Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 7: Knowledge and Realization

Bhagavad Gita 7.22

sa tayā śraddhayā yuktastasyārādhanamīhate | labhate ca tataḥ kāmānmayaiva vihitān hi tān ||

Filled with that faith, they worship that form and obtain from it what they desire; yet those desires are in fact granted by me alone.

Modern context

The worshipper prays to a particular form and receives what they asked for. But the giver, Krishna says, is always him. Every gift, through whatever channel it comes, has one source. Think of rain reaching a field through a canal. The farmer thanks the canal, and he is not wrong; the canal did bring it. But the water came from the clouds. The verse invites us to see past the immediate giver to the source behind all giving.