Aleph is a beautiful narration of a journey, a spiritually
enlightening journey which the author takes to discover the reason for his
spiritual stagnation. How we all wish to go on such a journey, to find oneself,
and hence throughout the story one feels, it is our journey and that we too are
travelling along with the author.
The story starts with the author performing a strange ritual
with his guide or teacher whom he calls J. every time he learns a new thing, he
feels he will reach spiritual liberation, absolute peace but at last everything
seems absurd to him. J suggests that in order to find answers to his present
woes he should understand the past and for that he need to go on a journey.
Paulo Coelho mentions about the Chinese bamboo which does
not show any signs of growth but suddenly shoots up at the end of fifth year.
In fact all the growth takes place underneath. This establishes so many things.
One, to grow the base, or roots should be strong, second, we need to be patient
and have perseverance to achieve any result. Third, a lot of effort is required
for anyone to become successful, though these efforts may not be visible to
others. It is such a simple thing yet has got so many implications.
The author travels to many countries to find out someone or
something which will help him to relate to the past. He takes the Trans Siberian
route, along with his publishers, to meet his various readers en-route. A
complete stranger, an extremely talented violin player accompanies him in his
journey and tries to find reason to spend more time with him. Then one day the author
experiences ‘Aleph’, a state of trance where time, space and all the points in
the universe converge. It also happens when two people whose destinies are
intertwined meets at the right place. He realises that Hilal, the violin virtuoso
was none other than his love from 500 years ago, his past. He needs her forgiveness
for he had betrayed her in a past life. Hilal forgives him for the crime he had
done in his past life. Thus at the end of the journey he finds peace, his soul
is cleansed.
Hilal and the author share a special bond, a special love
that is so magical. Sometime it happens, we feel a close connection as if we
find our own refection in someone else, but they may never be a part of our
life, maybe they were somehow related to us in another time, in another life. Maybe
their soul could have been a part of our soul some other time.
This book is about love, so pure and deep that it traverses
beyond time, beyond space yet does not demand anything, just as the author says, "a love with no name and no explanation, like a river that cannot explain why it
flows in a particular course but simply flows onwards."
