Jealousy and responsibility

We can avoid thinking ill of others if we feel that we are only responsible for ourselves. We should not waste our time thinking, “Oh he is not doing this, so he is not dedicating himself to God.” Nor should we think, “Oh, he is so devoted, the Master is so pleased with him!” We do not know who is dedicating himself to God or whom the Master is pleased with. We can only know about ourselves. When we die, at that time God will never ask us any questions about anybody else. He will ask us, “What have you done for Me?” If we speak about what others have done or not done, God will say, “Am I asking you questions about others or about yourself?”

If we spend our time cherishing negative thoughts about someone — jealousy, doubt or anger — then we are making that person our Guru. We should be very careful of how much time we spend in thinking of others and how much time we spend in thinking of the Supreme. If we waste time thinking of others with our doubt, jealousy, anger, and other negative forces and try to pull others down, then we will never make any progress in our spiritual life.

In order to avoid being a victim to others’ negative thoughts and jealousy, we have to consciously meditate on divine Peace, Strength and Power. When we invoke Peace from above, then that Peace is our protection. When we invoke Light, then Light is our protection. But if we do not consciously meditate, if we do not aspire, then even if we are innocent, protection will not be available to us. There are many sincere people on earth who have a sense of moral duty and who are leading a pure life. In order to have protection, both purity and sincerity are extremely necessary. But beyond purity and sincerity what one needs is aspiration. So we have to be wise. We have to meditate, for our meditation is our protection.

If we want to make progress, we should not criticise anybody or speak ill of anybody. We have enough problems of our own. When we criticise someone, we are trying to bring forward the problems that are being shouldered by him. Let us not criticise, let us strive only for our own perfection.

We should be responsible for ourselves and let others be responsible for themselves. In this way everybody will have ample freedom to reach his goal. Once he reaches his goal, he sees that his goal is the same as others’ goal. But sometimes in our spiritual life a most deplorable thing takes place. We feel that our goal is not the right one and others’ goal is the right one. Therefore we try to change our goal. By constantly changing our goal we arrive at no goal. Others, too, have the same feeling. They feel that our goal is the real one, whereas their goal is a false goal. Therefore they try to change their goal again and again but arrive at no goal. We start criticising them because we feel that they have misled and misguided us. But we cleverly forget that it was we who wanted to follow them on our own. They, too, criticise us when they realise that they have achieved nothing by following us. They criticise us for our wrong guidance. But they cleverly manage to forget that it was they who followed us on their own.

Again, there comes a time while we are walking along the spiritual path when our hearts become large and compassionate, loving and illumining. At that time we not only claim others’ achievements as our very own but also claim their imperfections as our very own, for we come to realise that if we want to become integral and whole, we cannot leave them aside because of their imperfections. We cannot ignore them and ignore their achievements out of sheer jealousy. No, we cannot do that. We love their Source, the Supreme. Just because we love the root, we have to love the entire tree: the trunk, the branches, the flowers and the fruits. This is the realisation that our Inner Pilot grants us. Again, the same realisation their Inner Pilot grants them. Needless to say, our Inner Pilot and their Inner Pilots are one, our outer realities must needs be one and inseparable. Together we fly into the skies of God-aspiration. Together we enter into the fields of God-manifestation.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Three strangling sisters: fear, jealousy and insecurity, Agni Press, 1974
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