appears a young girl at the door, or the sound of a girl playing or laughing outside, the astrologer considers this ‘an expression of the Lord’ and the ‘girl’ in the scene as a nimmitta, i.e. an instrument, and makes his prediction.

Regardless of whether this approach works or not, Lord Krishna in the Gita asks Arjuna to be a nimmita of the Lord, i.e. to be an instrument of His. Are there any benefits to this? Absolutely, and life changingly so:

  1. No more stress, no more anxiety. Why? Because I am not doing the work. The Lord is working through me, and I am only the instrument. Then why would I be anxious?
  2. My 100% focus shifts from the result, to the quality of effort. Why? Because I am not doing some ordinary work (no matter what the actual work is), but rather the Lord’s own work!

A simple change in mindset and perception can make such a big difference! Putting this into practise isn’t easy. But the more we believe that we are indeed nimmitas only, the more this will make sense and the more life will become easier.

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