Volume 7 - Prabhupada

Text 148] The Lord Instructs Srila Rupa Gosvami 327schools and hospitals. Whether one earns money for himself or for the publicbenefit, he is called a karma-ni$tha. Out of millions of karma-ni$thas there may beone who is wise. Those who try to avoid fruitive activity and who become silentin order to merge into the spiritual existence of the Absolute Truth are generallyknown as jnanis, wise men. They are not interested in fruitive activity but in merginginto the Supreme. In either case, both are interested in personal benefit. Thekarmis are directly interested in personal benefit within the material world, andthe jnanis are interested in merging into the existence of the Supreme. The jnanismaintain that fruitive activity is imperfect. For them, perfection is the cessation ofwork and the merging into the supreme existence. That is their goal in life. Thejnani wants to extinguish the distinction between knowledge, the knower andthe aim of knowledge. This philosophy is called monism, or oneness, and ischaracterized by spiritual silence.TEXT 148t$wt·1lt'U