PURPORT

"O son of Prtha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible." Mahatmas, advanced devotees, worship only the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Others, however, who are also sometimes called mahatmas, worship the Lord as ekatvena prthaktvena. In other words, they accept the demigods as different parts of Krsna and worship them for various benedictions. Although the devotees of the demigods thus achieve the desired results offered by Krsna, they have been described in Bhagavad-gita as hrta-jnanah, not very intelligent. Krsna does not desire to be worshiped indirectly through the different parts of His body; Krsna wants direct devotional worship. Therefore a devotee who directly worships Lord Krsna through staunch devotional service, as recommended in Srimad-Bhagavatam, (tivrena bhakti-yogena yajeta purusam param), is very quickly elevated to the transcendental position. Nevertheless, devotees who worship the demigods, the different parts of the Lord, receive the benedictions they desire because the Lord is the original master of all benedictions. If anyone wants a particular benediction, for the Lord to award it is not at all difficult.