“The mallika plant is a small plant, and when the sun rises he thinks, “Oh, if my flower will come like that in a bigger form then I shall be very happy. When will my flower be like the sun?’ That kind of hankering is good … but if you do not get it then no enviousness will come.”
In Vaishnavism enviousness will not come. This is the best quality of a Vaishnava. If some enviousness will come you cannot feel good in any way. You will not be considered a good Vaishnava. If you see someone is enriched with spiritual property you will dance to see that, enjoy with him, and you will try to increase and develop your faith to your Guru. That is natural in spiritual life. If it will not come to you, you must feel you have some deficiency in faith. Your hankering must be there, “I want to be like that or more than that”, but enviousness will not come.
sūrya-pāne ye thāke mallikā-mukula
kata dine habe mukha ata baḍa phula
The mallika plant is a small plant, and when the sun rises he thinks, “Oh, if my flower will come like that in a bigger form then I shall be very happy. When will my flower be like the sun?” That kind of hankering is good. “My flower will also be like the sun, a big sun-flower.” Hankering is good, but if you do not get it then no enviousness will come.
Śrīmad Bhāgavat started from this point.
dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām
(1.1.2)
[“(This Srimad Bhagavat) completely rejects all cheating religion (and will be appreciated by) the supremely non-envious sadhus.”]
“What is inside of this book”—some identity is given here. Dharma, projjhita, kaitava, atra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām. The param dharma, supreme religion of the jiva-souls, is stated in this book, and not only that, those who have no enviousness and very great attachment for Lord Krishna are always tasting this book.
And,
vedyaṁ vāstavam vastu atra śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
This is the next stage. Vedyaṁ vāstavam vastu: reality the beautiful is explained here in Srimad Bhagavat. Vāstava vastu means reality. Atra śivadam means beautiful and giving our super benefit.
Spoken by Srila Gurudev on 24 August 1998 in Soquel, California, USA