Bhagavad Gita 9.27

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

Translation of Bhagavad Gita 9.27

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform—do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.

Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

Thus, it is the duty of everyone to mold his life in such a way that he will not forget Krishna in any circumstance. Everyone has to work for maintenance of his body and soul together, and Krishna recommends herein that one should work for Him. Everyone has to eat something to live; therefore he should accept the remnants of foodstuffs offered to Krishna. Any civilized man has to perform some religious ritualistic ceremonies; therefore Krishna recommends, “Do it for Me,” and this is called arcana. Everyone has a tendency to give something in charity; Krishna says, “Give it to Me,” and this means that all surplus money accumulated should be utilized in furthering the Krishna consciousness movement. Nowadays people are very much inclined to the meditational process, which is not practical in this age, but if anyone practices meditating on Krishna twenty-four hours a day by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra round his beads, he is surely the greatest meditator and the greatest yogi. as substantiated by the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita.

Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

“Among all the types of bhakti you have mentioned starting with mention of the sufferer, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive and jnani, which bhakti should I perform?”

O Arjuna, because you cannot reject karma, jnana and other processes in your present state, and are not qualified for the supreme bhakti, kevala bhakti, and because you should not degrade yourself to perform the inferior sakama bhakti, you should perform bhakti, with a slight mixture of karma and jnana (karma jnana misra pradhani bhuta bhakti), but which is niskama. Krishna explains this in two verses.

Whatever you do, whether following rules of the Veda or whether it is worldy action, whatever you eat or drink in ordinary life, whatever austerities you perform, do it in such a way that it is an offering to me. One should call this neither niskama karma yoga nor bhakti yoga. The practitioners of karma yoga offer actions prescribed in the scriptures to the Lord, but not whatever 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, pranas and senses. The method of bhakti is stated:

kayena vaca manasendriyair va
buddhyatmana vanusrta-svabhavat
karoti yad yat sakalam parasmai
narayanayeti samarpayet tat

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 Narayana.” SB 11.2.36

“But when you mention that I should offer in sacrifice, that sacrifice is derived from arcana, which is an anga of bhakti, aiming at the pleasure of Visnu. And when you mention austerities, it means vows such as ekadasi fast. This is all ananya bhakti. How can you say that it is not?”

True, but ananya bhakti does not mean that you perform an action and then offer it to the Lord. Rather, the action is done simultaneously with the offering to the Lord. This is mentioned by Prahlada when he says iti pumsarpita visnau bhaktis cen nava-laksana kriyeta bhagavaty: this bhakti of nine types offered to the Lord should be performed for the Lord. SB 7.5.24

Sridhara Svami has explained this Bhagavatam verse. “In ananya bhakti, acts first 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 kevala bhakti, since the acts are performed and then offered.

Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:

9.27 Whatsoever worldly work you do for the sustenance of the body, whatsoever you set aside for the sustenance of the body, whatsoever Vedic acts, obligatory and occasional, like offerings, charity and austerity you practise — do all that as an offering to Me. ‘Arpana’ is offering. Do all acts, secular and Vedic, as if the doer, the enjoyer and the worshipped were all offerings to Me. The import is this: The divinities etc., who are the objects of sacrificial worship, charities etc., and you, the agent and experiencer — all belong to Me and have their essence, existence and actions dependent on Me. Thus only to Me, the supreme Principal (Sesi) and supreme agent, offer everything — yourself as the agent, experiencer and worshipper, all the host of divinities who are the object of worship and the sum of actions constituting the worship. Actuated by overwhelming love, contemplate yourself and other factors such as the objects of worship, as dependent on Me as My Sesas, and hence as of a nature that finds delight only in subservience to Me.

Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:

When one performs yagna or rituals of propitiation and worship as offerings to the Supreme Lord one must collect many special ingredients such as sandalwood and ghee which is clarified butter from a cow. These items are not always easily available so Lord Krishna accepting even some water and a leaf from His devotees is already merciful compassion. But now He is declaring that His devotees who always adhere to the regulations and injunctions of the Vedic scriptures should offer everything they do, all actions including their thoughts should be performed with the heartfelt intention that they are a humble offering to the Supreme Lord.

Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:

Since the Supreme Lord Krishna loves His devotees and is prepared to accept what they offer to Him. Let such devotees offer to Him the first of whatever is propitious, righteous and pure.

Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:

How wonderful and marvellous is the Supreme Lord Krishna’s relationship with His devotee. That He the Supreme independent autocrat of all existence, the absolute controller of all creation will accept and enjoy the most simple things like a leaf or flower and He accepts it wholeheartedly. Now it should be made clear what is this rare quality possessed by His devotees that gives them the privilege of becoming His devotee. In answer to this Lord Krishna emphasises with the words yat, yad and yaj meaning whatever and whichever. In other words all that one does in accordance with the regulations and injunctions of the Vedic scriptures whether they are natural or prescribed, whatever is eaten, whatever is prayed for, whatever is performed as a daily obligatory rite or an occasional special ritual, everything should done as an offering to the Supreme Lord. The conclusion is the rare qualification to become a devotee to Lord Krishna is that they completely surrender themselves totally to Him including all sense of doership. Dedicating their lives to Him as the means and the goal the ultimate attainment they are resolute in the understanding that He is the absolute controller of every action that manifests in all of creation and the sole rewarder of all karma or reactions to actions in this life, the next life and all future lives. So with this clear comprehension fully understood they devote themselves to bhakti or exclusive loving devotion dedicating everything to Him.

Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:

9.27 O son of Kunti, yat-karosi, whatever you do, what comes spontaneously; [Actions such as walking etc. that are spontaneous,not injunctions of the scriptures.] yad-asnasi, whatever you eat; and yat-juhosi, whatever you offer as a sacrifice, whatever sacrifices you perform-be it prescribed by the Vedas or by the Smrtis; yatadadasi, whatever you give-gold, food, clarified butter, etc. to Brahmanas and others; and yat-tapasyasi, whatever austerties you undertake; (all) tat, that; kurusva madarpanam, you offer to Me. ‘Hear what happens to you when you act thus.’

Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:

9.27-28 Yat karosi etc. Subhasubha – etc. Because the performers of sacrifices intending other deities have in their mind only limited purpose, and [hence] belitle the [principal] result [of the sacrifice etc.]; therefore all [actions] you should offer, by the method advised above, to Me i.e., consider them to be absorbed in Me (or to be born of Me). This is the renunciation-Yoga. Extensively it has already been made almost quite clear.

Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:

yat karosi yad asnasi
yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kurusva mad-arpanam

Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:

yat — whatever; karoṣi — you do; yat — whatever; aśnāsi — you eat; yat — whatever; juhoṣi — you offer; dadāsi — you give away; yat — whatever; yat — whatever; tapasyasi — austerities you perform; kaunteya — O son of Kuntī; tat — that; kuruṣva — do; mat — unto Me; arpaṇam — as an offering.