Spirit of offering.

The Ch.9 of Bhagavad Gita has the very famous statement of the Lord as below:

patram puspam phalam toyam 
yo me bhaktya prayacchati 
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam 
asnami prayatatmanah

Lord says that ‘Whoever offers me with devotion, a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water – that I accept when offered by the pure-minded”.

Sw. Chinmayananda in his wonderful explanation of this powerful declaration by the Lord says that an offering can be perfect only when it is accompanied by two conditions: 1) Offered with devotion and 2) by the ‘pure-minded’. It is not what we offer, but how we offer that makes a true offering a great sacrifice.  Swamiji exhorts all to let our entire life be a constant offering onto Him who is in all, by changing our mental attitude. In all activities, we can remember Him if we act in a spirit of offering unto Him. All acts of perception and our reactions to our perceptions – be they physical, mental or intellectual- let us make them all a ‘devout offering unto Him’.

When all activities are performed in the spirit of offering, not only our love for Lord increases,  but also our entire life gets transformed to become sanctified with a nobler purpose and a diviner aim.  This attitude of offering to God makes us remember Him constantly, not in deep jungle or in a secret cave, but right in the middle of our life’s marketplace !

Hari Om.