The Poison Of Personal Ambition

krsna · December 15, 2007

THE POISON IS PERSONAL AMBITION

If personally I have any credit in this matter, it is only that I have tried to present Bhagavad-gita as it is, without any adulteration. Before my presentation of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, almost all the English editions of Bhagavad-gita were introduced to fulfill someone’s personal ambition. But our attempt in presenting Bhagavad-gita As It Is is to present the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna.

This whole institution was started single-handedly without any capital. I went to your country with only Rs. 40/- and 200 sets of books. So if we take the capital of the whole business, it was the books and the Rs. 40/-. The Rs. 40/- was not even touched because Indian Rupees currency could not be spent in your country. In 1967 when I came back to India the Rs. 40/- was paid for the taxi cab. The 200 sets of books was sold, and I was maintaining myself with great difficulty. Now by the grace of Krishna book sales have increased tremendously, and whatever money we are spending it is from the book sales; or whatever money is also being squandered that is also from the book sales.

Now by the grace of Krishna we have got sufficient properties all over the world, so there cannot be any diplomacy or conspiracy by any sane man. All these properties and opulences will not go with me when I go away from this world. It will remain here. I am training some of my experienced disciples how to manage after my departure. So if instead of taking the training, if in my lifetime you people say, "I am the Lord of all I survey", that is a dangerous conspiracy.

In India some of the important members have collected huge amounts in the name of the Society and spent it luxuriously. I wanted all my experienced disciples to manage the whole institution very cleverly without any personal ambition like ordinary materialistic men. The Gaudiya Math institution has become smashed, or at least stopped its program of preaching work on account of personal ambitions.

So whatever is done is done. I shall request you all not to be personally ambitious. I believe all my students are very serious devotees, maybe sometimes influenced by maya, but they can be corrected and the whole thing will go on as usual without any difficulty. Please try to help me in this connection...

...All my disciples they are good boys, intelligent, and hard working. I pray to Krishna that you all may use your intelligence for Krishna's service and not for any personal ambition. We have worked very hard and established a great institution, but if we think for our personal benefit then it will become ruined. This is my only concern.

...We have got ambition, but this is our ambition: live with devotees and execute the mission of our predecessor. This is our aim. Without ambition nobody can live. Self-interest, ambition, is everywhere. But self-interest is to execute Krsna's desire.

...he is actually surrendered soul, but Maya is so strong that on account of association he has even fallen down. So these two things are always side by side--Maya and Krsna--Krsna is service and Maya is sense gratification, so at every moment we are prone to be subjugated by either of them. Our duty is therefore to be very, very careful. The poison is personal ambition. So everyone has the chance, therefore one should not be complacent. Doubts may come about, but one should be firmly fixed up that there cannot be any doubt on the Spiritual Master or Krsna.

Our life is very short. The Krsna consciousness movement is not meant for fulfilling one's personal ambition, but it is a serious movement for the whole world. I am therefore going to the Eastern hemisphere, beginning from Japan. In this old age I am going with this party just to set an example to my disciples who have taken recently the Sannyas order. Now we want very many Swamis to take up this job. The Grhasthas are to take care of the Temples as well as the general management.

Sri Suta Goswami said:

"Emperor Yudhisthira administered generously to everyone during his reign. He was exactly like his father. He had no personal ambition and was freed from all sorts of sense gratification because of his continuous service unto the lotus feet of the Lord Sri Krsna." (SB. 1.12.4)

Svarupa · December 15, 2007

Can and has been miss used, be vagilant. Bhagavan, Bhavananda and Tamal Krishna used the above to convience devotees that there is no need to 'think' as we (ISKCON) would do the thinking for you. So many lives they reuined. Srila Prabhupada was very ambitious for Krishna but many in ISKCON (one 'mad' cook I remember) just expect us to be robots with their sterotype sayings 'surrender prabhoooo surrender prabhooo. It's not over yet

cbrahma · December 15, 2007

I guess all self-determination, all intelligence can be regarded as poisonous. How convenient for the corrupt leadership.

How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.

Adolf Hitler

mahak · December 15, 2007

One will always hear that discernment is not for the vaisnava, that one must put personal intellect in the box and just surrender. However, this idea has no place at all. In fact, this leads to sentimentalism and fanaticism, and is wholly responsible for the worlds burdens in the name of religion. They strap on the dynamite and remember how they were controlled, ambition with life tossed aside. The response is that one wraps himself in flags and the blood of jesus, and we just drop the bombs without even considering the limbs and other various childrens' body parts tossed in large holes in grim aftermaths.

Personal ambition should never be tossed aside. If one does not have self preservation, then there is no life there, just zombies. A zombie doing crimes for prabhupada is a zombie criminal, nothing more.

Ambition is like all neutral things, How one utilizes natural ambition is the key, not ambition alone. Just like there is no ban on anger in our theology, none at all, because anger cannot be prevented, it comes and goes like summer heat and winter cold. The ACTIONS of anger is what we are held responsible for.

So, those control freaks that insist the ambition be artificially renounced, as one last party before such a leap is done should be analysis of the ambition of he who tells ya that ambition must be given up. Why is he saying this? You will find almost every time that such an instruction is merely a device to make you a servant of anothers selfish ambition.

Keep ambition, use it to ones best benefit, in Krsnas service. Did prabhupada ever tell george to renounce his ambition as a musician? No, he actually sanctioned his recording of My Sweet Lord, and this person no longer was self absorbed, but rather used properly.

I have desire, to get to the other side. If I give that up, who else will lead me there. See, they must lead, because without ambition, how do I take any step. Is that dude supposed to carry me? Many will demand that Prabhupada bleed for us, take all our karma, and deliver us suffering wimp babies to krsna, but what then?

Its like the coffee-table mystics that demand to be free from ego. Hows that? Without materialistic ego, how can we breathe? Not easting because its a materialistic ego trip? It is just that, but such eating should never be given up. only changed to eating life rather that all the dead things we are accustomed to.

Haribol, ys, mahaksadasaq

Svarupa · December 16, 2007

One will always hear that discernment is not for the vaisnava, that one must put personal intellect in the box and just surrender. However, this idea has no place at all.. .. Personal ambition should never be tossed aside. If one does not have self preservation, then there is no life there, just zombies. A zombie doing crimes for prabhupada is a zombie criminal, nothing more.

Ambition is like all neutral things, How one utilizes natural ambition is the key, not ambition alone. ... So, those control freaks that insist the ambition be artificially renounced, as one last party before such a leap is done should be analysis of the ambition of he who tells ya that ambition must be given up. Why is he saying this? You will find almost every time that such an instruction is merely a device to make you a servant of anothers selfish ambition.

Keep ambition, use it to ones best benefit, in Krsna's service.

Haribol, ys, mahaksadasaq

All who have success in 'real' preaching chose to use their ambition and talents to serve Krishna. its not that Krishna just makes us his 'mindless' puppet and then works through us. We never loose our individuality or ambition to please Krishna. The posts by 'krsna' speak for themselves, so many cut and post quotes trying to force the old guard mentality of 'surrender prabhoooo' Its mentalities like his in ISKCON that could again create the dark and middle ages in Europe, when the Catholic church also never allowed the "so called poison of Ambition"

The real poison in ISKCON cames from those who try to destroy personal realizations and the ambition to please Krshna