It is a custom that when you approach the Lord, you take something with you; this is an act which people do when they go for the fulfilment of some desire, or the grant of Grace for realising some wish. They take patram, pushpam, phalam, toyam (leaf, flower, fruit, water), as the Gita says. The attitude is “I am jiva (individual); He is Deva (Lord)”. But, this is as bad a trick as some men do: bring one cow when we ask them for milk, and milk another to give us the milk. They give the Lord the leaf, flower and fruit grown on some tree, and then the reward of Grace goes to the tree, not to them! Give the leaf, flower, fruit that has grown on the tree of your life; the fragrant leaves of your mental resolves and plans, the sweet, juicy fruits of your own activities and thoughts. I know the relative value of these two; I require something that is your very own, not something bought in the bazar or grown on some tree or produced by someone’s intelligence or devotion and steadiness. God has given you ‘the heart’ to use in life; return it to Him as clean and as pure as when He gave it, after using it for storing love, peace, righteousness, and truth, and for distributing them to all who come in contact with you. – Divine Discourse, Oct 03, 1965