19-19. Overcoming Envy

Bhakta: How to get rid of enviousness in your heart? How to love everybody?

Bhakti Nandan Swami Maharaj: I’ll give you a basic answer in a simple way. Just by your own strong willpower, a positive, good willpower that you don’t want to envy others. You wish to become friend of everybody and just feel in a friendly way with all well wishes completely without enviousness. Just by conscious cultivation of that willingness to do that to be a full well-wisher, free from all enviousness, willingness to feel happy to see others’ advancement, development. With that one can be freed from temperament of enviousness, because the power of the good will of our own heart is a very important thing, it cannot be overlooked.

Power within ourselves, derived from the plane of the soul and supersoul, to do good to myself, to do good to others, such as to be free of enviousness and be happy, feeling greatly happy to see others’ advancement, other’s thriving, developing. We have atma and paramatma, we are spirit-soul backed by the power of supersoul within our existence. So, while we become sincere to wake up with our own good quality, quality of having kindness, compassion, love for one and all in relation to the Supreme Beloved lord. We can do that, we can help our self with that deeper power within us, superior ability within us. You just have to make effort to discover it. As we make effort we can have that – number one.

Aspect number two- by a conscious way of cultivating your goodness, being in the holy association, being in the company of the saintly people, saintly persons who are living their life in a mode of goodness, in saintly consciousness which is full of kindness, compassion, love. While we take their association that association also positively influences our mind and heart to be like them, to follow them, to be good like them. That is also very helpful. Association is very powerful, influence of the environment and the association we are living in are also very helpful to positively influence us, bring positive change, better change in us such as being free of enviousness. Therefore, it is said by wise men – men is known by his company, by his association, because all the time in our life we are greatly influenced by the environment and association we are living in, in a practical way.

Number three – be in a prayerful mood, be engaged in prayer to the Supreme Lord to help yourself while you’re trying (I’m not telling you personally, I’m just talking about principle), while we are trying to help ourselves and be good, better, the best. We should also engage in prayer for the higher grace, higher help from the Supreme Divine, to be successful, to be successful in being that, having that noble quality. Without prayerful temperament, without prayerful heart we cannot really do things nicely with our own limited ability. In other words, without a prayerful heart praying for the energy and power of the divine grace from the Supreme Divine we cannot accomplish things with our own limited ability, although we have great ability hidden within us, but we need to discover it; that ability also given by the Superpower. We need to discover that with the help of the grace of Superpower: self- awakenment as well as direct help of grace from Him or Her, Supreme Person, Supreme Being, Absolute Good of life, in other words we call Supreme Lord.

Also, side by side trying to work out on our own self, talking to our own self: What’s the gain of being envious with others? I don’t gain anything. We only have some burning in us. It’s very harmful. Not only harmful towards others, towards those I feel envious of, but it’s also very harmful to me, because it doesn’t bring any gain to me, rather it burns me. It brings some misery within me, I’m being burnt, burning in enviousness, it doesn’t do anything positive in my life. Rather If I become happy in seeing others’ advancement, development, then his character and his nature of flourishing can also influence me in positive way so that I can also become advanced and be like him. If I can appreciate his advancement, success, then through that appreciation I can become motivated to be like him, to make advancement like him, grow up, blossom like him. That would be good for me. I can talk to myself in that way.

While you appreciate others’ advancement, development then also you can be positively influenced by that mode. It could be helpful for you to be advanced, to have success. And talking to one’s own self : I gain nothing by being envious of that person, but if I have some friendly feelings toward him, then I can have some gain, not only being successful like him, but also through friendship. He or she can also be helpful to me, as I develop my friendship with him, I also get friendship in return. Friendship is always helpful, beyond the words, needless to explain further, instead of having animosity, having friendship is always better; then we can help each other in a friendly way, through friendly cooperations. That would be gain, but with enviousness – there’s no gain.

Besides, talking to your own mind and heart, develop kindness, compassion, love for one and all in relation to the Supreme Lord, Supreme Divine Good. When we feel compassion, kindness and love – what happens? I also gain the same, in reciprocation from them. So, both sides get mutual benefits, that is very gainsome. But if we don’t do, there is no gain in that, rather harm. If we don’t have those higher human qualities then our life flows in a lower way, instead of life flowing in a higher way it continues to flow in a lower way, in a lower mood, lower attitude, because, you know, we all have better self and lower self; better version of self and lower version of the self. So, talking to our heart and mind instead of being, living, flowing with my lower self. I should be with my higher self, best self of mine, with beauty and fragrance with higher, noble qualities of my own self, superself. There is so much gain, so much happiness that when I have love and compassion for others, in most cases I also have it back in mutual reciprocation.

Thus when we are compassionate with each other, love each other, then beautiful society is growing up with care, love and trust. But that has to be done again in relation to the Absolute Good, otherwise all our love and compassion, feelings of love remain very limited when it is detached, disconnected from the source of all that love and compassion, beauty, Supreme, Absolute Good. We need to that in the relation to the Supreme Good, Absolute Good, Supreme Lord, Supreme personality of all universal divine truth. Then, all our feelings, efforts, kindness, compassion for one and all are more successful, more worthwhile, more appropriate, more gainsome, because our compassionate love is now connected to the immortal, infinite divinity. Those qualifications are also qualified by the divine nature, divine power, divine grace.

So, our feelings of compassion and love for one and all, including my self-love, including the love for one’s own self , all became graced with this supreme power of grace of the Absolute Beloved, because when we understand that the Supreme God is non other than our own soul and supersoul it is possible for us to live our life because His or Her energy is present there as my life force, as vital power of my existence. Therefore, I am living, we are living. If there would be no such divine potency of the Supreme Lord in the form of soul and supersoul within us, we could not be living our life. So, somebody who has given us life, helping us to live our life, for whom today we are living and we can live our life. Who could be more beloved than Him? We can feel the utmost gratitude. We should have full gratitude, gratefulness, towards His or Her loving care for us to keep us alive, to maintain and sustain, nurture all life in many ways under His gracious shelter.

Therefore, all such noble human qualities such as kindness, compassion and love for one and all, love for one’s self, having an non-envious heart become graced, validated, ultimately qualified by some divine grace. Then all such noble human qualities in us see fulfillment in relation to this supremely fulfilling truth, highest fulfillment of life, in a relation to the supreme Absolute Good, the highest fulfillment of life, not disconnected from Him. That’s how we can do that.

(From the lecture in Nimaihuset, Sweden, 14th February 2019.)

Transcribed by Indulekhā devī dāsī