Walk the Road, my friend!

A friend described that she liked the wonderful book, Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  It has been in my mind as one of the books I want to read, but it hasn’t “spoken” with me as yet.

The problem with writings like Alchemist and stuff like that is that they are pop-Spirituality, which doesn’t get us any better.

Its like you are walking from Delhi to Bombay on foot.  You are walking along not sure where to go and passing so many roads, where so many seem right.  You come across a guy who has seen a brand new top of the line BMW and he is singing praise for it.  You get lost in his eloquence and the way he describes the BMW.  He has probably never driven one himself… but his description is so damn fantastic that you start loving it.  Now, you continue and on the way you try to keep singing (of course in your voice it sounds a bit better to yourself even more!) the same song.  But there are two problems:

1. You are not driving the BMW
2. Worse, you still have no idea where Bombay is and how to get there!

Scriptures like Bhagwad Gita and Yoga Vasistha are a step better.  They are like the guy you meet on the way on the same trip and he points you in the direction of Bombay and also explains that if you see certain structures, which turns to take.  So, people have two reactions:

1. The religious hold the fingers which are pointing and don’t move ahead – start worshipping the book!
2. The atheists, who have never seen or known about all the structures that the guy talks about, from where the turns occur, so he dumps it all and stands on the side creates a shack and declares its Nariman Point.

Spiritual people listen to the first guy, enjoy the stuff and keep on.. listen to the second guy, make notes in the mind and thank the person and move on, realizing that though milestones may be the same as described, the challenges and the answers will be his/her own.  So, my friend, walk the road.