In the Vedic religion, there is a sequence to be followed when making an offering to gods and seeking their blessings for some tangible result:

1. विग्रहः - presence of gods (by invocation or being present in a temple, etc.).
2. हविः स्वीकारः - acceptance by the gods of the offering made.
3. तद्भोजनम् - its consumption by them.
4. तृप्तिः - satisfaction.
5. प्रसादः - blessings.

First, give, then only ask. People unaware of these rules go around making promises like:

• 'If I get this job, I will... to my kuladevata.'
• 'If I can buy a house before... I will visit Tirupati and offer... .'
• 'If I pass this exam, I will... .'
• 'If my daughter gets married in a good family, I will... .'

Gods don't get lured by these promises. On the contrary, the one who makes such promises will be doomed if they are not fulfilled. The rules are very stringent:

1. If the delivery of the promise is delayed by 24 hours, double the promise has to be fulfilled.
2. If the delay is three nights, then six times.
3. If the delay is 10 nights, it is sixteen times.
4. If the delay is one month, then it should be one hundred times.
5. If the delay is a year, then one thousand times.
6. Beyond a year, he goes to hell.

See how it works. Say the promise was to offer a sari to the kuladevi on getting a job. The clock starts ticking the moment the appointment order is received. If the promise is not fulfilled on the same day and is done after one month, 100 saris will have to be offered, and so on.

Some people are confused. Giving something to gods and asking for something— is it not like bribing? What do the gods need from humans? They have everything!

This is because you don’t understand how it works. Our scriptures clearly say that divinity exists in both saguna and nirguna forms. The omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God we are talking about, who doesn’t need anything, is the God in nirguna form. But in the saguna form, it is a different matter.

The Geeta says that Prajapati Brahma created Devas and Manushyas and told them to nourish each other through yajnas. Manushyas nourish devas through yajnas, and devas nourish manushyas through blessings in the form of everything required.

So, this is the rule of give-and-take in the saguna world, set by the divinity itself.

Why Does God Have to Do This?

Number one – it is a leela, a play for him. We never know whether there are actually reasons behind this play. But it is there, the leela is there.

You must have seen these movies where the director also takes up a role and acts, like a father or even the hero. When the director acts, even though he is the controller of whatever happens in the set and the movie, when he acts, he limits himself to the role of the actor that he is playing.

This is what God does. When he takes up the role of God in the saguna world, his rules become different.

It is easy for him to switch roles – between saguna and nirguna. But in this leela, God is also a perfect actor. When he plays the role of a saguna God, he becomes a perfect saguna God.

He expects you to behave, he expects you to fulfill your duties as a true devotee.

Offerings and Charity

People say, 'Why are you offering to God? He doesn’t seem to consume what you are offering. It is foolish. Give to the poor instead.'

That is a fact. God doesn’t take anything for himself. He doesn’t need anything for himself.

But take the case of Tirupati temple. Have you imagined how many lakhs of people are fulfilling their daily needs around that temple? How many families are running? How many children are going to school?

Do you know that thousands of small temples, without any income of their own, are being managed out of the collections received at Tirupati? Do you know that a good number of Veda Pathasalas are being supported by Tirupati?

This is all out of whatever you offer there. This is a system.

God teaches you how to give. When you give, you grow, you expand. When you take, you shrink. God is teaching you how to give, how to grow, how to expand beyond your self-centered life.

This is spirituality. This is spiritual growth.

If your concerns are centered around yourself and your small world, then you never grow. When you give, you grow.

Giving in charity has greater significance. You are also giving when you are paying after having food at a restaurant. But in that giving, there is something coming to you in return, right in front of you, which you can verify and assure yourself—that you got value for your money.

But in charity, when making a donation to a temple, for a good cause—there is nothing that comes back to you then and there. There are no instant results.

So, you will give only if you have confidence in the system. Confidence in the system of karma—that your deeds, both good and bad, will give you results. Good deeds will give good results, and bad deeds will give bad results.

When you do charity, this is your practical training, your experiment. If you are able to overcome your suspicion and do charity, that means you are growing, you are becoming more and more confident about God’s ways.

This is your practical training.

God’s System

Who has put this system in place? God himself, so that you can learn, you can grow.

He doesn’t need your money, or flowers, or garlands, or naivedya. You need them so that you can learn to give, learn to grow beyond your selfish obsessions and possessions, and grow into a bigger life.

This is spiritual growth. To have more faith in God. To have more faith in his system, which takes care of the needs of the whole universe.

So, coming back to your unfulfilled promises: the God is not just in the temple. He is also inside you. When you deceive the God outside, you are also deceiving the God inside you—deceiving yourself.

That is how you incur sin and suffer its consequences.

God doesn’t have to punish you, because you will be punishing yourself for lying to yourself.

The offender, the judge, and the executor of the judgment are all within yourself. That is how the system is intricately laid by divinity.