I read about myself !!!
The Zahir. What can I say about it? Well, it is a wonderful book, no doubt about it. I must really thank my Guru (Teacher) for having recommended that book to me. What is that book about really? Well I was reading all about myself in that book (!!!) Although, the author may not even know that there is a guy by name Ashvin Bharadwaj he has actually written about what Ashvin Bharadwaj’s thought process is like & stuff. Even now, as I am writing this, it is not like I have thought of what exactly is to be written, I am just sitting in front of my computer & am typing out the words as they are coming out of my mouth.
As I was reading that book, I felt that I was reading about my own life through the author’s words. However as I was reading through the book, I realized that I there is a Zahir in my life too. With every page that I covered, I felt that I was on a journey into my own life. The hero is passionate about writing which is a form of art. I am passionate about music which is another form of art. I have just started listening to poetry & also want to be able to write poems like the author some time soon.
However, the book threw open to me a lot of questions which I have not been able to answer them to my satisfaction. I have attempted to answer some of them & have penned down my understanding of it. I hope you the esteemed reader will be able to tell me if I am on the right track (this is assuming that you have read the “The Zahir” by Paulo Coelho!!)
1) What is the voice?
I am sure, all of us at some time or the other while on a task have felt “something within” tell us to do that task in a particular way, or to do it differently or not do it & so on….. Is this the same voice? If yes then is this was Intuition is? If yes again, then when intuition is telling us of something negative then is that what premonitions are?
2) The universal love energy. What exactly is this?
Is this the bonding that any two humans feel for each other? If you see a person in trouble while you are going about your own business, you may want to stop for a moment & do what you can to help that person. Is this what the Universal Love Energy is all about?
3) Personal history.
Each of us has a lot of baggage that we lug around without even realizing its existence (??), is this what it is? Or, is it simply the story of our lives?
4) How does repeating a problem take it farther away from us?
Well the age old saying goes, “repeat a lie a hundred times& it becomes the truth”. Is the age old saying wrong? Well, technically it is not the fact of the lie actually becoming the truth. But when 3 or 4 generations of people have been conditioned to one kind of thinking (even if it is a lie), the subsequent generations definitely do all they can to protect, propagate & guard the “truth” w/o actually knowing that they are guarding a lie & are actually running away from the truth. Coming back to the question itself, if you repeat a story or a problem, with every repetition, it sits more & more strongly in your mind.
5) The other author’s views on Love & Marriage.
Sometime during the middle of the book, the author is looking for a magazine article on relationships & he comes across another author’s views on Love. She says something about love not being permanent & that marriage not being fulfilling. Now, when you marry a person you truly marry & truly love the person that you are married to, isn’t that feeling so complete?
6) Where does the tribe fit in?
The author goes with a few young people dressed as rock fans & stuff. Where exactly do they come into place in our journeys? Are they an indication that there will be in our journeys a lot of people wanting to embark on this journey with us but not exactly knowing the right direction to take?
7) What are interrupted stories?
All of us in our lives take a particular path & realize that, that is not the best path for us at one point of time or the other. Meaning that story although begun has no proper ending. Is this what it means?
8) Concept of choosing a name
Dos asks the author to choose a name, what is the significance of this? Is it that since you are being reborn as a person, it is best not to have any reminders of your previous way of living?
9) Dos says that Esther might move away………..
When the author expresses his disappointment over the fact that Esther might move away if she is not yet ready to meet him, Dos says that she is not obliged to stay there. Well what is the point? Distance increases the amount of love between two people. Here is the author coming searching for his wife who he love (& who loves him) after she has disappeared for a few years without telling him anything. So does she not really want to meet her man?
10) What is the presence?
All through this book there is a reference to this “presence”, what exactly is this? Why doesn’t everyone experience this?
11) The story of the dog & the doe.
Well usually the doe is always looked at as a symbol of gentleness (which is a feminine quality generally, which a male is not). The dog is a picture of aggression (which is a masculine quality & not generally a feminine quality), so why in this story is the comparison so & what is it’s significance.
These are some of the doubts that have come to me as I read that book. Also, I must mention a few reactions from my own side as I was reading the book. A lot of times I would feel my cheeks all warm & kind of flushed. Sometimes I would experience a slight pain in my head, (the same kind that I used to experience, while sitting & talking with my teacher or while watching the Matrix) As I was reading the book, with every page that I read, I would feel some kind of a fear beginning to form in the pit of my stomach. I don’t know what is happening to me here, I am all psyched out. I hope my Guru has a remedy for this.
As I was reading this I also started wondering:
Why am I doing this? Obviously to discover myself. But then why am I trying to discover myself??? Who am I???
Teacher I hope you will help me……….
posted by Ashvin at 6:30 AM
3 Comments:
Well well well…that is quite a write up Ash…Honestly I am v amused and here I must give credit firstly to you and secondly and more importantly to your mentor / guide/teacher/guru/philosopher…call him what u may !
U have raised many Q’s and I will make no attempt to answer them…cauz that’s the job of ur Guru & my dear friend….and I am looking forward to his views & comments….so Mahi, plsss don’t disappoint us na ;)
Anyway…here are some of my thoughts… (i) Please do not read too much into the book & don’t over identify with the characters as u will lose urself in it & may find it pretty difficult to find the real u.
(ii) You say u luv JK Ash…what more do u want…isn’t that enough ? Do u think that if u luv someone that person has to stay with you all the time or spend the rest of her life with u? And if you do that…aren’t you automatically limiting yourself and your love to something v superficial…not to mention the fact that you are placing conditions on it.
Love for me Ash is unconditional – the other person need not luv me in return or even know that I luv him. The fact that I am in luv is self containing…Luv is liberating, it knows no bounds….It destroys you so that you can come to life – It shows you the real you.
If you are unhappy / depressed / frustrated / jealous etc in luv, then it is not luv – its infatuation or a crush or something else. You shud drown urself so much in luv that the rest of the world too drowns with u – then neither your parents nor hers will have anything against such a relationship. If you are unable to do that – and you see resistance from those close to you then re-examine the relationship. No one can ever get hurt in luv ----It’s always a win-win relationship !
Hum apne khushiyon ka mahal – apno ke aanso par kaise khada kar sakte hain !
Who khusi hi kya jo dukhon ke sailab par khadi ho !
Finally Ash…u hv asked the Q- Who Am I?....are you really ready to hear the answer? And then what happens when you know who u really are….can you continue to live the life that u are leading? Its easy to answer your Q Ash…but if u want to know who u really are you have to live your Q until there is no Q….and then u will know not just who u are, but who I am & also who ur guru is.
Ash said: “Teacher I hope you will help me……….” I just want to add Teacher Help Me too ;)
Ash, very very long write up. I want to start with this.
No Guru and No Teacher is Way
The path To you before you Lay
Not to the outside meaning you need find
To the inside deeper you need to focus heart and mind
Secondly I could not agree with Noor more when she says do NOT identify so much with characters. You identifing so deeply with the character is one thing, its a process called " deep trance Identification" however the answers lie not in the trance but out of it, in a satte called " being Aware and Awake"
This state of being aware and awake is quite different from how most understand it. Some call it "Presence" some call it "Zikhr" and some call it "Chit/Chetna"
Now Zahir, what does mean, it to me is "knowing the essential nature" - English sometimes is hard to convey some of these ideas...but this is the closest I can come at the moment. This process of Zahir or essential knwoing IMO happens only in a state of absolute surrender to that which you seek to know. And this absolute surrender with total trust is also called Love. So to know, IMO, love is essential.
Ash, first step perhaps is to make distintions between the character and you, are there no differences. Did you share the same life? So step out and see the differences, and mark out what is you and whats not you, and what can be perhaps fanciful imagination. This will be the first step towards getting answers to your questions.
So if you ask me, read the book again, with the light of what I have suggested, perhaps it will help you make some imp distintions. And distintions are one way of knowing, and surrender is another.
Love is surrender without questions
Its madness will make its own suggestions
It will reveals its secrets in time when you totally trust
Zahir will be all things when they must
Love is not obsession to me, rather its both sweet and painful together. One wont exist without the other IMO.
Finally, who are you? Now my friend you are asking the real questions. Find the answer to that and you wont need anyone else to answer questions for you.
enjoy the ride.
M
how come no response from the technician?
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