Envy means Not Liking
Giriraj Swami: One day in Surat when Srila Prabhupada was taking his massage, I asked, “How can we deal with envy?” I knew that I was envious, and I knew that envy was bad. Before I asked the question, I had been considering the subject, and I had come to the conclusion that there was no use in being envious, because Krishna is unlimited and Krishna’s service is unlimited and Krishna’s mercy is unlimited. If someone has some special service to Krishna or is getting some special mercy from Krishna, it doesn’t really prejudice my chances, because there’s unlimited service and unlimited mercy. But at the same time being envious was hurting my Krishna consciousness, so I asked Srila Prabhupada, “What to do with envy?” Srila Prabhupada replied by asking me, “Can you think of any reasons why you shouldn’t be envious?” I had already thought of many reasons so I said, “Yes.” Then Srila Prabhupada said, “To be envious of someone means that you don’t like that person. That ‘not liking’ should be directed against the demons that are causing so much trouble to the devotees and so much havoc in the world. That ‘not liking’ should not be directed towards the devotees.”
Remembrances of Srila Prabhupada by Sidhanta Das: Folio Vedabase
