Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 11: The Vision of the Cosmic Form

Bhagavad Gita 11.33

तस्मात्त्वमुत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व जित्वा शत्रून् भुङ्क्ष्व राज्यं समृद्धम् । मयैवैते निहताः पूर्वमेव निमित्तमात्रं भव सव्यसाचिन् ॥

tasmāttvamuttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṃ samṛddham | mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvameva nimittamātraṃ bhava savyasācin ||

Therefore stand up and win glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a prosperous kingdom. They have already been slain by me; be nothing more than the instrument, Arjuna.

Modern context

'They have already been slain by me; be nothing more than the instrument.' Nimitta-matra, merely the instrument, is one of the most important ideas in the Gita. Arjuna is not the author of what will happen; he is the means through which a larger order works. This does not remove his responsibility to act well. It removes the crushing weight of thinking that everything depends on him alone.