Envy, What Is It Good For?

Well, here I am writing again.

My ideal is to dedicate this journal to the retelling of stories from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but I’ve been encouraged to keep writing. I honestly feel that I’m at a stage in life where articulating my thoughts is helpful for myself. This is only true if I can avoid pretence. So I’d like to be vulnerable here and present my lack of qualification to serve in any role other than “fellow sojourner on the spiritual path”. If I’m bound by the ropes of sensual attraction, how can I untie others? So that’s not where I’m coming from with this. I can say, however, with complete honesty that I’ve been blessed to experience sort of a “loosening” of those ropes – at least enough to encourage me that I’m, indeed, on the right path. From this perspective, I open up for you the contents of my heart. Use with discretion, it’s not all perfect in there.

For most of my life, I’ve been painfully aware of this tendency that, from time to time, rears its ugly head. Envy, known as dveṣam in the Sanskrit language, is an intrinsic problem for the embodied soul that runs far deeper than just occasionally coveting someone else’s situation. I feel that, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, I’ve made some progress with becoming less envious and can share my thoughts for your consideration, even if it just serves to reinforce your own understanding.

Some people just want to see others fail so that they can somehow feel more “right” or be able to rest smugly with the passive-aggressive thought, “Just see.” It’s an unfortunate predicament that, at a glance, can be characterised by a snivelling sort of cowardice. But my observation is that there is a deeper situation in the heart that gives rise to envy. It runs deep in our psyche and can seem impossible to uproot. It is, however, manageable with some introspective insight from the sacred Vedic literature, some regular spiritual practice, and, above all, the company of those who aren’t governed by envy.

For starters, it helps to define envy as a symptom of the anxiety that accompanies any temporary identity with which we define ourselves or by which others designate us. Rather than see envy as something triggered by circumstance, we should begin to see it as a constant psychological driver in our words and actions. Most of us like to see ourselves as truly loving and giving individuals who live for the “we” and not for the “me”. This idealism, however beautiful a sentiment, does not in itself extract the deep roots of envy. But there is a solution. Please read on.

Envy, in my experience, ultimately comes down to dissatisfaction with ourselves. Or, more to the point, unfulfillment with our current idea of “self.” We are, in the purist sense, not our physical bodies or the various identities (upādhis) that stem from them. These personas are necessary in this world but are, by their very nature, temporary and subject to upheaval. This is a good thing. A child grows into adulthood and, hopefully, then into contemplative maturity. In some episodes of life, everything seems to be going our way; at other times, we may feel like the biggest loser. If we identify too much with either, we hop on the wild ride of misaligned ego and all the anxiety that comes along with it. We need a deeper and permanent identity that is not subject to the fluxuation of good/bad, happy/sad, respect/dishonour that are, by design, inevitable in our sojourn from birth to death.

We might be strong, beautiful, and fluid with social grace during some episodes of life, only to find that circumstances change and, often, in unpredictable ways that push us out of our comfort zone. One minute, we’re loved by all, and then one slip of the tongue destroys our public image, and we go to bed that night despised by the same people who previously seemed to celebrate our success. Such is the nature of envy. It’s brutal and ugly. It’s also a part of the temporary world in which we find ourselves embodied. What goes up, must come down. One living entity is food for another. We shouldn’t be so surprised.

So if envy is a result of misidentification, with what should we be identifying? The Vajra-sūcika Upaniṣad of the Sāma Veda, known in some circles as “The Doctrine of the Diamond Needle” deals directly with this topic in just eleven verses. It discusses who should be designated as a brāhmaṇa, or head of the Vedic social arrangement. After several rhetorical propositions, it concludes that it is not birth, knowledge, occupational activities, or performance of religious duties that make a brāhmaṇa, but any person who has attained direct perception of ātman, or the indwelling spirit of all beings. This supersedes any physical identity in relation to things such as gender, socio-economic status or intellectual ability. To identify with ātman is to understand that we are comprised of unlimited joy, are indivisible, and are immeasurable. It further states that this can only be known through direct experience, not intellectualisation or mental will-power. Thus, the social designation of brāhmaṇa is, in reality, for anyone who has been blessed with the understanding of … brahman. (brahma-bhūyāya kalpate –  Bhagavad-gītā 14.26)

It isn’t difficult to, at least in theory, identify with ātman. Ātman is eternal. Our bodies, and the identities that stem from it, are temporary. Matter is hard to deeply identify with because, on a quantum level, it’s very hard to even identify. Are we merely a composition of molecules, atoms and the subatomic particles from which they’re comprised? Or are we the covalent bonds and vibrational energy that holds the quantum realm together? If so, how are we any different from a rock also comprised of carbon and similar elements from the periodic table? It is the presence of ātman, or individual consciousness that ontologically differentiates us from the inanimate realm of matter.

This may come across as overly cerebral, but it is helpful to have an objective look at “self”. With envy, we have a case where philosophy can act like a medicine to help us look in the right direction.

In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa speaks to his dear friend Arjuna:

राजविद्या राजगुह्यं पवित्रमिदमुत्तमम् । प्रत्यक्षावगमं धर्म्यं सुसुखं कर्तुमव्ययम् ॥ २ ॥

rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ pavitram idam uttamam
pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam

This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.

What Kṛṣṇa is speaking about is the nature of ātman which is forever situated in the realm of divine love. This is who we are. There is no one like us, yet we are all of the same loving energy. The joy experienced from this self-realization will immediately unroot envy and its underlying dissatisfaction with ourselves, because ātman, by its very nature, is self-satisfied. We are lacking nothing. “The environment is friendly.”

Another Upaniṣad, the Kali–santaraṇa, recommends the most effective means to experience the inherent joy of ātman is to recite the sixteen-word mantra:

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

It is easy to chant, and can give tangible results after only a very short amount of practice. When we spend time in the pursuit of uncovering this identity, we gradually become accustomed to an atmosphere of love and complete satisfaction – where envy isn’t even plausible. Even the fragrance of our identity in this realm will displace all of our insecurities that give rise to such unnecessary things in the heart. We just have to want it.

स्वस्त्यस्तु विश्वस्य खल: प्रसीदतां ध्यायन्तु भूतानि शिवं मिथो धिया ।
मनश्च भद्रं भजतादधोक्षजे आवेश्यतां नो मतिरप्यहैतुकी ॥ ९ ॥

svasty astu viśvasya khalaḥ prasīdatāṁ dhyāyantu bhūtāni śivaṁ mitho dhiyā
manaś ca bhadraṁ bhajatād adhokṣaje āveśyatāṁ no matir apy ahaitukī

May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and may all envious persons be pacified. May all living entities become calm by practicing bhakti-yoga, for by accepting devotional service they will think of each other’s welfare. Therefore let us all engage in the service of the supreme transcendence, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and always remain absorbed in thought of Him.

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These words were not generated with or augmented by artificial intelligence; just “flawsome” human thoughts here … with, of course, due homage to The Algorithm that abides over us all.