Nimitta Bhav

Question: How to free ourselves from Karma, Swamiji?

Answer: As you do your daily duties, feel that you are only a witness of all that goes on around you... even your own actions. This is called Sakshi Bhav.

Your Soul is witnessing your actions. This is the method of Vedanta.

There is the other, easier, but equally potent method of Nimitta Bhav. Feel that the Divine is the real doer of all actions and that you are merely an instrument in God's hands. Your actions will be transformed into worship of the Divine. You will not be bound to those actions or the outcome of those actions. Work without expectation of any reward from those actions. Erase your ego. Root out the idea of agency. Feel, "I am not the doer". You will be then freed from the shackles of Karma. You will not accumulate new Karma.

Allow your Prarabdha Karma to work out in this lifetime and then you will attain Liberation.

- Swami Sivananda