Why are people envious of each other?

Let's get deep into this What is jealousy? 

Why this plurality? Why does 'me' become 'we'? That is why the jealousy and anger are there. See 'M' and it has been inverted. The letter 'M' in 'Me' when inverted becomes letter 'W' in 'We'. 

And then, the entire life becomes inverted. The absence of 'I' is the root of jealousy and anger. This 'we', is the cumulative mind, the collective mind, the social mind, the comparative mind that lives in 'we', that lives in a tribe. Jealousy cannot be there without 'the other'. 

Jealousy is born out of comparison. Jealousy is born form a mind in which many, many are living. To say that there are many, means that they are different entities. And to say that there are different entities, means you have already compared them. Can you say that 'X' is different from 'Y' without comparing 'X' and 'Y'? 'We' means that different entities are present. And whenever there are different things, there would definitely be comparison and hence, jealousy. 

When the mind does not know the infinite and there are not many infinities, there cannot be many infinities, there is only one infinity. When the mind does not know the infinite, it lives in tiny-tiny, plural finites. All of these are measurable. The mind continuously keeps taking measure of all these. And because it is not living in the infinite, because it is living in its own limited sense of self, so it is afraid and it will compare. 

The only one who does not compare is the one who lives in the infinite. 

Now there can be no comparison, as infinity cannot be compared. Till the time you have any kind of estimation of yourself, you will compare. Do you have any estimation? 'Such is my height, such is my worth, so many marks do I get, this is the amount of money that I earn.' Till the time there is any bit of identification with this, till the time you have taken yourself as a quantity that can be measured, estimated, a number that can be attached to yourself, there is bound to be comparison, because numbers are meant to be compared. 

And where there is comparison, there is jealousy. Jealousy is nothing but the feeling to have a higher number. 'I need to have a higher number.' And you will always want a higher number till the time there is a number that is important to you. If your salary figure is important to you, you cannot avoid feeling jealous of someone who earns more than you. 

Do we see this? We always keep measuring ourselves in a thousand ways. Wherever there is a measurement, there is an assumption that you are a limited and a finite entity. And wherever there will be measurement, there would be comparison. And wherever there is comparison, there is jealousy. 

Jealousy comes from dependence. The one who is not dependent cannot be jealous. The one who is his own master cannot be jealous. To be jealous means that I have accepted somebody as my master and now I want this master to remain with me. If he goes to someone else, then I feel a certain pain, and this pain is called 'jealousy'. Do you get it? 

prashantadvait.com

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