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Joy that remains untouched by defeat || Acharya Prashant, on Khalil Gibran (2017)
Scriptures and Saints
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1 year ago
Defeat
Victory
Joy
Duality
Unconditional
Kahlil Gibran
Infinite
Surrender
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that there is no inherent glory or joy in defeat itself; rather, the poet Kahlil Gibran speaks of defeat because humans typically find it abhorrent while chasing victory. He clarifies that when joy is made conditional upon specific outcomes like victory, it is lost in both victory and defeat. True joy is unconditional and does not subscribe to any particular definition or human effort. To understand this, one must surrender to joy rather than try to master it through definitions or achievements. Acharya Prashant emphasizes that man lives in duality, where defining things makes them finite and limited. However, the infinite escapes all definition. He asserts that there is something deeper than human effort, results, or emotional responses—an unconditional state that remains untouched by external circumstances. When the poet celebrates defeat, he is actually celebrating a joy so profound that it remains unaffected by failure, effectively defeating defeat itself.