So there is a process of worshiping the river Ganges. And what is that? After you take your bath, you stand up to your waist filled up with water and take little water from the Ganges water and you offer, “Mother Ganges, I am offering this respect.” This is the process.
Now, suppose you take a handful of water from the Ganges. What is the loss of Ganges water? And if you offer some handful of water in the Ganges, where is the gain? So this patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, a bit of flower, a bit of, I mean, a fruit and a bit of leaf, if you offer to the Supreme, do you mean to say He gains something? Or if you take it out of nature’s—you are taking so many things—is He in loss? So He has no gain or loss. It is for your interest. When God accepts, He says: “Yes, I . . .” Aśnāmi: “I eat.”
(661216 – Lecture BG 09.26-27 – New York)