Acharya Prashant addresses the question of why people seem to enjoy getting into trouble. He explains that the fundamental mistake is that when peace is found, it is not respected. People do not value peace enough to be willing to sell themselves for it. When they find peace, they tell it to wait for a while as they go and enjoy the pleasures of turmoil. They think they are voluntarily moving towards the noise, but they do not realize that the noise will absorb and bind them, making it impossible to return. He uses the analogy of jumping into water: it is easy to jump in, but not as easy to get out. Anyone can jump into the water, but only a select few can come back out. People believe they can jump in and return because they have been saved many times before. They have repeatedly taken self-destructive steps, but God has saved them. This compassion of God is seen as a 'bad quality' because it leads people to take His grace for granted, believing He will always save them regardless of their mistakes. The questioner then asks if this means their steps are not genuine, to which Acharya Prashant confirms that the person themselves is not authentic, so their actions cannot be authentic either. This lack of authenticity stems from a lack of reverence for learning. Acharya Prashant further explains that people live a fragmented life, much like a school timetable where spirituality is just one period among many. They open the book of spirituality for a while, then close it to open the book of turmoil. This is what society has taught them. They act like 'good boys and girls,' doing what their family and society have taught them, presenting a different face to the world than their real self, which is a form of dishonesty. He points out that people have forgotten their true master, the Self (Atman), which is the pure 'I,' not the conditioned 'you' shaped by the world. Because they have forgotten their true self, they are afraid of everything and everyone. This fear is a consequence of being disloyal to the Self. If one respected their true self, their real helper, they would not need to fear the world. The punishment for this disloyalty is a life lived in fear. He concludes by referencing a story by Premchand to illustrate how people are judged not by their performance in a specific, controlled situation (like a hockey match) but by their character in their ordinary, day-to-day life. The problem is that people live a divided life and do not have the integrity to be the same person in all situations. This is why they get trapped in turmoil and do not benefit from moments of peace.
