Arjuna was playing the role of a karmi at first. He was saying, “I will not fight.” But Krsna told him that, “Oh, you must fight. Anyhow all will be killed anyways.” He thus began to give Arjuna some advice. First he told him, “Be a karma-yogi.” What is karma-yoga? This is not bhakti. Karma-yoga means only to have some relation, some connection with bhakti to karma. This is karma-yoga. All of our activities will have only a little connection with Bhakti-devi. This is called aropa-siddha-bhakti. This is only bhakti from very far away. All your activities are not really bhakti, but you will say that, “Oh, we are doing everything for Krsna.”
Why are we really doing it? “Krsna will be happy if we do this and He will give us a very good fruit for our activities and we will be very happy in this world.” This is karma-yoga, not bhakti. Then he told Arjuna, “You should be a jnana-yogi.” What is jnana-yoga?
arjuna uvaca
sthita-prajnasya ka bhasa
samadhi-sthasya kesava
sthita-dhih kim prabhaseta
kim asita vrajeta kim
-Srimad Bhagavad-Gita 2.54
[Arjuna said: O Kesava! What are the symptoms of a person whose intelligence is fixed in samadhi? How does he speak? How does he sit? And how does he walk?]
sri bhagavan uvaca
prajahati yada kaman
sarvan partha mano-gatan
atmany evatmana tustah
sthita-prajnas tadocyate
-Srimad Bhagavad-Gita 2.55
[Sri Bhagavan said: O Partha, when the jivatma gives up all material desires arising from the mind and when, with his mind thus controlled, he becomes satisfied by the blissful nature of the self alone, then he is to be known as sthita-prajna, a person of steady intelligence.]
yasya sarve samarambhah
kama-sankalpa-varjitah
jnanagni-dagdha-karmanam
tam ahuh panditam budhah
-Srimad Bhagavad-Gita 4.19
[He whose every action is free from hankering for pleasure, having burnt all fruitive desires in the fire of pure knowledge, is called a pandita by the wise.]
This is what? Jnana-yoga. What is the meaning of jnana-yoga? This is also aropa-siddha-jnana-bhakti. This is also aropa-siddha. This is not bhakti. We should try to give up both of these. But also jnana-yoga and karma-yoga is also such a high thing. If a man has attained the stage of jnana-yoga, he will never quarrel over anything. He will see any gain or any loss, no harm, no harm. Because both are perishable and we should not be involved in that. What he is doing, he is doing without any sankalpa. What is sankalpa? That, “I will be happy by doing this and I will gain something.” This should not be done. But a bhakta, he is more superior.
patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnami prayatatmanah
-Srimad Bhagavad-Gita 9.26
[If any pure-hearted bhakta offers Me a leaf, a flower, fruit or water with love and devotion, I will surely accept that gift.]
A karma-yogi will not give like this. A jnana-yogi also will not give this like. But a bhakta-yogi will give patram like Tulasi patram. Puspam, flowers. Phalam, any fruits. Toyam, any water. He will give all of these things with bhakti. Like how Vidurani gave to Krsna, like how Sabari gave to Rama, in this way. Although it is not such a high class of bhakti, but bhakti begins from here.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on December 20th, 1998, Bali, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 24]