According to our shastras, there is no envy or malice in the spiritual world. Everything there is happiness and pleasure. Conversely, the material atmosphere is built on envy. In a London lecture on the 18th of August, 1971 Srila Prabhupada said this about envy: “The whole world. Enviousness. I remember in, long ago, about sometimes in 1936, my eldest son in Bombay – he was in school – he stood first. So his class friends became envious that “Here is a boy, he is coming from Bengal, and he has stood first.” They wanted to fight with him. My son came and complained to me that “This is the position.” Just see. Children even are envious. You see. That means this is the nature of this world. If you prosper, then your brothers and your neighbors, your friends, will be envious.”
Srila Prabhupada on Enviousness