(Image Courtesy Mahanidhiswami)

Devotion Involves Dedicating All Our Activities To God And Experiencing Tremendous Separation If We Forget About Him

यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत् |
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम् || 9.27||

yat karoṣhi yad aśhnāsi yaj juhoṣhi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣhva mad-arpaṇam|| 9.27||

Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 9- Ver. 27:

Do all you do, eat, offer as an oblation to the sacred fire, bestow as a gift, and practise austerities as an offering to Me, O son of Kunti.

Explanation

Shree Krishna declared in the previous verse that all objects should be surrendered to Him. He now adds that all actions should be offered to Him as well. Whatever social responsibilities one has, whatever vegetarian food one consumes, what non-alcoholic beverages one consumes, what Vedic ceremonies one does, and what vows and austerities one observes should all be mentally dedicated to the Supreme Lord. People frequently segregate devotion from their daily lives, viewing it as something that should only be done inside the temple. Devotion, on the other hand, should not be limited to the temple room’s boundaries; it should be practiced at all times of our lives.
When efforts are dedicated and consciously surrendered to God, ordinary routines of daily life are transformed into divine service of God. Whatever one performs with one’s body, language, mind, senses, and intellect should be offered to the Supreme Lord Narayan in line with one’s specific nature. It must be done while executing the action itself, with the awareness that we are doing so for the Lord’s delight.

Verse & what we can learn

We already learned how to worship Ishvara with modest offerings such as water. We need to carry that spirit of worship into all of our deeds once we’ve gotten used to worshipping Ishvara at home and in the temple. To put it another way, we must learn to include divinity into our deeds. This shloka encourages us to treat everything we do as an act of worship to Ishvara.

Eating is the simplest and most common action we perform. Even eating should be thought of as a kind of worship. The food should be enjoyed with the mindset that it is being consumed in the service of Ishvara, rather than to satisfy our senses. Anything that causes us pain in the near term but benefits us in the long run is an act of penance. We may turn any action into a penance if we approach it with a worshipful attitude.

We can turn any deed into a penance if we approach it with a worshipful heart. Any action that demands a lot of effort and time can be turned into a sacrifice. If we have to work longer hours, we must give up our leisure time in the process. Those extra hours of labour can be viewed as a “yajna,” or sacrifice, offering.

What exactly is the justification for “divinizing” all of our actions? The concepts of doership and enjoyership, which are the two fundamental barriers to liberty, are becoming increasingly confused. We begin to think, “Ishvara did it, and Ishvara got the results,” rather than “I did it” and “I enjoyed it.” As a result, our stress levels and worries start to decrease.

To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.
There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There are also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.

Shri Krishna tells Arjuna in the next shloka the result of worshipful actions.

Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…