Jñānāgni : The Fire of Wisdom

We may feel jealous of a successful person, but we are never jealous of the success of our own children, even though they are someone other than us. When we see ourselves in the other person, love comes naturally. And where there is love, there is no room for violence, hatred, enmity, or jealousy. Love is a substitute for everything, but there is no substitute for love. And when that love becomes divine, there is no further need to say anything!

— Swami Tejomayananda

Why is somebody glad when their own child is successful but jealous when somebody else experiences success? Isn’t it the feeling of ‘mine’ and ‘other’ that makes the difference? I am happy if ‘my’ child succeeds but jealous when some ‘other’ person is successful. If a child that is born out of you is your own, then we are all children of the same God and belong to one God. We are all born out of the same source, live in the same space, and in the end go back to the same source. Ultimately, we all dissolve into each other. Then where is the question of ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’?

Swami Vivekananda says,

If a beautiful picture belonging to another is burnt, a man does not generally become miserable; but when his own picture is burnt, how miserable he feels! Why? Both were beautiful pictures, perhaps copies of the same original; but in one case very much more misery is felt than in the other. It is because in one case he identifies himself with the picture, and not in the other. This ‘I and mine’ causes the whole misery.

— The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, vol. 1, p.101.

‘I’ and ‘mine’ and ‘other’ is the cause of all misery. Drop the feeling of ‘mine’ and ‘other’ and simply enjoy success, appreciate beauty wherever you find it, and you will become the embodiment of success and beauty! ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and ‘other’ is mere illusion. When you drop ‘I and mine’, the whole world becomes yours. Then what remains is the feeling of oneness, pure Love. And when there is Love, where is the room for violence, hatred, enmity, and jealousy?

See also, How to overcome jealousy, hatred, rivalry and ego consciousness?

“There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

“We want to lead mankind in the place where there is neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran; yet this is to be done by harmonizing the Vedas, the Bible and the Koran. Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of The Religion, which is Oneness, so that each may choose that path that suits him best.” ~ Swami Vivekananda

“The candles are many, but the light is one.” ~ Rumi

“Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is due to climate, temperament, and name. A lake has many ghats. From one ghat the Hindus take water in jars and call it ‘jal’. From another ghat the Mussalmāns take water in leather bags and call it ‘pāni’. From a third the Christians take the same thing and call it ‘water’. Suppose someone says that the thing is not ‘jal’ but ‘pāni’, or that it is not ‘pāni’ but ‘water’, or that it is not ‘water’ but ‘jal’, It would indeed be ridiculous. But this very thing is at the root of the friction among sects, their misunderstandings and quarrels. This is why people injure and kill one another, and shed blood, in the name of religion. But this is not good. Everyone is going toward God. They will all realize Him if they have sincerity and longing of heart.” ~ Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

“I came to the conclusion long ago … that all religions were true and also that all had some error in them, and whilst I hold by my own, I should hold others as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we are Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu … But our innermost prayer should be a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, a Christian a better Christian.” ~ M. K. Gandhi

“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.” ~ Albert Einstein

How to get rid of such negative emotions as hatred, jealousy, anger, etc.? We may be intellectually convinced that that these negative emotions are harmful to ourselves and everyone else, but we sometimes find that these negativities lurking around in our own minds. How do we get rid of these negativities?

Well, here’s a suggestion from God himself!

O noble soul, open thy divine sight and regard and honour all beings as myself. Wise is he who looks with an equal eye upon all beings, seeing the one indwelling God in the hearts of all. He who meditates on my divine nature as present in every man becomes free from rivalry, from jealousy, from hatred, and from the consciousness of ego.

— Srimad Bhagavatam: The Wisdom of God,
Translated by Swami Prabhavananda. p. 303

Indeed, we all come from the same Source, we all ultimately go back to the same Source, and it’s the same Source or God who lives in the hearts of all beings and expresses Himself (or Herself or Itself) variously. The expressions themselves may be beautiful or distorted, but they keep changing, they are not fixed or eternal. God, the indweller,  outlives everything else, and He alone is the one eternal existence. When I recognize that the same God who lives and works through me lives in and works through the other person too, there is no question of hatred or jealousy in me. In fact, the other person is just another expression of myself, he/she is a mirror reflecting an aspect of myself and helps me discover myself. Only when we forget the oneness of existence and give too much importance to the differences, that’s when these negative emotions raise their head.

What happens when somebody else hates you and attacks you? When somebody attacks you, it’s reasonable for you to defend yourself, it’s perfectly okay to defend yourself. But even then, remembering the oneness of existence and acknowledging that the other person is the same as you in the core will prevent you from introducing further hatred. Further hatred on your part only escalates the problem, whereas when you look at the problem objectively, it always helps bring the situation under control and you can even help the other person overcome his hatred. This attitude has always worked for me. When I find myself having some problem with somebody, I internally acknowledge that we are both same in the core, it’s the same God who expresses himself through both of us differently. When I do this, the feeling of hatred immediately dies down even though the difference of opinion may persist for some time. Just that we both are looking at the same thing from different perspectives, the glasses might be of different colours, but it’s the same eye that looks through the different glasses. These differences are temporary, the clouds of misunderstanding has to pass, however dark they may be, however hopelessly overcast the conditions are, the clouds will disperse sooner or later, and suddenly, we find that the sun of understanding has always been shining resplendently. In fact, when you look at it from the perspective of the sun, the clouds have almost no existence at all!

Let me leave with you with a quote from Swami Vivekananda, who puts it in his own characteristically strong manner:

In one word, the ideal of Vedanta is to know man as he really is, and this is its message, that if you cannot worship your brother man, the manifested God, how can you worship a God who is unmanifested?