The strange aspect of jealousy

Cheeniya · Jun 24, 2007

Dear Meeta
That example of mountain is again very true. I have visited Badrinath and Kedarnath twice. While the van takes us upto a point very close to the Temple in Badrinath, Kedarnath involves an arduous climbing in a rarified atmosphere. The leader of the party always keeps telling us to keep our head down while climbing and not look at the steep path ahead of us as the sight can be very debilitating and make us more exhausted.

Even when a child is fed by the mother, she keeps telling the child that it is almost over and only very little is left!
Sri

Cheeniya · Jun 24, 2007

Dear Padma
I am happy that you have stepped into my forum and I do hope that you find my posts entertaining. I use my forum to share my six decade experiences at various stages of my life. I discuss my negative points and my failings mostly so that the younger members can ponder over these aspects in depth.
Sri

Cheeniya · Jun 24, 2007

Dear PS
Whatever may be the reason that makes us happy when we see that the power is off at our neighbours' houses too, it can be explained as jealousy or relief. I do agree with you that the sense of relief has a slight edge over the feeling of jealousy. But the way you look at it is the most practical one!
Sri

Cheeniya · Jun 24, 2007

Dear Sriniketan
I agree that blaming it on Vidhi gives us peace and makes us more philosophical. But that should come at my stage in life and not at such a young age! Vidhi can be a very easy way to explain our failures but it can never be a motivating factor
Sri

Cheeniya · Jun 24, 2007

Dear Sudha
That's a very thought provoking post. As you rightly say, envy is a milder form of jealousy. Envy can even be positive because it provokes us to do better. Jealousy can be debilitating as Vidya says and possibly can make us do bad things if it is allowed to grow to gigantic proportions. Most of the character assassinations we do, all the loose talk about others and our own crooked way of assessing another person's success are all manifestations of jealousy.

Having said that, I firmly believe jealousy can never force a person to do anything bad if he is basically a good person.

Envy is simple acidity but jealousy is chronic ulcer!
Sri

Cheeniya · Jun 24, 2007

Dear TDU
That is very good perspective and the example of professional jealousy that you have cited is universally true. If the man going for an interview fails to make it to the next grade, others not only feel happy but make some very sly comments about his incompetence etc. And if he succeeds, they may attribute his success to factors other than competence!
Sri

Manjureddy · Jun 25, 2007

Dear Cheeniyasri

Nice rumination over the " J "gene that all of us have.

But.....sense of deja vu. Same thinnai, same arattai, same subject...when was that ? Hmmmm. Sometime in January. Ah yes, your dear brother Varalotti had raised such a din with his bell ringing about the green monster. And elicited reams in response , about jealousy, envy, kann drishrti , unenvied Bill Gates and Onida neighbours etc. etc.
Coming in late, perhaps you dint hear it. But let me rub it in :twisted: :
He thought of it first ! ( in this site at least.)

Go on, be jealous !
Heh, heh, heh!

feeling like Nambiyar,
manjula

radhavenkatesh · Jun 25, 2007

honestly i am jealous
but i am not so jealous to snatch others things away )
i try my jealousy as a weapon to work harder and acheive wot all i want so sometimes jealousy isnt bad also
but yes its upto each individual to wot heights of jealousy one wud be
peep into our own self we all wud find a person sitting inside atleast in mind of mind to our own conscience we are all jealous and there is no saint amongst us. he who says who isnt jealous is trying to cheat upon his own self
somebody buys something we appreciate and congradulate them but end of the day we try to analyse it and compare it wth us and alteast try to think its not tht worth bcz we actually liked it or its not in our reach or we cant either afford it or we find it useless or we try to find n reasons to disqualify it .

chitrajan · Jun 25, 2007

Dear Sr. Sri,

As usual, a thought provoking subject.

Jealousy is an inbred characteristic in every human being and it is in our upbrining which decides wehther we allow it to be used in our life or show it in public.

But the peculiarity of this feeling is that it can be ingrained into a person by anyone and at any time. Even the most loving of hearts have been tainted by jealousy and the results have been catastrophic.

Attracted by superficial comforts and luxuries egged by the purchasing power in todays date, the present generation is more inclined towards instant gratification. Therefore jealousy stems in every area of life where one feels that the other person is more comfortable whether it is eating at home or even the simple joys which they feel deprived of.

Tamildownunder · Jun 25, 2007

Dear Cheeniya,

This is a very useful thread on a subject which is affecting the lives of many. I want to point out that it is the nature of comparison that is the root cause of jealousy. Comparison with friend, neighbor, relative, among brother-sisters and even among husband and wife are quite common. This tendency to compare was more among women in olden days when they were mainly as house wives. 'Aduthathu ambujathai paarthela ' is a very good example of that. Here in this thread Manjulareddy has proved my point by comparing this thread with similar thread by Mr. Varalotti ( btw I have nicknamed him as Vaara Looti(weekly fireworks)). I feel this topic is such a complex (jealousy itself is a kind of complex) one, no amount of Narathar Velai can stop this.

Regards,

TDU

P.S: hi, Manjula if you are nambiar I am MGR