152 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 6, Ch. 9
vakti—teaches; ajidya—unto a foolish person not conversant with the
ultimate goal of life; karma—fruitive activities; hi—indeed; na—not;
rati—administers; roginah—unto the patient; apathyam—something
unconsumable; vdfichatah—desiring; api—although; bhisak-tamah—
an experienced physician.

TRANSLATION

A pure devotee who is fully accomplished in the science of devo-
tional 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 physi-
cian, 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,
Visnu. Devotees of the demigods ask for benedictions simply for sense
gratification, and therefore they have been described in Bhagavad-gita
(7.20) as bereft of intelligence.

kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah
prapadyante ’nya-devatah
tam tam niyamam asthaya
prakrtya niyatah svaya
“Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto
demigeds and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship ac-
cording to their own natures.”

Conditioned souls are generally bereft of intelligence because of pro-
found desires for sense gratification. They do not know what benedic-
tions to ask. Therefore nondevotees are advised in the Ssdstras to worship
various demigods to achieve material benefits. For example, if one wants
a beautiful wife, he is advised to worship Uma, or goddess Durga. 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-
