In the world, there are many things which attract us and furthermore when we are attracted by something we form an imagination. That is an addition. Our imagination and our attraction - two different things in the world. Attraction is constant. Imagination is formed by our mind. We can develop our imagination in a positive way or in a negative way. According to whether our imagination is positive our negative, we take reflex actions, or reflex responses. This is the situation.
Take for instance the material attraction. Suppose you saw someone, you met them somewhere. You were attracted because she was beautiful or he was handsome, Attraction at first sight. Just attraction. You could have avoided it. But after seeing that person, you immediately formed an idea. What was that idea? If that person comes close to me, I will be happy. Not "that person will be happy." Think over it. You take everything for yourself, not for the other party. You unconsciously thought, but you thought if that person comes close to you, you will be happy. That was not attraction, that was your imagination. You approached that person, "Hello, how are you?" It started. Suppose the other party was also interested because you were also handsome or beautiful. From both sides, whatever you thought for that person, that person thought for you. You approached that person for your happiness, that person approached you their happiness. One thing was common, there was a common motive. It means that the person wanted his happiness with you, you wanted your happiness with that person. Both came together, talked, had a drink, made an appointment for a further date. They both became friends - very good friends - and then very close friends. When they became very close friends, how did it start? From a brief attraction of the world. That could have been avoided. But anyway, now when you became very close friends, you are feeling happy in association with your friend, and you name it and label it as "love". You think that worldly love is very good, very pacifying. What is that love? That is the material love. That is material experience.
Suppose your very close friend went out on a trip cruising for two weeks and you were longing for him - "When he comes back, we’ll meet again." Suppose in the mean time he found a new friend and you had no idea. He came back. You were very happy to meet him. But during conversation, you discovered, "Oh, he found a new friend?" You got another imagination, "He doesn’t love me, or she doesn’t love me." With this imagination, your experience of love was cut down to zero degree - immediately - within moments. It means a moment ago you were experiencing deep love of that person, a moment later (when you discovered that that person is fallen in love with another person) then your love, your experience of love, was gone. What was that thing which cut your love down? Just your imagination. The person is there, his body is there. Then what was gone? Suppose you found out that you had made a mistake and that it was not true - you again loved him.
This is material love and material hate. Neither love exists nor hate exists. Love and hate are just the faces of the effects of your deep imaginations, deep thinking. But we don’t believe that. Even when a Spiritual Master such as Swami Prakashanand Saraswati explains this philosophy to us, we find it hard to accept it at an intellectual level. There is a reason. Because if we had believed, then we would have been looking for something very great from that moment, but we are not because we think that although Shree Swamiji is giving a logical reason, and his reasoning seems right, but it doesn’t feel right.
Excerpted and adapted from Speech P3-1A: "Material love and hate is not a reality; it is a mental illusion. Your soul is longing for Divine love. The three situations of peace, happiness and love." Copyright © 2009 Swami Prakashanand Saraswati.