The root of envy

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 14 March 2009, Stockholm, Sweden, Lecture)

We encounter so much envy in the world. Envy is a driving force which we really cannot ignore. We see different aspects of envy. There is the normal envy – the jealousy of a neighbour who wants what you have.

But also we see a different kind of envy, like the example of a wolf and a lamb. It is not that the wolf wants anything that the lamb has. It is not like that! He is not envious of the possessions of the lamb at all, he simply does not want to allow the lamb any existence because of his own feeling of dissatisfaction. The wolf takes it out on the weaker entity. The wolf has a feeling of hatred which comes from his own frustration, and he takes it out on someone else. Like that, envy exists in so many ways and in all kinds of relationships.