The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

 Twenty years ago, I was so excited for I was going to enroll myself in a library. Books were a distant reality until then. Strangely, I don’t remember the first two books which I took from the library but the one I bought from a shop keeper who had set up his shop on a portable cart. He was of my age and was selling second-hand books. With the meagre pocket money I was getting at that time, I could afford only second-hand books.

And I bought ‘ The Alchemist’. It changed my life. I knew about dreams but this book taught me how to dream. There’s a huge difference between the two. For the first time, I realised that by pursuing your destiny, you are coming into close contact with the creator. It gave me goosebumps when I absorbed that idea for the first time.

As Paulo Coelho says in his book ” Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of his dreams because every second of the search is a second encounter with God and with eternity.”

The story is about a boy called Santiago who had dreamt of a treasure and was in pursuit of it. He inspired the universe as he dared to pursue his destiny. Like him, the author says everyone has a destiny and to reach there, one has to listen to his heart. For that, he has to be truthful to himself.

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.’

I think the story assumes different dimensions at different stages of your life. When I read it 20 years ago, I grasped only the basics because I was a naive girl with little experience. Time flew by and my experiences made me capable of comprehending the much more deeper meanings. I am sure, many years down the line, I would grasp more things.

Coelho says it is the fear that’s holding us back from achieving our destiny.

“Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.”

“We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions or our property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.”

Along the way to your destiny, your determination will have to undergo several tests.

What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’

“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

Years later when I met the shopkeeper he owned two book shops. Perhaps that’s his destiny.

Some more quotes which I hold close to my heart:-

“When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.”

“Your eyes show the strength of your world.”

“When something evolves, everything around that thing evolves as well.”

” Anyone who interferes with the destiny of another thing will never discover the destiny of his own.

” Remember, the world is only the visible aspect of God. And that what Alchemy does is to bring spiritual perfection into contact with the material plane.”

” Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart.”