The Secret to True Victory
Acharya Prashant: As a spectator, you would mind who held the trophy. No? And only one of the two parties is now carrying the trophy. So you would say, "Oh, well, Nadal won and Federer lost."
But ask them who have just, you know, played a five-setter that extended up to six hours, seven hours. Ask them, and they say, "Well, this is my unforgettable match. I do not remember who won and who lost. That is something I won't remember, and the match I cannot forget."
That's the way live life. Live it so intensely that in the end you are left with no energy to be concerned with the result.
And that does not mean that you will necessarily meet defeat. Sometimes there is victory; sometimes there is defeat. But that is not the point. The point is how you have played the game. And play it with all your might. It raises you like anything. It raises you to enter a bigger game, a higher game. And that's the game.
And also remember that awakening your strength is a process that demands a price. You have to pay the price. The price is effort. The price is the courage to make the right choices. But paying the price is worth it, even when there is a great outer and inner temptation to act weak and get some benefits. Make it a matter of your self-esteem to never act weak, even if the feeling inside you tells you that you are actually weak.
Yeah, there is a critical situation, and you're standing there, and somebody asks you, "Are you all right? You all right?" And you might be feeling a little jittery in the pit of your stomach. But still, there is no need to make a huge show of it. Just say, "Yes. I'm feeling something, but I'm all right. I do not deny that the circumstances are influencing me, but still I'm all right. I want to exercise my power not to be hostage to circumstances.
I'm not a god; I'm a human being. So, I cannot deny that the world has a certain effect over me, that I do get afraid. I do get nervous and tempted. All these things do happen. But equally, I want to assert my right not to be influenced by them.”
The world is doing what it does. And what does the world do? The world extends its influence over you, casts its spell over you. And you cannot stop the world from doing that. That's the thing we began our interaction with, right? You cannot stop the world from doing its thing, and it's the thing of the world to try to co-opt you, suck you in. That's what the world tries to do.
You do what you must do, irrespective of what the world is doing. The world is trying to enslave you. Your job is to remain free.
Choose the right option. Make the right decision. Fight the right battle. And now it doesn't matter whether you win or not, because you are already victorious.
Victory lies in choosing the right road to walk. It does not quite lie in reaching the destination earlier than others. In fact, it's a frivolous comparison: "Am I reaching there earlier than others? Am I reaching there at all?" It's not about reaching there in a comparative sense, earlier than others. It is, in fact, not even about reaching somewhere at all. It is about the immediate moment in which the decision is made.
The concept that we carry is that the real battle lies in attainment of the goal. The real battle does not really lie in the attainment of the goal. It lies in the determination of the goal. What goal are you picking for yourself? And why?
If you fight the wrong battle, isn't victory worse than defeat? What's the point in speeding down the wrong road? What's the point in managing to obtain and eat huge quantities of food that your body does not need? Do you know your real inner need? Is your decision-making aligned with your core self? That's the question to be asked.
