152
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 6, Ch. 9]
vakti —teaches;  ajñāya —unto a foolish person not conversant with the ultimate goal of life;  karma —fruitive activities;  hi —indeed;  na —not;  rāti —administers;  rogiṇaḥ —unto the patient;  apathyam —something unconsumable;  vāñchataḥ —desiring;  api —although;  bhiṣak-tamaḥ —an experienced physician.
TRANSLATION
A pure devotee who is fully accomplished in the science of devotional service will never instruct a foolish person to engage in fruitive activities for material enjoyment, not to speak of helping him in such activities. Such a devotee is like an experienced physician, who never encourages a patient to eat food injurious to his health, even if the patient desires it.
PURPORT
Here is the difference between the benedictions awarded by the demigods and those awarded by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. Devotees of the demigods ask for benedictions simply for sense gratification, and therefore they have been described in  Bhagavad-gītā  (7.20) as bereft of intelligence.
kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante 'nya-devatāḥ taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā
“Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.”
Conditioned souls are generally bereft of intelligence because of profound desires for sense gratification. They do not know what benedictions to ask. Therefore nondevotees are advised in the  śāstras  to worship various demigods to achieve material benefits. For example, if one wants a beautiful wife, he is advised to worship Umā, or goddess Durgā. If one wants to be cured of a disease, he is advised to worship the sun-god. All requests for benedictions from the demigods, however, are due to ma-