Coming down the hill is always easier than climbing up the mountain. It’s always easy to fall into the temptation of things that appear to be very pleasant. That’s why the world is full of people who are running after temptations. Some claim to have got rid of temptations, but actually, they fall silently into bigger temptations. Some give up the temptation of comfort to lead a socially approved life full of ambitions, while some of us get more tempted towards the self-image of being a good man or having some blissful experience. 

The ground is very slippery, and a single careless step may make us fall into the valley. But why would the almighty make the world like that? Doesn’t He want all of us to live a life full of possibilities where everybody is free of these temptations and can explore to the fullest? But why would God be so cruel as to make the ground so slippery so that one careless step may lead us to endless suffering?

Maybe nothing like that. Krishna always wanted to tell the truth to everybody, but everybody except Arjuna was so “happy” in their world that they never wanted to listen. Probably because we have never learned to distinguish between pleasure and happiness. Pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin. When we take pleasure in tasty food every day, obviously, when we are diagnosed with diabetes and the doctor asks us not to eat sugar, we will be pained. Pain will always come alongside pleasure. When we take pleasure in our social image of being good, obviously, we will be pained when people use foul words for us. If we enjoy power, we will have to suffer the feeling of being powerless.

Happiness is altogether different. Happiness comes from the sense of being complete. When somebody is complete from within, he does not need to prove anything. Sri Aurobindo does not need the approval of the people for his books. He writes for the joy of writing. In the moments of awareness of “who am I”, we understand that the same “I” which lies inside is also outside, and that’s why we feel like connecting to the people around us, we feel like exploring them, their thought process, we feel like listening to them, and we feel like creating something. We learn to float in the space because there’s no ground to hold on to. There is no “ego” to hold on to. That’s why there is no question of slipping. But it’s a challenge to realise this truth while somebody is slipping on the ground, and especially if he is enjoying the slide.