I remember when this feeling caused me great suffering. For a long time I couldn’t understand why some people are born into good families and others into bad ones. Why are some beautiful and others not so much? Why do some people have more and more than they need, while others don’t have even the most basic necessities?
The world seemed absurd, and life was outrageously unfair. But attempts to balance these extremes have also failed to produce any results either in the long history of the world, or specifically as a very illustrative example of various political upheavals in our country. Neither by changing philosophy, nor by changing power, nor even by bloodshed, justice has never been restored. And the problem is that most of us cannot look into our previous lives, and therefore cannot understand the causes of our own suffering.
Why? It seems to me that if nature gave us a chance to remember everything, the universe would simply disappear, and our souls would not be able to develop through experience. It is possible that it is the apparent INJUSTICE that gives us the impetus to search for the truth. That is, life presents us with a task that we must solve, otherwise we will remain at the same stage of development or even go down even lower.
I would not like to delve into the evidence of the existence of past lives here, this can be found in many other sources. But if we still accept this theory as the basis, then everything immediately falls into place. It’s just that as a result of certain past accumulations, we have the current ones as a result. It’s the same as if you work a good job and you work well, then you will definitely get paid. So it is in the vast plan of the universe. Again, you can return to a very good example based on a well-understood phenomenon: if you sowed wheat grains into the ground, then thistles will not grow out of them.
What can we do to eradicate from our mind this terrible feeling of envy, which plunges us not only into suffering and generates negative thinking, but also contributes to the accumulation of worse karma, plunging into a bad fate. Why does it contribute? Because of envy, some people start hating, slandering, and clearly harming those who are more fortunate, which is even sadder. It is not for nothing that envy is one of the most serious sins. It is this feeling that destroys friendship and good relationships between people. As a child, it seemed to me that the better I taught myself in front of people, the more they would love me, but it turned out to be the opposite. When I successfully performed on stage, won contests and received prizes, I immediately noticed that I had fewer friends and like-minded people. But I also noticed that I wasn’t very happy about other people’s victories. At an older age, I discovered that talking about my successes when people ask you, “How are you?” is also not worth it. For some reason, such news immediately spoils the mood for some people. Sometimes it even seems that people ask this question to check if someone else has overtaken you in something. But the scariest thing is when people clearly start hating you and hurting you just because you stand out not because you want to stand out, but because you have qualities that others don’t. This is even sadder because by doing so they choose the wrong path, which not only will not lead them to their own growth, but will also kill all the small shoots of their past achievements. Although at the first stage they may get fleeting success. But this apparent success, by pushing others away and causing obstacles to others in one way or another, will be akin to a fire, which will undoubtedly burn down the things they need and they will remain in a broken trough. The secret is that we must learn to sincerely REJOICE in those who are smarter than us, those who are more beautiful than us, and those who are richer than us. After all, these qualities are the main signs of MERIT. Therefore, when we sincerely rejoice and even serve such people, we thereby fall into a single stream with him and begin to accumulate the same merits. And for the lazy, this is generally the best practice. It is enough just to sit and rejoice for those who do good deeds, and you will notice how the light in your soul will begin to increase steadily.
For example, when I stopped envying more successful people, but on the contrary created respect for them in the depths of my soul, I began to notice how I began to grow myself.
One day, an idea came to my mind. She may have visited others before, but she hasn’t lost her value. Once I heard from my Teachers the phrase that you can bring to God or Gods anything that you like, I also began to bring everything that I liked in others. For example, when I heard a beautiful voice, saw a beautiful appearance or beautiful clothes, when I watched a talented movie or play, or saw a beautiful photograph, I offered it all to the Gods. My soul rejoiced, precisely because I could bring them something that I really liked. But offering what you love is the most valuable thing. And over time, I realized that it’s even great when someone can be or create something better than me! It’s even very profitable!
Why is it profitable? Because when a person puts on beautiful clothes, I can enjoy the beauty of his clothes without buying them. When a person has a beautiful athletic figure, I can admire his body without spending a lot of time and money on training in sports clubs. When someone has created a work of genius, I can enjoy it with much less money, for example, just by buying a CD, ticket or book, but at the same time not sitting at night at the computer, not organizing a set for filming and not poring over recording studios, etc. After all, there is no difference who creates it all, me or others, the main thing is that you can enjoy it.
And one more small observation. When a person has a beautiful face, he can’t admire his beauty without looking in the mirror.… After all, it is much more convenient to admire the beautiful people who surround us.
Moreover, if we accept the theory that our environment is a reflection of my mind, then imagine how happy you can be when talented, intelligent and beautiful people appear next to you. All this may indicate that our karma is improving and our consciousness is becoming higher!
It will be even better if we allow someone to be better than us from our inner circle, help them advance and enjoy their successes, even if this person is not very sympathetic to us. This is one of the very powerful practices to overcome clinging to your self, to destroy your own selfishness, and to take control of your feelings and emotions.
If we become capable of such a move, and our soul remains at peace, then we can confidently say that we have risen high on the spiritual ladder. But don’t forget that if we’re proud of it, it will all turn into self-deception.
Spiritual practice is an interesting thing because it gives us a rich stream of inner observations and experiences. It is very difficult to recognize the play of our mind and ego. But this is the best game, cooler than all the computer games combined, because here our opponent always disguises himself as ourselves, hides in our own mind, justifies all our negative actions, and it is not an easy task to identify him.
