Bg. 9.27

“Among all the types of bhakti You have mentioned starting with mention of the bhakti of the sufferer, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive and jṣānī, which bhakti should I perform?” O Arjuna, because you cannot reject karma, jṣāna and other processes in your present state, and are not qualified for the supreme bhakti, kevalā bhakti, and because you should not degrade yourself to perform the inferior sakāma-bhakti, you should perform bhakti, with a slight mixture of karma and jṣāna (karma-jṣāna-miśra pradhānī bhūtā bhakti), but which is niṣkāma. [Note: This is predominately bhakti with some mixture of other elements. It is similar to karma-yoga because activities are performed, but it superior to karma-yoga and niṣkāma-karma-yoga because all activities, even beyond prescribed duties, are offered to the Lord without desire. It is similar to jṣāna-miśra-bhakti because the person has knowledge of ātmā and Paramātmā. But it is superior to jṣāna- miśra-bhakti because it has abundant appreciation of the personal features of the Lord. But because the consciousness is not always fixed on the Lord, the activities are offered after performance rather than before. Thus it cannot be classed as ananyā bhakti.] Kṛṣṇa explains this in two verses. Whatever you do, whether following rules of the Veda or whether performing worldly action, whatever you eat or drink in ordinary life, whatever austerities you perform, do it in such a way that it becomes an offering to Me. One should call this neither niṣkāma-karma-yoga nor bhakti-yoga. The practitioners of karma-yoga offer actions prescribed in the scriptures to the Lord, but not all of the actions they do in ordinary life. This view is accepted by everyone. The devotees, however, offer to the Lord all the actions of their mind, prāṇas and senses. The method of bhakti is stated: kāyena vācā manasendriyair vā buddhyātmanā vānusṛta-svabhāvāt karoti yad yat sakalaṁ parasmai nārāyaṇāyeti samarpayet tam 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.” SB 11.2.36 “But when you mention that I should offer in sacrifice, that sacrifice is derived from arcana, which is an aṅga of bhakti, aiming at the pleasure of Viṣṇu. And when you mention austerities, it means vows such as Ekādaśī fast. This is all ananyā bhakti. How can You say that it is not?” True, but ananyā bhakti does not mean that you perform an action and then offer it to the Lord. Rather, in ananyā bhakti the action is done after first offering it to the Lord. This is mentioned by Prahlāda when he says iti puṁsārpitā viṣṇau bhaktiś cen nava-lakṣaṇā kriyeta bhagavaty: this bhakti of nine types after being offered to the Lord should then be performed for the Lord. (SB 7.5.24) Śrīdhara Svāmī has explained this Bhāgavatam verse. “In ananyā bhakti, actions, first being offered to the Lord, should be performed, rather than performing the acts and then offering them later.” Thus, the present verse is not included in kevalā bhakti, since the acts are performed and then offered. [Note: Nor is it considered niṣkāma-karma-yoga because all acts are offered, not just prescribed duties.]