# Leela Square 12: Envy (eirsha) Meaning

Square 12 in Leela is Envy, eirsha in Sanskrit, and it holds the first snake of the game. A player who lands here falls from square 12 down to square 8, Avarice. Harish Johari says envy is felt when one has reached a higher plane by chance and feels unworthy. It asks what you envy and what that reveals about your own desire.

## Meaning

Johari writes: "Envy is the first snake of the game. Its bite brings the player down from the second chakra to avarice." He gives a subtle cause. Envy arises when a player has reached a higher plane through karmic chance, without yet feeling equal to it, and so looks at others with a sense of being less.

The Sanskrit eirsha (irshya) means envy or jealous resentment. Unlike greed, which wants things, envy looks at people: their gifts, success, ease. Behind it, Johari suggests, lies a feeling of unworthiness. That is why envy drops the player back into avarice, greed mixed with spite, in the first row.

Envy sits in row 2, The Realm of Fantasy, linked with Svadhisthana, the second chakra, and the water element. Here imagination wakes, and with it the habit of comparing your inner life to the imagined lives of others. The teaching is clear and kind: envy is a pointer. It shows a desire you have not yet owned, and a worth you have not yet accepted in yourself.

In play, landing on Envy can feel unfair, since it follows so soon after the lightness of Entertainment. Yet the fall is short, from the second row to the first, and the way back up is open. The square asks you to admit the comparison, own the desire inside it, and continue from Avarice with clearer eyes.

## On the board

Square 12 is reached by an ordinary throw from squares 6 to 9 or from square 11; no arrow or snake leads into it. Landing here triggers the first snake of the game: the symbol falls from square 12, in row 2, The Realm of Fantasy, back to square 8, Avarice, in row 1. The next throw is made from square 8.

Gita 3.32 warns that whoever carps and envies loses the way. Duryodhana in the Maya Sabha, burning at the splendour of his cousins' hall and humiliated by its illusions, shows envy turning into the resentment that leads toward war.

## Questions

- What do I envy, and what does it reveal about my own desire?
- Where do I feel I have not earned the place I am in?
- What would change if I treated another person's success as information rather than a threat?

**What happens when you land on square 12 in Leela?**
Square 12, Envy, is the head of the first snake of the game. Landing here sends the symbol down to square 8, Avarice, in the first row, and the next throw is made from there. In reflection it marks a moment when comparing yourself with others drains energy and pulls you back toward grasping.

**Where does the snake on square 12 go in Leela?**
The snake of Envy on square 12 falls to square 8, Avarice. Johari writes that its bite "brings the player down from the second chakra to avarice". It is the first snake on the board, and the drop links envy of others with the greed and spite of the first row.

**What does eirsha mean?**
Eirsha, also written irshya, is Sanskrit for envy. In Leela it names square 12, in the second row linked with Svadhisthana. Johari describes it as the feeling of a player who has reached a higher plane by chance and feels unworthy of it, which turns into resentment of others.