In the right battle, defeat is victory

Acharya Prashant

17min

30reads

Questioner (Q): My question is about renunciation. I find within me the response about what I have to do, like renunciation and poverty. I see in myself inside but somehow I am fighting very strongly with the opposite in the opposite direction. And I never find the bravado to really do it. It's not a question, it's just... I don't know. When I will be ready to really do this renunciation I know that I have to do?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is it that you want to renounce?

Q: I mean the sense world. To care about external, to care about the material world. Because I'm living in the material but I am not really there. Some part in myself doesn't believe in this anymore. So I am like repeating something in which I don't believe anymore and I see myself no meaning in anything. But at the same time, I don't have the strength to say that it's enough. I don't know...

AP: What do you mean by this word 'poverty'?

Q: Because I understand that this renunciation for making your Ego dissolve somehow, it's also about to make yourself little. In poverty, you don't have anything for others to look at you and see, "oh wow." Maybe I should not need to be a hero. Maybe because my Ego is strong, maybe I have to work cleaning the streets and be happy doing this. I don't know. This is for me is poverty. Not this. I like very much San Francis of Assisi, and I understood why some people, saint people, go in this way. Because it's the direction towards God somehow. The other, it's Ego, is the opposite direction. I don't know, I saw inside of me but it's so strong the other tendencies. I don’t know when I will be ready. How many lives or...

Comments

Add Your Comment

Be the first one to add a comment :)

LIVE Sessions

Experience Transformation Everyday from the Convenience of your Home

Live Bhagavad Gita Sessions with Acharya Prashant

JOIN NOW

Articles On Liberation

Media Articles

Modern dating is destroying us || Neem Candies

1min150reads2

Excerpts From Articles

When one knows fully well that one is not on the right side of spirituality or Dharma, what to do then? Listen carefully what to do then. You have been pulled to the wrong camp, right? That’s the situation in those moments. You have been pulled to the wrong side. Now, observe clearly what's there on that side. You now belong to a place, even if temporarily, momentarily, that you should not have belonged to in the first place. But what to do? We are all mortal creatures in flesh and blood. We all have our flaws, our weaknesses, our indiscretions. So now let's say, for an evening, we belong to the wrong place. What to do? Don’t just keep cursing yourself. Observe. Ask yourself, "there surely was something in this place that attracted me so much. What was it? There surely is some power in this place that defeated me. What is that power?" Now, that you have been forced to come to the wrong place, at least investigate it properly. Let it be some kind of a spy mission. That’s the best use you can put your defeat to. "I should have been in my study at this time. I should have been with the hills at this time or with the river at this time or at the church at this time. And where am I? I'm at a shopping complex or at a liquor party or at some place. Theoretically, I very well know I shouldn’t have been here at this moment, but I am here and I can't change the fact of my presence at this place. So what do I then make of this evening?" Study that place. Study that place so that your defeat does not get repeated. That place surely has some power. That place surely has some charm that speaks to some weakness within you. Study that charm. What is it in that place that compels you? Is that charm for real? Often, the charm is imaginary and when you go close to it, it disappears. So maybe the image of the charm sucked you in but now that you are there, now that you have indeed been sucked in, use the opportunity. Really see whether the charmer is worth it. What else can be done anyway? You are there. You're not with the hills, you're not with the river, you're not with the books, you're not with the Saints. You're at that blitzy-blingy party. So that's the best use you can put your defeat to. And that's very important for all of us because we will get defeated. Some of us will get very frequently defeated, the others may be a little less frequently. But there is nobody who is an absolute winner.

There is nobody, I repeat, who is not going to face adversities or reverses. It is your response to those moments that will decide your fate. In victory, everybody is a champion. You must be a champion even in defeat. That’s what is needed. It's a bit of a bravado thing. Quite dramatic. But you remember that classic reply of King Puru to Alexander? You remember? No? So Alexander came to India like he went to other places in Asia with the intent to conquer and plunder. Persia had already been subjugated, and he was now knocking on the doors of India. And King Porus, Puru actually, was at that time ruling a territory that was broadly in today's Punjab. In fact, a little west to today's Punjab. That was the gate to India. And Puru was the first king Alexander needed to conquer if he wanted to penetrate into India. And Alexander had a huge army. And India was divided into a large number of small kingdoms. Compared to Alexander, Puru was a small ruler with a small army. But he fought extremely bravely, extremely bravely. But as was probably inevitable, he was defeated. And then his hands were tied and he was presented in front of the victorious Alexander. And Alexander asks him, "So Puru, how should we behave with you?" And in that moment when all has been lost, his army is destroyed, his kingdom gone, and he is standing with his limbs tied, Puru replies with his head held high, "as a king behaves with another king." Alexander is asking, "how should we deal with you?" And Puru says, "as a king deals with another king." And it was such a stunning reply. As if the fellow has never been defeated at all. Alexander returned. He dropped his intention to march further into India. Carry the spirit of victory even in your defeat. That’s a bigger victory than victory.

Excerpts From Articles