What is the difference between greed and ambition?

Transcript

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question what is the difference between greed and ambition it is said that we should not be greedy but does that mean we should not be ambitious either the answer greed and ambition are two words which in different contexts can have different meanings but from a spiritual perspective greed refers to the craving for external objects so it is more associated with possession and the gratification from possession so when we are greedy for something you say we want we want more gadgets we want more gizmos we want more we want a bigger house a better car so it’s focused largely on externals and on acquiring the externals now in some cases ambition can be for possession and in that sense the ambition can be greedy but it doesn’t have to be like that now greed is undesirable because it makes us dependent on external acquisition for our satisfaction and it does keep keeps us externally obsessed and along with that greed tends to become a not just a desire that we have but it tends to become a disposition that no matter how much we have we keep looking at all the things that we don’t have and thus we stay dissatisfied so greed is sentences us to perpetual dissatisfaction and it makes us impoverished due to a feeling of paucity due to feeling that i don’t have this i don’t have that i don’t have that and spiritual life we can also be ambitious in the sense that we understand that we all have been given certain talents certain abilities certain interests and the bhagavad-gita seventh chapter eighth verse krishna says he says i am ability in human beings so if somebody has singing ability somebody has managing ability somebody has oratory skills then it is krishna who is manifesting as those abilities in those individuals and later in 18.46 47 48 when krishna is talking about how we can spiritualize our work he says so he says that all of existence has emanated from him by him all of existence is provided so by your work worship that lord by doing this one can attain perfection krishna is urging us to see our to re-envision our work as a form of worship and naturally when we do anything in a mood of worship we want to do it best that we can do so if you are singing for krishna we want to sing the best that we can if you are speaking or writing for krishna we want to speak or write to the best of our capacity and so wanting to be the best that we can be wanting to improve our talents want to increase our contributions wanting to work in a mood of worship this is an ambition and this can be a spiritual ambition so if the ambition is for possession then it becomes greed but if the ambition is not for possession but for contribution then it can be a part of our devotional service it can be an integral element of our devotional offering to krishna in fact for a dedicated devotee ambition can be enriching ambition can enrich one with a sense of purpose while greed impoverishes us with a sense of paucity of lacking of scarcity ambition enriches us with a sense of purpose it gives us a sense of direction of focus of achievement and thus it can actually bring some amount of energy and excitement into whatever we are doing in our service to krishna so dharma artha kama moksha these are considered to be the four purusharthas dharma is religious activities artha is financial prosperity kama is sometimes thought of as lust but kama can also be understood as desire in general it can be ambition and krishna in 7.10 says that dharma he says i am ambition that is not contrary to dharma so when we want to make some when we have some ambition if that ambition becomes an obsession so much so that for the sake of their ambition we neglect our devotion we violate the principles of morality we go against dharma then that is undesirable but if we see the ambition as a part of our dharmic duty of devotional service and instead of violating the principles of dharma actually it inspires us to deepen our application of dharma then that ambition can also become even more spiritualized or devotionalized so that is if somebody wants to study scripture and become a good speaker or a big writer or a good or a good writer or a good scholar of scripture now while studying that studying thus one may pray and memorize and be more devotionally focused in order to become more productive and to make a better contribution in contrast if somebody wants to prepare for an exam and they decide to somehow cheat or copy or somehow get through the exam and get the desired marks there they are studying and they have ambition to crack the exam but because of that ambition they are going against the principles of dharma they are acting unethically by cheating but in contrast a devotee in order to do to study scripture diligently may become more prayerful and then that can actually help a devotee to deepen the application of dharma so if we consider ambition greed in terms of wanting more and more possessions then that greed is often unhealthy for our spiritual life because it makes us externally focused externally obsessed and it keeps us perpetually dissatisfied but if we consider ambition in terms of wanting to do justice to our god-given talents and to make worthwhile contributions using those talents then that that kind of ambition can enrich us with a sense of purpose and if in fulfilling that ambition we do not transgress the limits of dharma rather we deepen our devotion and devotional disposition and our prayerfulness then their ambition can both intensify our devotion and increase