And they [Sanatana and Rupa] divided the money in this way: 50% for God… Whatever they accumulated, they set aside 50% for God or God’s service. God means God’s service. God is not want of your money. (chuckles) He is quite competent to earn money. He doesn’t require anything. But if we give, it is our interest. It is our interest. So he set aside 50% of his accumulated money for God, 25% for the relatives, family members, and 25% he kept in some village banker or the original bankers, for emergency.

So that was the system. We can see from great sages and acaryas that whatever we earn… According to Bhagavad-gita, it is said, yajnarthat karmano ‘nyatra. Whatever you earn, yat karosi yaj juhosi. The result of your work should be offered to the Supreme. Now, if it is not possible to offer the whole thing to the Supreme, so at least one should offer 50% of his income for God’s purpose. That is the example we get from these acaryas.

So 50% for God, 25%… Of course, the relatives, they expect something from the father or the chief of the family, some, I mean to say, gift. They expect something. But according to these acarya rulings, the gift was only 25%, not that whatever money I have got, I leave to my family and go singlehanded to God. Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham. If God asks you, “What you have sacrificed for Me? You have come to Me.” “No Sir. I have sacrificed everything for my family. For my family.” That is not good. That is not yajna. Yajna means… Now, if you cannot spare your money separately for God’s service, then you can engage yourself in God’s service and expend the money for God’s service. Don’t offer your money in other’s hand, but you spend yourself for God’s cause. That will make you perfect. Yajnarthat karmano ‘nyatra.

Srila Prabhupada; Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 3.8-11, New York, May 20, 1966