I was reading a commentary by J. Krishnamurti. This commentary was published in the book titled ‘Commentaries of Living 2 – Chapter 53 : Envy and Loneliness.’ The commentary follows his usual style of describing a natural, relatively calm setting and then he takes through the gamut of emotions – ambition, love, envy from the eyes of a young woman suffering from jealousy and wanting to find a solution – solution to do away with jealousy and be happy with what she has. Krishnamurti gently takes us to our childhood where the workshop of success and competition in our culture breeds jealousy and envy.

“ Envy is encouraged and respected, is it not? The competitive spirit is nourished from childhood.”

Dependence on another person – husband, family – leads to possession, says Krishnamurti. Is possession – love? So, does love and jealousy go together? Can we love anyone without being jealous?

We long to others/ attach ourselves with someone because of our fear of loneliness. The way to overcome jealousy, he says, is to stop criticizing ourselves for this emotion and rather analyzing why we react this way. This analysis according to Him, is meditation.