Ambition and ideal
Great Ghandi 
Alexander the great wanted to fulfill the ambition of his father to be a world conqueror. He himself was no less ambitious. He started on his conquering campaign. Country after country submitted to his might. He wanted to be proclaimed a `god’ for his might. He approached the famous philosopher Cleisthenes and asked him to make the declaration. But the philosopher did not agree. When Alexander asked him, ``is the world conqueror, Alexander the great, not a `god’? ‘’ he said, ``no, he is simply a conqueror. To be a god he is not to be world conqueror but a self conqueror.’’ The king considered this answer very rude and the philosopher had to pay with his life the price for speaking the truth.
Both the above- mentioned persons were the students of Aristotle. Cleisthenes learnt an ideal, which raised him to divine heights while Alexander nursed only an ambition. It is not bad to be ambitious, but it should not be divorced from an ideal.
Ambition is concerned with man’s desires and desires have no limits. If one has an ambition to be a very rich man, then he is likely to adopt any means for the purpose. One is likely to forget the finer ideals of life while pursuing one’s ambition.
Humanistic ideals are much higher than mercenary ambitions. Gandhi rightly said, ``a person without an ideal is like a rudderless ship’’. A man is respected for his ideals and not for his personal ambitions. A person who has no respect for truth, it’s not for his personal ambitions. A person, who has no respect for truth, is not imbued with love and kindness and is extremely selfish, is of no use to society even if he is right, great or learned.
Riches or fame do not get us heaven. They may generate in us selfishness and pride which are sins. On the other hand virtues like humility, love kindness and co-operation are the gateway to happiness. These qualities endear us to society and yield in return inner peace.
Higher is not one who has high ambitions, but one who has ideals. Ambition should always be guided by ideals. An ambition without ideals is harmful for the individual as well as for society.
Mahatma Gandhi offers a very good example of ambition being guided by an ideal. His politics was always guided by his principles of truth and non-violence. He never separated politics and religion. His ambition of liberating India was guided by his ideal of truth and non- violence. He would never sacrifice his ideals for his ambition. It would probably be not wise to consume one’s life in any ambition losing sight of truth, justice, kindness, love and sacrifice. An achievement without these ideals would be hollow.
A life without ambition is dry and uninteresting but ambition should always be guide by ideals. An ambition guided by ideals becomes noble and without ideals it becomes mercenary.
Before nursing an ambition in your heart, you should evaluate you capabilities and potentialities. The world is like a crossroad, you should carefully consider which way you can successfully tread. Edison was fit only for science, Socrates for philosophy and Gandhi for non-violent agitation. If we reverse their roles they would not be successful and famous. The bible rightly says, ``know thyself’’. So know your capabilities and then gear all your energies to achieve success. But never lose sight of the ideals of love, sacrifice, kindness and co-operation.
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