Nearly all participants in our retreat have played the transformational game Leela, and many have inevitably slid down the snake of Jealousy (square 12) and Greed (square 4). While most people don’t see themselves as jealous or greedy, they still land on this snake multiple times during the game. The environment of our retreat center creates powerful traps for the consciousness of our guests, allowing them to play out these stories not only in the game but in real life as well. It’s only when we become aware of our behavioral patterns in life that we can truly see when the snake of Greed and Jealousy attacks us and learn how to transform it.
Let’s dive into this through a real-life story from Dream Hill.
A few years ago, when we first opened Dream Hill and started hosting retreats, all the rooms were quite basic, with no private bathrooms—more like small ashram-like cells. The 8 rooms, housing up to 11 people, shared only 4 bathrooms. One of these bathrooms was located on the middle level, near a room called “Tree House.” Because it required going down a ladder to access it, it was generally used only by the guest staying in that room. Naturally, everyone envied the guest who got to stay in that room, as the others had to share the remaining three bathrooms.
During the COVID period, we took the opportunity to significantly upgrade the facilities at Dream Hill. We added a long-awaited pool, and two rooms known as Gazebo Seaview, which used to be the smallest at 2x2 meters with just a mattress on the floor, were transformed into more spacious rooms with private bathrooms and panoramic sea views from the bed.
We knew that post-COVID, the expectations of guests would change, and they would be more demanding about their living conditions. The demand for rooms with private bathrooms was high, so we bought land behind the main building to add extra bathrooms to the remaining rooms. After the renovation, we offered two types of rooms: those with shared bathrooms and those with private ones, as that was the main requirement of our guests. However, some guests were dissatisfied that others had rooms with terraces and sea views, while they had rooms in the main building without terraces or views, even though the room rates were the same.
Listening to guest feedback, we then categorized the rooms into three types: shared bathroom, private bathroom, and sea view. But as time went on, guests began comparing the "sea view" quality in rooms on different levels, advising us and even demanding that we further differentiate the value of these rooms.
Those who have been to Dream Hill know that each room is unique and has its own special features. It’s impossible to standardize the rooms in terms of facilities: some rooms are on different levels, some have a bathtub while others only have a shower, some have bathtubs with views, while others are enclosed, and bed sizes also vary. This story illustrates that no matter how the space is structured, the snake of Greed and Jealousy will always be lurking.
The problem is that when jealousy takes hold, our energy shifts direction and begins to flow downward. In this story, our guests, by a twist of karmic circumstances, found themselves on the plane of the second chakra, but due to the negative vibrations lingering in their personalities, they couldn’t stay on that plane. Sliding down the snake, they landed in the square of Greed. If a person doesn’t believe in divine providence, they can’t believe in higher forces either. The square of Greed is the tail of the snake of Jealousy. Greed blinds a person to the bigger picture. They don’t realize that greed ultimately becomes pointless. Sooner or later, all material goods are left behind. A person who lands on the field of Greed opens the gates of their consciousness to illusion, anger, and all the other problems of the first chakra.
How can we transform these energies? Greed can actually become a virtue on the spiritual path if a person becomes greedy for spiritual experiences, knowledge, and love. The only tool that can truly assist in this transformation is self-reflection. At every moment, ask yourself these key questions:
Who am I?
Where am I?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
If you answer these questions correctly from the perspective of higher goals and needs, you will gain a transcendental experience of transforming consciousness and open new horizons of vision and awareness.
Comments