Here in this material world, everyone is envious of someone else. Even in religious life, it is sometimes found that if one devotee has advanced in spiritual activities, other devotees are envious of him. Such envious devotees are not completely freed from the bondage of birth and death. As long as one is not completely free from the cause of birth and death, one cannot enter the sanatana-dhama or the eternal pastimes of the Lord. One becomes envious because of being influenced by the designations of the body, but the liberated devotee has nothing to do with the body, and therefore he is completely on the transcendental platform. A devotee is never envious of anyone, even his enemy. Because the devotee knows that the Lord is his supreme protector, he thinks, What harm can the so-called enemy do? Thus a devotee is confident about his protection. The Lord says, ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham: [Bg. 4.11] According to the proportion of ones surrender unto Me, I respond accordingly. A devotee must therefore be completely free from envy, especially of other devotees. To envy other devotees is a great offense, a vaisnava-aparadha. A devotee who constantly engages in hearing and chanting (sravana-kirtana) is certainly freed from the disease of envy, and thus he becomes eligible to go back home, back to Godhead.