Как победить зависть: мудрость индийского поэта Кабира о природе человека

There is a beautiful verse by the Indian poet Kabir: “I went to find a bad person in the universe, and I found none.” All human beings are good. There are negative tendencies in people, but that is not their basic nature. It is only on the circumference. Why is someone behaving negatively? Because they are hurt inside. A happy, joyful and centred person will never want to harm anyone, not even an animal. The antidote to jealousy is knowledge. Know that everybody is going to die. You and the person whom you are jealous of are both going to die. There may be a little difference in time, but this is going to happen. So why waste your life comparing yourself with another? It is better to compare yourself with your own self. See how you were five or ten years ago and what you can become tomorrow. The very fact that you are a sane human being is something to be grateful for. When you feel jealous of someone, instead of putting them down in your mind, know that they may have done some good karma in the past and are now reaping its fruits. Let their success inspire you to create good karma for yourself. Develop a sense of belongingness with them. See them as a part of you. When there is a sense of belongingness, jealousy cannot remain for long because you do not feel threatened by the success of someone who is your own. You can also look at your own life and see how much you have that the other person may not have. There is always something to be grateful for. And when you look around, you will find so many people who have much less than you do. Gratitude immediately changes the way you see your life. Jealousy makes you look at what is missing; gratitude makes you see what is already there. And what should you do when others are jealous of you? First, do not take their jealousy too seriously. Praise them. Praise them even in superlatives. When you appreciate someone, you create a space of belongingness in them. Through your kind actions, let them know that they are not separate from you. At the same time, know that their feelings are temporary. All feelings and emotions are like passing clouds; they come and they go. In fact, the best thing is not to recognise another person's envy or jealousy at all. When you recognise a feeling as a reality and give it too much importance, you only allow that ignorance to grow. Why carry someone else's emotion in your mind? Let it pass. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna speaks about the many noble qualities and then says that these qualities are already within you. Just as in an atom the core is positive and negativity is only peripheral, our true nature is also pure and positive. Do not imagine that deep inside you there is sorrow, anger or jealousy. These are not at the core of your being. They are only on the surface. When you know this, you do not have to fight jealousy. You simply have to go deeper into yourself. As you become more centred, joyful and connected with your own being, jealousy naturally loses its grip. What remains is gratitude, belongingness and the simple joy of being yourself.