Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj explains the intention one must maintain along the path.
Our sambandha-jñān will help our abhidheya, our practice of devotional activities in general. Mahāprabhu says:
mathurā-vāsa, śrī-mūrtira śraddhāya sevana
sakala-sādhana-śreṣṭha ei pañcha aṅga
kṛṣṇa-prema janmāya ei pā̐chera alpa saṅga
A slight connection with these sādhanas can give you divine love. But sādhu-saṅga means sādhu-sevā. Nām-kīrtan means sevonmukha kīrtan [kīrtan with intention to serve]. Bhāgavat-śravaṇ means again sevonmukha [it must be practiced with the intention of serving]. Ādau arpita paśchat kriyeta [“First offer, then act”]. I am hearing Hari-kathā, Bhāgavatam, whatever. Who will be the receiver? Who will get it? My master. Not myself. What benefit I shall derive from Bhāgavat-śravaṇ [hearing Bhāgavatam] will go to my master. I am not a party to that. My master is the party. I am like his domestic animal. A domestic animal is fed and labours, but the product goes to the master, the owner, and not the animal.
archanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
iti puṁsārpitā viṣṇau bhaktiś chen nava-lakṣaṇā
kriyeta bhagavaty addhā tan manye ’dhītam uttamam
So Śrīdhar Swāmī particularises here: ādau arpita paśchāt kriyeta [“First offer, then act”]. You must keep a bond in your mind that whatever I shall acquire will go to my master. I am not the owner. I am not the party. With this attitude if we can approach śravaṇ, kīrtan, and any other forms of devotion, then our efforts will be devotion. Otherwise, they will be karma, jñān, or anything else. So we must be particular here, about the nature of our performance of devotional activities.
References
“As one does not worry about the maintenance of a sold animal, so one will not worry about maintaining oneself upon fully offering one’s body to the Supreme Lord.”