18. Question: Does an ambitious nature help one make faster progress?

Sri Chinmoy: In the spiritual life, ambition is a dangerous thing. Ambition itself is a downfall. In the ordinary life, if you exist without ambition then you are like a sheep; you won't make any progress. But once you accept the spiritual life your aspiration itself is like the fastest deer. If you want to reach the goal at a particular hour or at a particular date because of your ambitious nature, then you are making a Himalayan blunder.

Ambition is in the vital; aspiration is in the heart. When there is ambition there is always an unfortunate competitive spirit. You are ambitious because you want to surpass someone; you want to achieve something which others have not achieved. When there is ambition there is a great danger that you will not go toward your real goal. Ambition wants to take you to a destination which may not be your real destination but somebody else's destination. Because the song of ambition is the song of superiority over others, consciously or unconsciously it takes us to another goal. But when you are aspiring, you are not aspiring just because others are aspiring or because you want to outdo them in aspiration. No! Here there is no competitive spirit. It is your own inner absolute necessity that you are fulfilling. You are aspiring because you feel that it is your bounden duty to reach your destined goal, so that you can be of greatest service to the absolute Supreme. Your aspiration takes you to God so that you can realise Him, reveal Him and manifest Him. Without realising Him, revealing Him and manifesting Him you do not get any sense of satisfaction.

If you are not following the spiritual life, then ambition will help you to make progress. If you are ambitious, then you won't sleep twenty hours out of twenty-four. You will conquer lethargy and face the buffets of life so that you can gain your desired end. Vivekananda used to tell the Indians who were wallowing in the pleasures of lethargy to go and play football. "You don't have to read the Gita," he would say to them. "If you play football you will realise God sooner than if you read the Bhagavad Gita." These people were so lethargic that they had no life-energy. For them to read the Gita was impossibility itself. As soon as they opened it they would enter into the other world, the world of sleep. Vivekananda knew that if they played football and got quite a few kicks from their opponents, they would get some strength and energy. Then if they started reading the Gita, they would be able to stay awake for five minutes at least. Our Indian sages have proclaimed most powerfully: Nayam atma bala-hinena labhyo, "The soul cannot be won by the weakling."

Vivekananda also used to tell some of his followers to go and tell lies; he said that he would be responsible for their lies. These people wouldn't budge an inch. They would simply tell the truth because they were too lazy to make up a lie even to save their own skin. Vivekananda used to say, "If you think that just by not telling lies you will get salvation, then any tree or chair or inanimate object is closer to salvation than you are. A tree will not tell any lies; a chair will not tell a lie, but a human being will realise God long before a tree or a chair." So he used to say, "Now go and do something. Tell a few lies. I will be responsible." What he meant was that if these people told lies, they would get a few slaps and then they would be awakened. One will say, "What have I done? Why should I tell lies? Instead of telling lies, let me start my spiritual journey by telling the truth." But Vivekananda used to say, "The important thing is to start your journey. In your case, you will start your journey only if you start telling lies. So tell lies, and then if this is the wrong path, the world's criticism will help you to discover and walk along the right path."

This is where ambition enters the picture. Ambition is necessary for those people who are fast asleep and for those who are still in the world of vital supremacy. But once they enter into the world of the heart, where the feeling of oneness reigns supreme, ambition has to end. At that time they have to feel, "If I reach my destination today, it is as good as your reaching your destination, because you and I are one. We are like members of a family or of a team." If one particular member has achieved something great, the rest of the members have a legitimate reason to be bloated with pride, because they belong to the same group.

When there is aspiration there is oneness, and in oneness there is no need of competition. But if there is no aspiration and no sense of oneness, if someone is in the desire-world, then naturally ambition has to play its role. Before we enter into the spiritual life ambition is a helper, but that ambition eventually becomes a great obstacle, a real enemy, if it is not transformed into pure aspiration once we accept the spiritual life.