Question: For A Serious Runner, Is There...

Question: For a serious runner, is there any difference between aspiration and ambition?

Sri Chinmoy: There is a great difference between aspiration and ambition. If a runner wants to exert himself to his utmost capacity and reach his best running speed, then that is his aspiration. But when there is ambition, immediately a kind of rivalry starts. Ambition wants to be the best in everything, but aspiration is different. It says, "I will do my best. If I want to engage in sports, I shall have to practise running. But the result, the achievement, will be entirely at the Feet of the Supreme."