Should a person desire to be great?
Everyone should desire to be great. If there is no desire to be great, then how can someone be inspired to do great work? A person should desire to be great in his chosen path.
If a person doesn’t desire to achieve something great in this life, then there is no life in his life.
There is a philosophy for people who don’t desire to achieve something great in this life. It is: EAT, DRINK, SLEEP, and REPEAT.
Such people do not eat to live; they live to eat. What else to do with this life? Eat in the day, sleep at night, and we are done with today.
Desiring something after a rightful effort is called aspiration. If we desire something without any effort, we are called a pauper wherein we don’t do anything, but we want the best of everything.
A fake saint is not qualified to get something, yet he has a lot of hunger to get everything. He is not qualified to get a post, yet he has a lot of hunger to get that post. He thinks, “I should get that post even if I am not qualified.” He doesn’t even put in the effort to get the qualification of the post. He wants it for free.
If a true saint is supported and respected by society, the fake saint, even if he lacks all good qualities, intensely desires to get the same support and same respect.
A soul, even after becoming a saint (or devotee), even after being part of such a great satsang, is not at peace. Why? Because of his expectation to get respect and everything for free, and because of his unfulfilled wish to get something without any effort.
Aspiring to be great without any effort and aspiring to reach a particular destination without any effort is the worst unsaintly quality.
Aspiring to be great with rightful efforts and aspiring to reach a particular destination with rightful efforts is the greatest saintly quality.
The next stage of expecting respect and things for free is show-off. The next stage of expecting to be great with rightful efforts is burning desire.
When we desire to do something great, it is not a burning desire; it is not a Do or Die.
With a burning desire, we will have a Do or Die mindset. Our mindset becomes: I will either do or die. Period.
Parvatiji said that,
koti janma-laga ragad hamãri
varu Shambhu, ke rahu kumãri
Definition: “I marry Lord Shankarji. If not, I stay unmarried for millions of births.”
Burning desire is one step ahead of aspiration.
“I don’t want to let go today as a waste, but I want to complete something solid today.” Are we with such a burning desire?
References:
- Chosathpadi Katha Part 21 (Pad 22).