Gita 09.27 – Bhakti accommodates seekers at multiple levels

We will accept that offering and we will move closer to him.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … it so whereas 9.26 the focus was on devotion in terms of that being the motivation for the offering here offering is almost like a afterthought that means that person is already interested in doing that thing but then oh I should be doing this for Krishna so you say this is a this is not at the same level as 9.26 the intention is not devotional but the devotion is an afterthought here but still anyway that one is connected to Krishna that is good so Chakravarthipada calls this as Karmamishra Pradhanibodh Bhakti so he classifies Bhakti broadly into three categories Kevala Bhakti which is pure devotion, Gunibodh Bhakti is devotion in which the influence of the modes is more than 50% and Pradhanibodh Bhakti is devotion in which is mixed in devotion in which the devotion is more than 50% so here Yathkaro, Shirasana, Siddha so basically talking about various kinds of activities so you say this is Karmamishra Bhakti it is because the offering thought of offering is coming later which the offering is there so it is Bhakti and because offering is afterthought so it is a Karmamishra Bhakti now apart from such technicalities the important point is that Krishna is saying you can offer to me so there is a difference of course that Krishna in the previous verse says that I will accept that offering I accept that here Krishna doesn't give any assurance like that I accept that but we have to understand that rather than saying that Krishna doesn't accept or Krishna rejects, we have to understand that acceptance can also be at multiple levels the connection with Krishna is not like rigid logic yes on a moment to moment basis sometimes you are in Maya, sometimes you are in Krishna but overall in our life we are connected with Krishna at different levels of connectedness so when the offering is with devotion the connection is much more intimate whereas when devotion is an afterthought the connection is not quite that intimate but still Krishna is not banning the offering because of the lack of devotion so we see the accommodating nature of Krishna in both ways over here one is that materially even if what we are offering is insignificant then if we just offer with devotion he accepts but then what if we feel that we don't have devotion what to do Krishna says still with whatever devotion intent you have even if that is or whatever devotion you have even if devotion comes as afterthought that's also fine just offer to him thought of offering itself comprises devotion because if a person had absolutely no devotion then that person would not even think of offering anything to Krishna arpanam, offering involves a certain amount of sacrifice Sacrifice, the word comes from the Greco-Roman root which is sacralize, sacralize means it's a little sacred that means to make pure so sacrifice is to sacralize that means when we sacrifice something we make it pure so in the previous verse Krishna used the word prayatatmanah prayatatmanah refers to one who is a pure soul so those who are pure they have devotion in their heart because devotion is the natural inclination of the pure soul for those who don't have devotion then offering itself is an act which kindles devotion and that way one moves onwards closer to Krishna so either because of a pure heart we offer that's one way the other way is that by offering our heart becomes pure so in this way there is a symbiotic relationship between offering and devotion that what we offer becomes sacred that's what Krishna is talking about not only does it become sacred, the offerer also becomes sacred by that Krishna has talked about this twice first in general spiritual term in 4.24 when he said that when he has the vision to see all the ingredients of yajna as spiritual then that person also attains spiritual consciousness and that same theme Krishna talked about in 4.24 when he had not talked much about himself he used the generic spiritual term Brahma but by the 9th chapter he has talked quite a bit about himself so he uses more specific first person reference in 9.16 when he says the same thing but instead of Brahma he is using Aham yajna so he is saying that actually all the ingredients of yajna one should see them not just as sacred but one should see them as manifestations of them so here in 9.17 when Krishna is saying so at this stage one sees one's activities as different from Krishna but as afterthought one offers them to Krishna but still because at one level of manifestation all those activities are also Krishna so by contact with him in the prelude to Vishnu Sahasranama it is said that the absolute truth is the purest of the pure and is the most auspicious of all auspicious things so by connection with that absolute truth one moves onwards on the path of purification so whereas in the previous verse there is already purity in the intention and the result is the acceptance of the offering whereas here the purity is the result of the offering it is not the cause of the offering it is the result of the offering Krishna is magnanimous enough to say that whatever you are doing you offer it to me and in this way stay connected with me thank you.