Verse 9.27

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 9.27:

यत् करोषि यद् अश्नासि यज् जुहोषि ददासि यत् ।
यत् तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत् कुरुष्व मद्-अर्पणम् ॥ २७ ॥

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat |
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam || 27 ||

yat–whatever; karoṣi–undertakings you make; yat–whatever; aśnāsi–you eat; yat–whatever; juhoṣi–you sacrifice; dadāsi–you give in charity; yat–whatever; yat–whatever; tapasyasi–austerities you perform; kaunteya–O son of Kuntī; tat–that; kuruṣva–you must do; mat-arpaṇam–as an offering to Me.

O son of Kuntī, whatever activities you perform, whatever you eat, whatever you sacrifice and give in charity and whatever austerities you perform, offer them all to Me.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Arjuna may ask the following question: “From the verse ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī (Gītā 7.16) till now, You have explained various types of bhakti. Which one of them should I follow?”

To remove Arjuna’s doubt, Śrī Bhagavān says, “O Arjuna, at present you are unable to give up karma, jñāna and so on, and therefore, you do not have the qualification to perform the topmost bhakti, namely kevalā-or ananyā-bhakti. And you do not need to perform the inferior and selfish acts of devotion performed with material intention (sakāma-bhakti), because your qualification is higher than that. Therefore, you should perform bhakti that is predominated by and mixed with karma and jñāna–niṣkāma-karma-jñāna-miśrā-pradhānī-bhūtā-bhakti.”

For this reason, Śrī Bhagavān is speaking this verse beginning with the words yat karoṣi, and also the next verse. “Whatever mundane or Vedic activities you perform as normal routine, whatever food or water you take daily, and whatever austerities you may perform, you should maintain the understanding that all of them can be offered to Me.” This, however, is neither niṣkāma-karma-yoga nor bhakti-yoga. Those who are devoted to niṣkāma-karma-yoga offer to Bhagavān only those actions prescribed in the scriptures, not the normal activities of day-to-day life. This is common. But devotees offer every function of the senses along with their soul, mind and life-airs unto their worshipable Lord. As it is said in a description of bhakti in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.36), “Whatever activities a devotee performs with his body, speech, mind, senses, intelligence and soul, or by dint of his own nature, are all offered to the transcendental Śrī Nārāyaṇa.”

The following question may be raised: If juhoṣi (the performance of sacrifice) is the same as arcana, a limb of bhakti, which is performed for the purpose of satisfying Śrī Viṣṇu, and if tapasya (austerity) is to perform the Ekādaśī fast, then why are these acts not considered to be ananyā-bhakti, exclusive devotion? In response Bhagavān says, “This is all right, but in ananyā-bhakti, actions are not offered to Bhagavān after they have been performed; rather, a person first offers them to Him and then performs the act.” As Prahlāda Mahārāja said:

śravaṇaṃ kīrtanaṃ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṃ pāda-sevanam
arcanaṃ vandanaṃ dāsyaṃ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
iti puṃsārpitā viṣṇau bhaktiś cen nava-lakṣaṇā
kriyeta bhagavaty addhā tan manye’dhītam uttamam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.5.23–24)

One who completely surrenders everything to śrī guru and Bhagavān, and having done so performs the nine limbs of devotional service such as hearing (śravaṇam) and chanting about Kṛṣṇa (kīrtanam), remembering Him (viṣṇu-smaraṇam), serving His lotus feet (pāda-sevanam), worshipping Him (arcanam), praying to Him (vandanam), becoming His servant (dāsyam), becoming His dear friend (sakhyam) and fully surrendering to Him (ātma-nivedanam) possesses topmost knowledge.

Here it is evident that bhakti is performed if one first offers these activities to Him, not that the activities are offered after they are performed. In his explanation of this verse, Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmipāda says that bhakti to Viṣṇu is performed while offering these activities to Him, not after. Therefore, the present Gītā verse does not culminate in kevalā-bhakti.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Here, Bhagavān speaks to His dear friend Arjuna, whom He is using as an instrument to teach humanity. His instruction is meant for those who are unable to take shelter of the most superior ananyā-bhakti as He has described it, and also for those who do not have a taste for performing a lower class of bhakti. Śrī Bhagavān is advising them to adopt karma and jñāna that is selflessly performed, in which everything is offered to Him and which is mixed with and predominated by devotion (niṣkāma-karma-jñāna-miśrā-pradhānī-bhūtā-bhakti).

When Kṛṣṇa says, “Whatever actions you perform, be they mundane or Vedic, offer them to Me,” a person should not wrongly think that he can perform any activity and eat and drink whatever he likes as long as he offers it to Bhagavān, and that there will be no defect. His actions will not necessarily be successful simply because, out of obligation, he offers all of them to the lotus feet of Bhagavān. An act may be prescribed in the Vedas for worshipping a particular demigod or it may be executed with a particular desire in mind, but it may not be actually offered just by uttering the mantra, śrī kṛṣṇāya samarpaṇam astu, like the materialistic smārtas do, who are engaged in mundane activities. For this reason, all commentators on this verse, like Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, have explained the deep meaning: one should act in such a way that all of one’s activities are offered directly to Śrī Bhagavān. In other words, only those actions that are performed for His pleasure should be offered. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.5.36) Devarṣi Nārada also says, “kurvāṇā yatra karmāṇi bhagavac-chikṣayā–the surrendered devotees only perform those acts for Bhagavān that are pleasing to Him.”

In his commentary on this verse, Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura shows the difference between the activities of a fruitive worker (karmī) and those of a devotee (bhakta). “A karmī only offers Bhagavān those activities that are in accordance with Vedic injunctions so that his desires will not go unfulfilled. Bhaktas, however, perform all their activities, whether mundane, Vedic or related to the body, with the feeling that ‘Bhagavān is my master, and it is for His pleasure that I am offering everything to His feet.’ This is the great difference between the two.”

This conclusion has also been confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.36) in the dialogue of the Nava-yogendras:

kāyena vācā manasendriyair vā buddhyātmanā vānusṛta-svabhāvāt
karoti yad yat sakalaṃ parasmai nārāyaṇāyeti samarpayet tat

In accordance with the particular nature one has acquired in conditioned life, whatever one does with body, words, mind, senses, intelligence or purified consciousness one should offer to the Supreme, thinking, “This is for the pleasure of Lord Nārāyaṇa.”*

While commenting on this verse, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda writes: “The activities of a devotee are performed with body, mind, speech, intelligence, false ego, heart and all the senses, but they should not be compared to the religious acts of fruitive workers (karmīs), which are performed for their own enjoyment. As a result of offering one’s actions to Kṛṣṇa as described above, one’s aversion to Him is gradually removed. Jīvas who are situated in their eternal constitutional position perform all their actions only for the purpose of serving Kṛṣṇa. If some pious fruitive workers who have spiritual good-fortune follow the ideals of devotees in a bona fide Vaiṣṇava lineage (sampradāya) and offer all their activities unto the lotus feet of Śrī Bhagavān, they quickly rise above karma-miśrā-bhakti, or devotion mixed with fruitive work, and are counted among the bhaktas.”

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “O Arjuna, now ascertain your own qualification. You are engaged in assisting Me in My pastimes, having descended with Me as a righteous hero; therefore, you can neither be counted among the neutral devotees in śānta-rasa nor the selfish sakāma-bhaktas, who perform acts of devotion for material gain. You will only perform that particular bhakti that is mixed with selfless action (niṣkāma-karma) and real knowledge (jñāna). It is, therefore, your duty to offer Me whatever austerities and other activities you perform. The conception of the materialists is to perform an act with material desires and then offer the activity to Me simply as a remnant. This conception is empty and useless. You should offer the action in the right way at its inception and thus perform bhakti.”