Radhanath Swami on Overcoming envy

A humble heart can appreciate what others are giving us. Can appreciate what others are doing. One of the greatest obstacles in creation is envy. If somebody does something better than us we become envious, or we become depressed. If I am doing something greater than others, we become arrogant or condescending. These qualities create a miserable state of consciousness. There can be no peace. There can be no true happiness because it’s a total disconnect from the heart, from the soul. Humility is not about being cowardly. It’s not an act of self-effacement. True humility is to have courage, to have confidence not based on our own egoistic identity of how I’m better or worse than others. True humility empowers us with a connection to God’s grace. And when we connect to that grace, we understand there’s a power beyond my own that could give me the intelligence, that can give me the skills to overcome obstacles. And when we have that connection, then we actually become a true well-wisher of others. We love to see other people succeed. We will do the best that we can but there could be no depression in humble heart. Because it’s not a matter of winning and losing, it’s a matter of serving. With a humble heart, we come out of the cave, a dark cave of our false ego where everything is about I, me and mine. In ancient myths there’s the dragon in the cave, and the dragon is usually protecting the gold and silver jewels or some beautiful ladies. And the dragon can’t really enjoy it, but won’t meant anybody else come near it. That’s really the state of everybody to one extent or another who is disconnected from the soul and from God. This ego is about I, me and mine. A humble heart means to come out of that dark ego to slay that dragon of greed and to actually know that in living in a spirit of appreciating the grace, the power of God and being an instrument of that power in our life, we can overcome depression, we can overcome arrogance we can overcome the ego with all of its cohorts. That is the beauty of a humble heart. And we could truly be courageous for the right things for what really enlightens us brings us closer to God and helps to bring others to true joy of life.