In Jain Dharma, this is understood as a problem of inner attachment, ego, and delusion (moha).

1) How to reduce comparing yourself with others

Jain teaching says to look at your own soul, not other people’s outer life.

• Everyone’s karmas are different.

What you see in others is only their present state, not their full journey.

• Comparison increases pride or sorrow.

If you feel better than others, ego grows. If you feel less, sadness grows.

• Focus on self-purification.

Ask: - Am I reducing anger? - Am I reducing ego? - Am I reducing greed? - Am I increasing compassion and restraint?

This is the Jain way of progress: compare yourself with your own past, not with others.

2) How to stay happy always

In Jainism, lasting happiness comes from peace of the soul, not from outside things.

Try these:

• Reduce desire and attachment.
• Practice equanimity in praise and blame.
• Do pratikraman or daily reflection to cleanse mistakes.
• Keep right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct.
• Accept that worldly situations are temporary.
• Stay in remembrance of the pure soul.

When the mind expects less from the world, it suffers less.

3) What does irritation teach us?

When a guru says, “What makes you irritated is actually leading to understanding about ourselves,” it means:

• Irritation is a mirror.
• It shows where our attachment, expectations, or ego are hidden.
• What bothers us outside often reveals an inner weakness inside.

For example:

• If someone’s words irritate you, maybe there is hidden ego.
• If someone’s success irritates you, maybe there is comparison or greed.
• If delays irritate you, maybe there is lack of patience.

So irritation is not just a problem — it is also a teacher. It helps us see what karmic tendencies still need to be purified.

4) The Jain approach

When irritation arises:

1. Pause.
2. Watch the feeling without reacting.
3. Ask: What attachment or ego is being touched here?
4. Reduce the reaction.
5. Return to calmness and self-awareness.

Simple essence

• Comparison weakens peace.
• Contentment strengthens happiness.
• Irritation reveals the inner self.
• Self-observation leads to purification.

In Jain Dharma, real happiness is not in changing others, but in changing our own inner state.