Animal Sacrifice – Who stands to gain?

Imagine a man who wants to win the Divine’s favour, or that of some god or other, some deity, in order to obtain something very selfishly personal, something he desires and finds it hard to get; and so he snatches a chicken from his yard and goes and cuts its throat before the deity, with his prayer, perhaps for a good harvest or the good sale of his harvest, or for a child if he doesn’t have one, or that his wife may be cured if she is ill – anything at all. And then imagine that this evolving psychic particle, already like a tiny spark in semi-consciousness – not even semi-consciousness – the rudiment of consciousness which is in the chicken, goes straight to the Divine who magnifies it; while the man who has offered the chicken to obtain some benefit or other is not even heard.
Most probably, this is what happens. So the one who has truly gained in this business is the chicken, not the man!

Ref: Questions and Answers 1956