Acharya Prashant explains that what people commonly refer to as love is often merely a situational attraction based on comfort and pleasure. Using the example of a European woman's fondness for the Ganga at Rishikesh, he illustrates that her 'love' was dependent on a specific, pleasant state of the river and her own physical safety. He argues that if the river were in a destructive flood or in a polluted state elsewhere, the feeling would change. Thus, common love is conditional and fluctuates with circumstances, much like the tides. He quotes Kabir Saheb to emphasize that true love does not rise and fall in moments. Real love is not an experience or a mental plan; it is a subtle, unconditional pull toward peace and the soul, where the distinctions of pleasure and pain vanish. He further clarifies that the mind's attraction toward pleasure is often a form of violence and exploitation. When the mind finds a source of pleasure, it seeks to secure and possess it, leading to bondage. True love, however, is born of surrender and is not directed toward a specific person, object, or idea, but toward the whole. It is like the sun's rays that fall on everyone without discrimination. Acharya Prashant asserts that one cannot 'find' truth or love through mental effort because the mind is limited to the realm of lies and projections. Instead, one must remain vigilant against falsehood. When the mind stops identifying with specificities and ego, it naturally aligns with the truth. He concludes that if one truly encounters the truth, there is no returning to the old world of illusions, as truth is not a temporary destination but an absolute transformation.
