Stop bringing useless offerings (stop animal sacrifices). Incense horrifies Me. I cannot see the crime with the solemnities. When you extend your hands, I turn My eyes away from you. Even though you multiply your prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.

Who sacrifices an ox, strikes a man. He who sacrifices a lamb, breaks the neck of a dog. Whoever presents an offering and sheds pig's blood, all these delight in their ways and their souls find pleasure in their abominations, I too will take pleasure in their misfortune, and I will bring upon them whatever causes their fear, because I spoke, and they did not listen.

If I was hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine and all that fills it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls?

Do I drink the blood of goats?

The Lord adds:

For I love godliness, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

[For more on this subject, consult the book: “Do not kill, nor eat the flesh of animals”]

What's the real sacrifice?

The only sacrifice that man knows and that God strongly condemns is the one which consists in taking the life of an animal, and where a beast is slain in honor of a Divinity. God forbids this sinister sacrifice.

The real sacrifice is not the one where an animal is slain, no, the real sacrifice is the ceremony through which we seek to please God, the Supreme Person, to please Him.

Every human being must seek to know if God is satisfied with his behavior, with his actions. In other words, all of our actions should work towards the satisfaction of the Lord. Each of us should be concerned with whether Krishna, God, the Supreme Person is satisfied with his actions. Activities aimed at the pleasure of the Lord are prescribed in the holy scriptures, and performing them constitutes a sacrifice.

In other words, acting for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, Krishna, is called sacrifice. We must act only for the satisfaction of the Lord. This action takes the name of devotional service, and it is free from all karma. To act in the conscience of God amounts to making sacrifices.

Man must sacrifice his time and his money for the satisfaction of the Supreme Being. Action should be offered as a sacrifice to God, lest it bind its author to the material world, which is a world of suffering.