AMBITION - OUR DRIVING FORCE






Pic: Umang Pahwa

Ambition is ambition! Whether your ambition is to do well in your exam, job, business or profession... Whether you are an Ambani, Subrata Roy or Baba Ramdev... Whether you are an Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar or Srinivasan... Yes, ambition is ambition! It is a very powerful force that propels you to each and every kind of accomplishment in life. Money, fame, power and, even, sainthood... all come from it.

As kids, we loved to possess every attractive toy our eyes would fall on. And, as grown-ups, we are no different. So, it is the ambition in us that gives us – the eternal kids – our every ‘toy’ in life!

When a goal is single-mindedly pursued, with robust faith and dogged determination, it becomes our ambition. Nothing in life is achieved without ambition. Nothing. So, if there is no other road to reach to our goals, except through our ambitions, then ambition, in life, is good.

It is greed that is not good...

It is the crooked intention that is not good...

It is the blatantly aggressive and manipulative path – which, one, sometimes, adopts to achieve his goal - that is not good...

What Dhirubai Ambani did, from being a petrol-pump attendant in Africa, or what Subrata Roy did, from being a salesman on his Lambretta scooter, or what Narendra Modi is now trying to do, from being a tea vendor in his village in Gujarat, and, here, what I am doing on my computer, now... yes, all these things are born from our respective ambitions...

If the burning ambition to become our country’s PM is what drives Narendra Modi so restless, it is to make my own mark as a good writer, teacher, mentor or whatever it is... that drives me restless, every day...

So, I say, there is nothing wrong with our ambitions... as long as we are conscious of our roots and careful about our means... as long as we avoid short-cuts and cut-throats all our way... and, yes, as long as we stay away from the illusion called ‘More’...

When our ‘more’ remains, forever, ‘less’, that’s the clear indicator that our ambitions are fatal! 

If the empires built by mighty Hitler and Alexander could last only that long, it would be the same fate for Ambanis, Roys and  Mallyas... the same fate for  Gandhis, Thakreys and Modis... Same for Chopras, Khans and Bachchans... and, yes, it shall be so for you and me, too!

Perhaps, this realization – that, our ambition is good as long as our intentions and means are good – might help us stay grounded, through our journey called ‘Success’...  Else, ambition in life is a fatal intoxication...  driving us to our Waterloos!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Darpan Gupta said…
Ambition is a powerful driving force, which can make or break us!!!
----- Darpan Gupta
April 3, 2014 at 6:47 PM
Sudhir Bedi said…
Ambition is behind every man's rise and fall!!
- Sudhir Bedi
April 3, 2014 at 7:10 PM
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