Winning the War

People say, “Are you an inspirational speaker?” and I say, “Nope.” Because sometimes, what I say, people don’t like. But I say it.

I don’t know where a human heart exactly is, but I know what lives there. And in the human heart lives the courage, lives the clarity, lives the understanding, lives the joy—and lives the Divine.

Joy is your need, has been your need, and will be your need. Peace has been your need and will be your need. War is what is wrong with the society, wrong with the people, not right with the people. Peace is what is right for the societies, right for the people. And no matter how many changes we go through, these things hold their own value; they are true.

So! You are interested in winning your battles—and I am not interested in telling you how to win your battles, because I don’t care about the battles. For me, it is perfectly okay if you lose a few. Lose a few battles and don’t feel bad! Don’t feel bad! But, don’t lose the war. Don’t lose the war.

Battles, you win some, lose some, no problem. Don’t lose the war. You’ve got to win the war! And the war where the good is victorious over the bad—the good, that generosity, is victorious over the greed, compassion is victorious over hate, knowledge is victorious over ignorance, joy is victorious over sadness—that’s winning the war.

The challenge for mankind is to be interested in peace—and it’s a challenge! Is it possible? Of course! No question about it. Because I have hope that each one of you has the possibility in your lives to encourage all that is good, and to be victorious in this battlefield, not by winning all the battles, but by winning the war. I know this is possible.

– Prem Rawat