This summary is about four verses of the Gita (Gita 9.26–29). Here the Lord tells us what is needed to worship Him.
The question is this: what does the Lord want, and what should a person do who can give only a small offering?
The answer in one sentence
The Lord wants devotion. The one who turns every act into an offering with that same devotion is accepted by Him, freed from the weight of results, and met by the Lord Himself.
The setting
Just before this, the Lord says that He is the enjoyer and master of all sacrifices (Gita 9.24), and that each person reaches whatever he worships (Gita 9.25). The natural question then comes: what is needed to worship the Lord? The answer is in verse 9.26.
In the previous topic, The Steadfast Devotee and Divine Care, the Lord carried the devotee's burden. Here the matter is handing over from the devotee's side.
The four verses in order
Verse 9.26: A leaf, a flower, a fruit or water
Whatever the devotee of pure heart offers with devotion, the Lord accepts.
These four things are within everyone's reach. No wealth, no rank and no special rite is needed. The way is kept so easy that nobody is left outside.
There is only one condition, and it is devotion. In the verse devotion comes twice, once in the feeling of the giver and once in the description of the gift. The leaf is only the carrier. What arrives is devotion.
The Lord says here, "I accept." There is nobody in between. And "pure heart" means a clean intention of the mind, not a proof of birth or rank.
Verse 9.27: Whatever you do, make it an offering
The Lord says: whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give and whatever austerity you practise, do it as an offering to Me.
In the earlier verse there was one gift, and here there is the whole day. The list holds the most ordinary acts and the most sacred ones together. Life is no longer split into what is "for worship" and what is "for the world".
Offering is not a new task. It is a way of doing the task. What you are already doing is itself to be made the offering.
The same teaching was given in the third chapter for the work of the battlefield (Gita 3.30). Here it opens out to the whole of life.
Verse 9.28: What bond it frees from
The Lord says that in this way you will be freed from the bonds of action that bear good and bad results. With your mind fixed in the yoga of renunciation, and liberated, you will come to Me.
The bond is not only of bad results. A good result also settles on the mind, as pride or as fear of losing it.
Here "renunciation" does not mean giving up action. It means handing over the claim "this is mine" on the action and on its fruit. The action goes on, and only this feeling falls away.
And at the end there is no emptiness. When the burden is laid down, the Lord is found.
Verse 9.29: Equal to all, yet near the devotee
The Lord is equal in all beings. None is hateful to Him and none is especially dear. But those who worship Him with devotion are in Him, and He is in them.
There is no conflict here. The difference does not come from the Lord's side. It comes from the devotee's turning. The sun falls on every courtyard alike, but the warmth is felt by the one who steps out from under the roof. And this nearness is from both sides: the devotee in the Lord, and the Lord in the devotee.
The four verses at a glance
In verse 9.26 the Lord asks for a small gift brought with devotion, and accepts it.
In verse 9.27 He asks for the spirit of offering in every act, and that same request spreads over the whole of life.
In verse 9.28 He asks that the claim on good and bad results be let go, and in return He gives freedom from the bonds of action and gives Himself.
In verse 9.29 He asks for worship with devotion, and while equal to all He stays near the devotee.
Offering in five kinds of acts
In doing, offering means saying inwardly before the work begins that this is the Lord's work. The first effect is on the quality of the work.
In eating, offering is a moment of remembrance. It keeps hunger from turning into greed.
In sacrifice and worship, the outer rite stays the same, but the feeling changes.
In giving, offering means giving as a duty and without hope of return (Gita 17.20). If you see the Lord in the one who receives, the feeling of "I gave" falls away.
In austerity, offering means that the austerity is for the Lord and not for show or praise.
One thing is common to all five: the act stays the same, but the mind that does it changes.
What changes when the fruit is handed over
The second chapter says that the right is to the work and not to its fruit (Gita 2.47). But merely saying "give up the fruit" leaves an emptiness inside.
Here the matter is not giving up but handing over. And to hand over, there must be someone to receive. That is the Lord.
The "giving up hope and the sense of mine" of the third chapter (Gita 3.30) becomes a living act here: placing them in someone's hands.
That is why the verse names both good and bad results. One who only wants to escape bad outcomes is not offering. He is defending himself.
The effect on worry and pride
Worry means holding the outcome in the mind. The Gita calls it fever (Gita 3.30). When the outcome is placed in someone's hands, there is nothing left to hold.
Pride has its root in "I am the doer" (Gita 3.27). With offering the fruit is no longer one's own alone, so there is no room left for swelling up.
Where else the Gita says this
Several more supports for the same teaching are found in the Gita.
In the third chapter we are told to fight after handing over all actions and giving up hope and the sense of mine (Gita 3.30).
In the fifth chapter it is said that one who offers his actions and gives up attachment is untouched by wrong, like a lotus leaf (Gita 5.10).
The twelfth chapter has a ladder (Gita 12.10–11). If the mind cannot be fixed, practise. If that fails, act for Me. And if that too is not possible, give up the fruit of action. The easiest form among these is handing over the fruit.
In the same fifth chapter the Lord is called both the enjoyer of sacrifice and austerity, and the friend of all without motive (Gita 5.29).
The eighteenth chapter speaks of reaching perfection by worshipping through one's own natural work (Gita 18.46). So the stage for offering is one's own work.
The sixth chapter says that for one who sees the Lord everywhere, the Lord is never out of sight (Gita 6.30).
In the fourth chapter the Lord says that He answers each person according to the way he comes to Him (Gita 4.11). The nearness of verse 9.29 is a form of this, not partiality.
And in the fourth chapter there is offering for the knower too, where the offering, the fire, the one who offers and the goal are all Brahman (Gita 4.24). So both paths, knowledge and devotion, speak the language of offering.
Four common misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is: any gift will do, whatever the feeling. But the condition is "with devotion". The thing is the carrier, and the feeling is what arrives.
The second is: offering means giving up work or ritual. The list holds both work and sacrifice. They are not to be given up. They are to be made into an offering.
The third is: offering the fruit means not caring about the outcome. The right is to the work (Gita 2.47), and the work is to be done first with the whole mind. What is let go is the hold on the outcome, not the quality of the work.
The fourth is: the Lord favours his devotees. He is equal to all (Gita 9.29), and the nearness comes from the devotee's turning.
Questions people ask
The Lord needs nothing, so how does He accept? For Him there is nothing left to gain in the three worlds (Gita 3.22). His accepting comes not from need but as an answer to love, as a father keeps safe the flower his child gives.
Are good results to be offered too? Yes (Gita 9.28). One who takes a good result as his own is bound just as much.
How do "each reaches what he worships" (Gita 9.25) and the leaf verse fit together? The first states a rule, and the second shows how small the price is within that rule.
Is the offering of the third and ninth chapters the same? Yes. In the third it is for the work of the battlefield, and in the ninth for the whole of life.
May one ask for something while offering? Yes. All four kinds of devotees are counted as noble (Gita 7.16–18). The thing breaks when the offering becomes a bargain.
Explain it in thirty seconds
The Lord wants not a leaf or a flower but devotion, and it reaches Him even through one leaf (Gita 9.26). But the request does not stop there. Whatever you do, eat, give or practise, make it all an offering (Gita 9.27). Offering is not a new task, it is a way of doing the task. It loosens the bond of both good and bad results, because the fruit is no longer "mine" but handed over (Gita 9.28). And in return the Lord Himself comes near. He is equal to all, but He becomes the very own of the one who turns to Him (Gita 9.29).