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In this material world, there are always politics, enviousness and jealousy. That is the nature of the material world. You cannot avoid it. The spiritual world is just the opposite: there are no politics, no jealousy or enviousness. That is the nature of the spiritual world.

But the material world means politics, jealousy, diplomacy, enviousness—so many nasty things. Now we are in the material world. So we see these things everywhere in the material world: politics, jealousy, diplomacy, enviousness. These material tendencies are there even in the animal kingdom.

Enviousness is due to the nature of material consciousness, material desire, lamentation, greed and jealousy. One person is envious of another. It doesn’t matter even if they are friends or family members. What to speak of enemies, there is envy even between husband and wife, the most intimate relationships.

But the Esoteric Teaching is not for the persons who are envious. It is designed to train people how to become non-envious. It is a very exalted scientific study of consciousness based on authorized Vedic sources of knowledge. It teaches us not to become envious.

Therefore the Esoteric Teaching, introduces in the very beginning the concept of dharmah projjhita-kaitavo atra [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.2]. In this Esoteric Teaching, kaitava-dharma, or the principle of cheating religion is completely eradicated, rejected, projjhita.

Just like you sweep and mop, carefully collect all the dirt from the room, and then throw it away. Similarly, any cheating type of religious system is thrown out from the Esoteric Teaching. This Teaching is pure. It is not a sectarian religion or exclusive spiritual teaching—it is for everyone. If there is jealousy, or exclusion of anyone, that is not real religion.

We should understand jealousy; what is the mechanism of jealousy? Jealousy means that even if you are the rightful owner of something, the jealous person won’t allow you to enjoy it. This is jealousy; try to understand it. Suppose you are rightful owner of something, and I am saying that “You don’t own it. I shall own it. Or somebody else shall own it. I shall not allow you to enjoy it.” This is jealousy. It is separatist, exclusive, unfair, based on envy.

So what is the rightful ownership, the birthright of the living entity? Each spiritual living entity has got the eternal right to live happily and peacefully under the protection of God. God is the universal father of all living entities. So everyone is equal in the sight of God, and everyone has a right to live peacefully and happily in God’s kingdom, which extends eternally everywhere.

Similarly, the duty of the government is to give security of life and property to everyone. That is good government. Good government provides security for everyone, not only for the human beings, but even for the animals. This is good government. The government should be equal to everyone, just like God is equal to everyone. The king or the government must be the representative of God. That is because the power of the executive state is derived from the power of God, for the protection of His children.

So whoever is able to give good protection, security for the life and property of the citizens, he should become the head of the government. The government should manage so nicely that everyone feels happy, that “We have got good government. There is no cause of anxiety. We have got sufficient food, sufficient protection, sufficient opulence, everything sufficient.”

That is good government. But people who are jealous should not be managing the government. How can jealous people give protection to the citizens? They themselves are jealous, prejudiced, envious. Jealous people cannot give any protection to the citizens. They are simply concerned with their party politics. They have no time even to think how to give nice protection to the citizens.

So this is the position of the materialistic person. A materialistic person knows that he is jealous, envious and sinful. A materialistic person knows that what he is doing is wrong, but he cannot stop himself. Just like a thief knows that if he commits stealing, he will be arrested, he will be punished. He knows. Because he heard from law books, and from other sources, and he has also seen that a thief is arrested by the police.

So there are two kinds of learning: by hearing and by seeing directly. One who is intelligent can learn everything simply by hearing from the right source; that is first-class intelligence. Another less-intelligent person, cannot learn by hearing, and must directly experience something before it becomes real to him. And third-class, unintelligent people do not learn anything even after repeated direct experience.

Our process of approaching the Esoteric Teaching is based on hearing. We are getting experience about the perfect knowledge, the destination of life, simply by hearing from the Esoteric Teaching. So this process is for the most intelligent person. In the beginning it is not possible to experience transcendence directly, but if one has got first-class intelligence, then simply by hearing and considering and thinking over it, he gets the experience. But those who are less intelligent, even though they get experience by hearing and by directly seeing, still, they cannot stop themselves from nonsense envy, jealousy and other sinful activities.

For example if you are fortunate in any way, certain people will be envious. Whether you are blessed by wealth, power, beauty, intelligence, ability, fame or even renunciation, there is always someone who wants to take it away from you, to destroy your enjoyment of your good fortune. This is envy, jealousy. This is human nature in material consciousness.

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