Jealousy is an emotion that generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of:

  • Insecurity,
  • Fear,
  • Concern,
  • Envy over lack of possessions, status or something of great personal value.
  • And consists of one or more emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, helplessness or disgust.  

The central root of jealousy is that we are all looking for love, true completeness, and a sense of unity from a level of consciousness that can not reveal it.. But instead we are feeling a lack that feels impossible to be filled. 

To overcome jealousy and suffering we need to understand our true nature and find our soul.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”  —Jalaluddin Rumi

The problem is that we want completeness, but don’t know how to surrender ourselves to it. 
We want peace, but won’t give up our own personal self-made identity.
We want complete love, but then we resist it by blocking its flow by attaching to the false self, the Ego.

Jealousy is about being separated from our true source and identity. It’s a split from the oneness that we really are. By now you are probably asking, “OK that sounds nice BUT what does this mean and HOW can I get aligned with my true self?” 

Let me answer that with a question to you…

  • Who are you, really?
  • Do you think you are your name given by your family or a member of the country you were born in?
  • Do you think you’re a graduate of a certain college and a member of a certain profession working in a certain career?

 

These may be descriptions of your personality but how can something impermanent and transient be who you really are? They are clouds that blind us to the presence of peace, alive in the illusion of separation from God and others.

Many times we fail to quiet the mind and its incessant comparisons and never-ending thinking. Our mind has a false sense of separation from God and thus a false sense of being God, and this keeps us from loving anywhere near our potential. This relates to loving others as well as loving ourselves. 

When you eliminate these false  descriptions of who you really are  one-by-one, what then are you left with? Are you not  now left with the undefinable True Self or that part of you that is eternal and connected to all others and God?

It is the eternal witness within or the True Self.

This is the truth which once realized, will open the door to the peace that passes all understanding.

This process of finding out who you really are will help you strip away the defect of character known as jealousy.

To begin to become aware of your own consciousnes or aware of your own awareness is a big step in realizing who you really are. Just realizing you are here and awake or saying to yourself , “I am “will help free you from the attachment to ego grasping suffering.

According to the teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, “The axe to cut down the ego is through Self enquiry ,Who am I.” (Nan Yar)

Jnana yoga (yoga of self-discovery): This is the yoga of wisdom and knowledge and requires great strength of will and intellect. The mind is used to inquire into its own nature to transcend its identity with its thoughts and ego. This is a process of asking yourself a series of questions of “Who are you?”, “Who am I?” and one by one answering, “I am not this,” “I am not that,” until what you are left with is only pure awareness. This is one of the fastest ways to sense the sheaths covering the true self, eliminate the dominating thoughts  of the ego, and move toward Self- Realization. Bhakti yoga (yoga of devotion) to God is another powerful way to tear down the Ego and move toward Self- Realization. I have found these Yoga practices combined with Karma Yoga (yoga of righteous action/ helping others and living a virtuous life) to be a potent way of supercharging my spiritual practice, growing closer to God and liberating the soul.

The mind is drawn in by the senses (touch, feel, smell, sight, and taste), and we’re in this realm here on earth, and we feel like this is it—everything is so real, pressing and important—but again, the true nature of reality is that it’s not everything. Most of it is an illusion of perceptions causing us to be in a sort of sleep state of mind made attachments.

When we can stand back and observe the thoughts and impressions that go through the mind and become the witness to them and not be attached to them, we shine forth as the timeless infnite awareness. The Self, which is our true being or the soul, is that awareness. Instead of looking outward at objects, we observe that looking. We sense that we are connecting to the source of all existence, melting into one with the present moment, which is infnite consciousness, or God. Some may call it the supreme state. I have come to understand this to be Christ consciousness.

As a lover and believer in Jesus Christ, I have come to understand this teaching of Maharshi to be totally in line with Jesus’s teachings.

Gospel of Thomas 18 

The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us, how will our end come?” Jesus said, “Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death.”

So we need to surrender to God all of our defects of character such as jealousy as well as our false self. Learning to practice Self -enquiry will help us reach this truth.

YIELDING TO THE PRESENCE OF PERFECT LOVE 

What did Jesus mean when He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life”? 

What he is talking about is Christ consciousness. This was not a man talking, but the Spirit of Life talking through a man who had surrendered himself. The Hindus call it Atman, which is “in-dwelling God” and refers to the nonmaterial self that never changes. 

The ultimate goal is divine union with God or Jnani Yoga. In the sacred scripture of the Hindu Upanashads there is an  affirmation of  the divine within as Tat tvam asi, “Thou art That,”.  So enquire who am I ? Answer: Thou art that, awareness  witnessing awareness.

Our dear Lord Jesus the Christ knew this like no other that ever lived 

Contemplation:

Find a quiet spot to center your mind and settle into a meditative breath. Ask yourself: Who am “I” ? Listen for your deepest response without judgement. One by one eliminate all the things that are not permanent or are not who you really are. What you are left with is just your pure sense of “I am. Just sit and feel your own presence without words. Nothing else has to be done. Shortly you will arrive at your natural state of pure awareness.
Keep focused on that within you that knows you are until you become a witness to it. You are now standing  apart from your mind as the silent  eternal witness.

This is an introduction to the peace that passes all understanding.

Remember the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John 8:48-59

“Before Abraham Was, I Am”