MenoSundays; Live Lived Lovingly

Now we come to the final word in the series on the 'shatripuu' - the six enemies of personality which anchor us the mire of life. Here is the story so far:
Part One - structure
Part Two - the effort
Part Three - kaama/desires

Part Four - krodha/anger

Part Five - lobha/greed

Part Six - moha/attachment/delusion

Part Seven - madaa/arrogance etc

Maatsarya is envy, jealousy. Here is an example of there being only one word in Sanskrit for which there are two in English!

Quite often, though, these two words are used interchangeably. However, in psychological terms, there is a straightforward distinction. Envy is the feeling which arises when we see another person with something we desire, be it an object or a talent. Jealousy is the feeling which occurs when we have something already, but we perceive a threat to our relationship with that thing from a third party. As a -very- rough guide, envy can occur for people, objects and non-material things, while jealousy, almost always, takes place where people are involved. 

Going a little deeper, it could be said that envy strikes because we feel a lack of the thing about which the feeling has developed. Jealousy strikes when we feel something we have might be taken from us. Envy is mostly an intellectual disturbance, but jealousy can develop into emotional and even physical expression. Most times, envy does not engender negative reactive behaviours (although it can in rare cases), but jealousy often results in spiteful reactions of varying degrees, or emotional meltdowns.

Very often, envy and jealousy travel together. What kind of rival to your partner’s affections is likely to create jealousy? It is the rival with characteristics that you are likely to envy—that is, the attractive rival. This means that when you are feeling jealous, you are often feeling envious as well.

Most of us, I am sure, can admit to having envy every now and then. In the majority of cases, it is a passing moment, a prick in the psyche. "Oooh what a lovely jacket, I wish I had that!"... "Gosh, XXXs hair is gorgeous, why can't I have that?"... it comes in and then it passes away. Unless we own up to it, most of the time folk will not know that are envious of them. Also, envy rarely lingers to warp our personality.

Jealousy, however, tends to register on our features and flow through our words. It is hard to disguise! What is more, it tends to fester.

Thus, maatsarya is mostly translated as jealousy, as that is the more obvious and problematic emotion. 

That completes our look at the list of six - next, bringing it all together.