Complete Self-Offering
Ātma-nivedana ('offering of the self') is the ninth and culminating mode of navadhā-bhakti — the act of offering one's entire self to the Lord without reservation. It includes: the body (kāyika), the speech (vācika), the mind (mānasa), the will, one's possessions, one's relationships, and ultimately the very 'I' that feels it is doing the offering.
Relation to Prapatti
Ātma-nivedana is the mode of bhakti that most closely resembles prapatti (śaraṇāgati). In fact, the aṅgī of prapatti — ātma-nikṣepa (depositing oneself), the principal act of surrender — is structurally identical to ātma-nivedana. The difference is one of context: ātma-nivedana can be a repeated, renewable act of devotion; prapatti is the once-for-all formal act of surrender that produces liberation.
Bali as a Model
King Bali, who offered everything — his kingdom, his wealth, and ultimately himself — to Vāmana (the Lord in disguise) is a celebrated model of ātma-nivedana. Even when his guru Śukra urged him to rescind the offer, Bali refused: 'My word has been given; what is mine is his.' This completeness and irrevocability characterize true ātma-nivedana.
Inner Transformation
The paradox of ātma-nivedana: in offering the self, one does not lose the self but discovers its true nature. The ātman offered to the Lord is received by the Lord as His own — and in that reception, the ātman is finally where it has always belonged: in relationship to its natural owner (śeṣī). The offering makes explicit what was always ontologically true.