SB 10.81.4
patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnami prayatatmanah
Translation:
If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.
Purport:
These famous words are also spoken by the Lord in Bhagavad-gita (9.26); the translation and word meanings here are taken from Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
In the context of the current episode of Sudama’s visit to Dvaraka, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti has kindly continued his explanation of Lord Krsna’s statements: This verse is a reply to Sudama’s anxiety that his bringing such an unfit offering was ill-considered. The use of the words bhaktya prayacchati and bhakty-upahrtam may seem redundant, since they both mean “offered with devotion,” but bhaktya can indicate how the Lord reciprocates the devotional mood of whoever offers Him something with love. In other words, Lord Krsna here declares that His reciprocation in a pure loving exchange is not dependent on the external quality of what is offered. Krsna says, “Something may or may not be impressive and pleasing in its own right, but when My devotee offers it to Me in devotion, with the expectation that I will enjoy it, it gives Me great pleasure; in this regard I make no discrimination.” The verb asnami, “I eat,” implies that Lord Krsna eats even a flower, which is supposed to be smelled, bewildered as He is by the ecstatic love He feels for His devotee.
Someone might then question the Lord, “So, will You refuse an offering made to You by a devotee of some other deity?” The Lord answers, “Yes, I will refuse to eat it.” This the Lord states by the phrase prayatatmanah, implying “Only by devotional service to Me can one become pure in heart.”