Talk to anyone who is spiritual and he'll preach the virtue of being free from desires. The strange thing, though, is that there IS a type of person who has stopped chasing his desires...and he is considered far from virtuous.
In fact, our man Tiru goes so far as to say that such a man has stopped trying to be virtuous as much as he has stopped chasing his desires.
Aran Aakkam vendaathaan Enpaan Piranaakkam penaathu azhukkaruppaan - Tirukkural
He who envies rather than praises another's success is one who neither desires virtue nor success - Loose Translation
The peril of translation is that sometimes things do not seem as clear unless explained. Like, 'neither desires virtue nor success' is pithy but seems unlikely. Where is the man who does not 'desire' success? But, the point here is that such desire is NOT accompanied by the determination to strive for it. I mean, it is all fine to desire to be the next Tom Cruise or the Roger Federer or whatever. You do not BECOME any of those by virtue of sitting at home and calling Cruise and Federer names, do you?
To envy the successful and to think of them as ill-deserving people who have somehow been crowned with success is not merely negative, it is counter-productive. Tiru says that if you have the will to succeed, it will also express itself in honest appreciation of those who have succeeded. After all, if a successful person is not seen by you as worthy of respect, why would you want to be successful?
Envy saps your morale and robs you of your determination. The feeling that luck favors the unworthy will stop you from striving...unless, of course, you think of yourself as unworthy as well.
The easiest way to abandon hope about succeeding yourself is to start envying those who have succeeded!
