Spiritual Journey in Paulo Coelho’s Novel the Alchemist

INTRODUCTION

Paulo Coelho is one among such writers who is the most broadly published Brazilian writer ever. In complete he has published 30 books, three of them are self-portraying, while majority of others are fictional. Anyway every one of these novels is established in his background? I n absolute he has sold in excess of 150 million books in more than 150 nations worldwide and his works have been translated in 80 dialects. The recipient of various lofty universal awards. He is a story teller with a power to inspire countries and to change individual‘s lives. Other than being a universally acclaimed creator, Coelho is a blunt dissident for peace and social equity. He is dispatcher of peace for the UN, an envoy to the European Union for International Dialog, An individual from the board for the Shimon Peres Institute for Peace. Coelho was conceived on August 24, 1947 into a white collar class family in Rio de Janerio. He went to class kept running by the Jesuits, as per the desires of his folks, who were dedicated Catholics. Anyway Coelho was an adamant and rebellious youngster. He aspired to pursue a vocation as an essayist - a lifelong that his dad, a pragmatic specialist, found entirely undesirable. In his late adolescents Coelho was focused on a Psychiatric Institution by his folks, who deciphered his literary desire as an indication of instability. Paulo Coelho is one among such writers who is the most broadly published Brazilian writer ever. In complete he has published 30 books, three of them are self-portraying, while majority of others are fictional. Anyway every one of these novels are established in his background? In all out he has sold in excess of 150 million books in more than 150 nations worldwide and his works have been translated in 80 dialects. The recipient of various esteemed universal awards. He is a story teller with a power to inspire countries and to change individuals lives. Other than being a universally acclaimed creator, Coelho is a blunt lobbyist for peace and social equity. He is delivery person of peace for the UN, a diplomat to the European Union for International Dialog, An individual from the board for the Shimon Peres Institute for Peace. Coelho was conceived on August 24, 1947 into a white collar class family in Rio de Janerio. He went to class kept running by the Jesuits, as per the desires of his folks, who were sincere Catholics. Anyway Coelho was an obstinate and rebellious tyke. He aspired to pursue a vocation as an author - a lifelong that his dad, a pragmatic architect, found entirely undesirable. In his late teenagers Coelho was focused on a Psychiatric Institution by his folks, who deciphered his literary desire as an indication of instability. Paulo Coelho is one among such writers who is the most broadly published Brazilian writer ever. In all out he has published 30 books, three of them are personal, while majority of others are fictional. Anyway every one of these novels is established in his background? I n complete he has sold in excess of 150 million books in more than 150 nations worldwide and his works have been translated in 80 dialects. The recipient of various lofty worldwide awards. He is a story teller with a

equity. He is delivery person of peace for the UN, a representative to the European Union for International Dialog, An individual from the board for the Shimon Peres Institute for Peace. Coelho was conceived on August 24, 1947 into a white collar class family in Rio de Janerio. He went to class kept running by the Jesuits, as per the desires of his folks, who were passionate Catholics. Anyway Coelho was a determined and rebellious tyke. He aspired to pursue a profession as an author - a lifelong that his dad, a pragmatic specialist, found completely undesirable. In his late adolescents Coelho was focused on a Psychiatric Institution by his folks, who translated his literary desire as an indication of instability. Coelho's Alchemist which is considered as a world great established his overall notoriety. The Alchemist was noted as one of the twentieth Century most vital literary marvel. Since Coelho entered for the second time in the Guinness Book of records in Oct. 2008 with his book 'The Alchemist' as, the most translated book on the planet. It has been altered in excess of 150 nations thus far 35 million copies have been sold. It is a novel that is rich of transformative language and it reflects Coelho's personal experiences in learning chemist for a long time. The principle character, Santiago, who goes to a faraway nation just to pursue his fantasy, really reflects the writer who never surrendered and followed in his fantasy to be author regardless of numerous challenges that experienced on his street to progress. Paulo believes that God has doled out a specific job to every person and it is his/her obligation to play out that job by following his dreams. Through this novel he reveals to us how every one of us has a particular Personal Legend, however a large portion of us don't realize it. Coelho's Alchemist which is considered as a world exemplary established his overall notoriety. The Alchemist was noted as one of the twentieth. Since Coelho entered for the second time in the Guinness Book of records in Oct. 2008 with his book 'The Alchemist' as, the most translated book on the planet ( in 67 dialects) . It has been altered in excess of 150 nations thus far 35 million copies have been sold. It is a novel that is rich of transformative language and it reflects Coelho's personal experiences in learning chemist for a long time. The primary character, Santiago, who goes to a faraway nation just to pursue his fantasy, really reflects the writer who never surrendered and followed in his fantasy to be essayist in spite of numerous troubles that experienced on his street to progress. Paulo believes that God has appointed a specific job to every person and it is his/her obligation to play out that job by following his dreams. Through this novel he discloses to us how every one of us has a particular

Paulo Coelho is a charming storyteller, rousing individuals everywhere throughout the world to see past the ordinary and into the amazing. He needs to pass on his perspectives about how we get spiritual direction or astuteness. His perspective includes discussing both the psyche and the heart .The prominence of his educating owes a lot to the dismissal of sorted out religion just as the manner by which it offers a remedy to the deficiency of skeptical existentialism in providing importance, esteem and reason. For Coelho spirituality is a personal and individual methodology. The Times properly watches, 'His books have had an actual existence enhancing sway on a huge number of individuals'. Paulo Coelho is a storyteller with the power to inspire countries and to transform people.

In 1981, he wedded Christina Oiticia, a painter after three fizzled relational unions. He is an enthusiastic explorer. Coelho started his fifty-multi day journey with his spiritual ace in 1986 to Santiago de Compostella, a medieval explorer's course among France and Spain. Along this journey, Coelho is guided by a man named Petrus who has accomplished the title of Master and is currently called upon to lead other planned bosses. During their journey, Petrus shows a few activities and ceremonies that are known as the practices of RAM. He likewise instructs that the genuine way to wisdom can be identified by three things. At first, it must include agape, and it must have commonsense application in one's life lastly it must be a way that can be trailed by any one. During his interest, Paulo experiences many interesting individuals to support his endeavors. They are Mme Lourdes, Father Jordi, Alfonso, Andrew, and a sheep. Army, a tramp, and several little young men endeavor to occupy Paulo from achieving his objective. His journey isn't just related to mental yet additionally physical and spiritual. He was told by his lord to walk the whole seven hundred kilometers without taking any easy routes or he will risk being precluded the acquisition from securing his sword for the last time. Other than strolling the whole street Paulo should likewise scale a fifty-foot cascade, battle a demonic canine, and raise a fallen wooden cross. In the midst of these physical tests, Coelho must figure out how to scan his spirit for the wisdom to comprehend reality behind his sword. The walk and the spiritual arousing he encountered during the journey inspired him to compose The Pilgrimage. The book portrays his experiences and his disclosure that the extraordinary happens in the lives of ordinary individuals. It was some time ago entitled as The Diary of a Magus and later retitled as The Pilgrimage and along these lines began his literary vocation establishing him as one of the bestselling writers on the planet, securing him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records and an acclaimed writer of universal notoriety. The novel The Alchemist is about a shepherd kid who travels a long way from home looking for a secretive treasure which he envisioned was covered up in the dusty terrains of Egyptian pyramids. He sets off a journey with the end goal of discovering his treasure. In the end he finds that the treasure lies not in the pyramids but rather in one's own heart and there is no compelling reason to scan for it in the outside world. The novel has brought him colossal ubiquity far and wide and established him as a standout amongst the most famous Brazilian novelists. It advances to readers from various foundations. It conveys a powerful message of following ones dreams. It likewise reinforces the possibility that on the off chance that one is extremely subtle and effective way. The novel depends on his very own large number experiences as an author and as a person. His personal desire to travel, to peruse books and adapt new things are communicated in the novel and he adds some imagination to make his work interesting. Through Santiago, he communicates his very own self ―His purpose in life was to travel, and, after two years of walking the Andalusian terrain, he knew all the cities of the region. He was planning, on this visit, to explain to the girl how it was that a simple shepherd knew how to read. That he had attended a seminary until he was sixteen. His parents had wanted him to become a priest, and thereby a source of pride for a simple farm family. They worked hard just to have food and water, like the sheep. He had studied Latin, Spanish, and theology. But ever since he had been a child, he had wanted to know the world, and this was much more important to him than knowing God and learning about man's sins. One afternoon, on a visit to his family, he had summoned up the courage to tell his father that he didn't want to become a priest. That he wanted to travel.‖ (The Alchemist, 7-8)

The theme of travel is basic in crafted by Paulo Coelho. He and his characters move from space to space looking for a type of goals from internal conflicts. This can come as a treasure, one's "personal legend", or (further) spiritual development. On account of O Diário de um Mago, Coelho experiences a sort of spiritual transformation. En route he goes up against his inward evil presences and learns numerous practices that will help him on his spiritual way on this journey and later on. He is enlisted into the secret Catholic request endless supply of an undertaking alloted him by his spiritual ace. O Alquimista presents the fictional character of Santiago, a kid who settles on the apparently strange choice to turn into a shepherd since it is the best way to travel and gain genuine wisdom. In the process of traveling he pursues longed for treasures and learns the concept of one's "personal legend" from the incredible scriptural figure Melchizedek, the King of Salem. Also to his first spiritual collection of memoirs referenced above, O Aleph, denotes his journey through reality as he is given an opportunity to vindicate himself and resolve unaddressed conflict from a previous life in the present. The three journeys here speak to a way of human transformation which empowers the hero of each work to (re)create his narrating biography, both present and past.

The Alchemist is a classic show-stopper and various themes emerge of it. It is basically a novel of quest. With it mingles the theme of journey, theme of affection and theme of helping one another. These themes are symbolic and complimentary to the primary theme of spiritual quest. A detailed discussion will make it unmistakable. In spite of the multiplicity of themes, the primary theme might be said to be the spiritual quest. In spite of the fact that few themes surface in the novel as the hero leaves on a journey to look for the shrouded treasure, they are central to the hero's pursuit. The hero's quest is much the same as an ancient legend Odysseus who attempts an exhausting journey into some dull, obscure and unexplored district where he experiences self-thoughtfulness accompanied with a few trial of his strength and willpower. In the process, he gains some power of self-disclosure. The theme of journey is the leitmotif of The Alchemist. Since the commencement of human advancement, the journey motif is dominant in writing. This journey motif has frequented the literary personality from time immemorial. Paulo's The Alchemist is a novel that manages journey motif. Santiago's journey to the Pyramids of Egypt frames the center of the novel. His journey is 'uni-dimensional'. It is uni-dimensional in light of the fact that directly from the earliest starting point Santiago‘s points is fixed; his objective is clear. Bom in a basic family "his motivation in life was to travel. [ - ] as far back as he had been a youngster, he had needed to know the world. That he needed to travel" (8). He rebels against his folks' desire who "needed him to turn into a minister" (8). One evening, he summons up the courage to tell his dad that he wouldn't like to turn into a cleric. He chooses to attempt different ways feeling that ministry does not give him satisfaction. At the point when Santiago communicates his will to travel and perceive how the general population in different nations lives. His dad lets him know "Among us, pass on just ones travel's identity the shepherds". Santiago answers "well, at that point I'll be a shepherd!" (9). So Santiago turns into the shepherd and sets out on a voyage through the world. Subsequently, Santiago speaks to the picture of Jesus Christ. One night he dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian Pyramids and leaves his country to actually pursue his dream (The look for treasure and the symbolic journey underline the novel's spiritual implications from the beginning). Another significant journey that contributes a great deal to the theme of journey is a journey of a well-perused Englishman. The Englishman's journey is gone for "finding the one genuine language of the universe" (68). First he has contemplated Esperanto (a fake language conceived in 1987 as a universal mode of communication), at that point the world's the chemist. When he learns from Santiago that Santiago is searching for a treasure, he says, "As it were, so am I" (73). Along these lines, both are on a journey to accomplish their individual 'treasures'. The point of the Englishman's journey is to discover the chemist who knows the craft of transforming lead into gold. In Al-Fayoum (Oasis) he meets the chemist who tells the Englishman "Proceed to Try" (99). Here the Englishman's journey closes. Anyway the Englishman says, "It was my fear of disappointment that previously shielded me from attempting the Master Work. Presently, I'm starting what I could have begun ten years back. In any case, I'm upbeat at any rate that I didn't hold up twenty years" (103). The facts demonstrate that there is a puzzling chain that joins one thing to another. The third journey which is symbolic and sufficiently significant is of the chemist and Santiago. The chemist attempts the journey to assist Santiago with finding out the concealed treasure. His journey supplements the journey of Santiago. He just pushes Santiago towards his objective. An understudy educator relationship creates among Santiago and the chemist, and it clarifies a significant part of the kid's misguided motivation and makes him to remain consistent with his dream. Further, the ruler of Salem, the picture of a rover lady, train, camel driver and furthermore the breeze contribute a great deal to the theme of journey. The journeys embraced by Santiago, the Englishman and the train demonstrate one normal theme that is nothing is given to humankind complimentary; everything is to be 'earned'. In life this acquiring requires journey. Ordinarily the journey is for material gains for precedents the journeys of the general population in the parade, the vendors, the Englishman are for their material gains. In any case, in some cases the journey is attempted for the information and comprehension of the universe and human life. Such a journey is simply the journey acknowledgment (knowing oneself). The journey attempted by the breeze in the novel associates the primary kind of journey with the other for example journey for the spiritual quest.

Paulo employs a vast system of images and images in The Alchemist. His utilization of symbolism and symbolism increases as the narrative advances. The symbolism and symbolism of The Alchemist creates characterization, direct the plot and reinforces the central thought and themes of the novel. It is as far as images and symbolism that the novel The Alchemist generally succeeds. Symbolism in The Alchemist bolsters the principle theme of spiritual quest. With this

the fact that our mission on Earth is to discover "God", that is joy, satisfaction, and the ultimate motivation behind creation. The symbolism of the novel is parallel to the symbolism and the symbolic language of alchemism, and likewise the symbolism of dreams is introduced as "God's language" (15). 'Journey' gives off an impression of being a prominent image in The Alchemist meaning that wisdom is found in the journey and not in goal. Santiago's symbolic journey clearly alludes to Homer's unbelievable legend Odysseus who, likes to travel around so as to find new places, to experience new undertakings and to wander into the huge domain of the obscure so as to fulfill his fretful spirit as much as to look for a steady significance throughout everyday life. Following a time of meandering all over, Odysseus returns home. Like Odysseus, Santiago attempts journey "as his motivation in life was to travel" (8). As far back as he had been a youngster, he had needed to know the world, and "this was considerably more imperative to him than knowing God and learning about man's sins" (8). He rebels against his folks' desire, who needed him to be a cleric and turns into a shepherd. This is profoundly symbolic from the spiritual and enchanted perspective. Paulo Coelho is by all accounts thinking regarding the symbolic language of speculative chemistry all through The Alchemist. In one of the Englishman's books, Santiago initially learns about the chemists - men who trusted that if a metal were warmed for a long time, it would free itself of all its individual properties and what was left would be the "Spirit of the World" (84). Here the 'Spirit of the World' represents gold just as for virtue. "Metal' represents spiritual searcher. In the process of spiritual edification the spiritual searcher liberates him from the negative thoughts and what is left is a genuinely illuminated mans for example the spirit of the world. As far as the symbolic language of speculative chemistry Coelho appears to propose the slow process of spiritual illumination. Further, the Englishman adds as far as anyone is concerned, "The chemists invested so much energy near the flame that step by step they surrendered the vanities of the world. They discovered that the refinement of the metals had prompted a cleaning of themselves" (84-85). This symbolic language of speculative chemistry is parallel to the symbolism of the novel. He needs to experience 'catalytic' transformation to merit the uncommon blessing and the rise that he looks for as his objective. Here the 'fire' implies the torment and atonement the chemist needs to experience to accomplish his reward - 'Thinker's Stone and Elixir of Life'. Savant's Stone' and 'Solution of life' represent spiritual illumination by which one can lead other men for that sort of is the steady process of spiritual transformation. He proposes that through spiritual commencement, one is changed, and raised to a higher condition of awareness. As the Englishman informs him regarding the process of filtration of the metals, he all of a sudden recalls the gem trader, who has said that it is beneficial thing for the kid to clean the precious stone pieces, so he could free himself from negative thoughts. Presently Santiago turns out to be increasingly more persuaded that, "speculative chemistry could be learned in one's everyday life" (85). This is the thing that precisely Coelho appears to recommend as far as catalytic symbolism. This conviction itself is an extraordinary edification with respect to Santiago. In the novel Coelho appears to state that if the wannabe scans for the Divine genuinely inside his very own body, rather than looking for Him outside himself, he will realize the self soon and after that see the body as the inhabiting spot of God. Through such experience the searcher accomplishes worship. He experiences the uniqueness of all things. In the novel Santiago realizes the unity of God and Man when he is approached to transform himself into the breeze. He requests the breeze to transform him into the breeze. The job of the chemist is profoundly symbolic in the novel. In the novel he plays out the job of an educator to Santiago. It is he, who pushes him towards spiritual flawlessness. Santiago expresses gratitude toward him for his lessons and the chemist says "I just summoned what you definitely knew" (162). The chemist encourages Santiago to pull back his psyche from the outside world and direct its consideration inward, on oneself. Santiago takes the chemists 'statute' as God's assertion and it brings his transformation. Santiago climbs the rise at the season of 'night' and finds the Pyramids of Egypt. The 'night' here represents a critical image, proposing the spiritual condition of forswearing and hardship, the torment and misery through which the spirit must go for its cleansing before it accomplishes enlightenment'. For the duration of the night, Santiago, burrows at the spot he has picked, further, the exile make him keep burrowing and on discovering nothing they start to beat him. Paulo states "He was wounded and dying, and he felt that passing was almost" (171). This is profoundly symbolic. The hopeful is accepted to go through a basic transitional stage before he achieves flawlessness. He "bites the dust into life" actually and allegorically as well, in this basic stage. Further, the leader of the gathering of displaced person informs him regarding his very own dream

occur at 'day break'. This really proclaims for him the "spiritual first light" - a mysterious condition of bliss that definitely pursues the "dull night". Through, this symbolism, Coelho can make the readers feel they are partaking in all that is going on to the hero, he is fruitful in making the desired effect on his readers.

Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist has been hailed as a book that has changed the lives of a huge number of individuals to improve things. Actually, it is more a self-improvement guide than a novel. In it, Coelho has focused on the specialty of living: how to make life interesting by following one's dream. He attests that one needs to find one's personal legend or the very reason for being. With the help of the reasoning and brain research of Alchemy, which is basically a workmanship just as study of personal transformation, the basic thought being as lead is changed/evolved into gold (i.e., lead's maximum capacity), also all individuals are fit for self-completion or understanding their maximum capacity. Coelho believes that paying regard to one's oblivious, which manifests itself in structures like dreams, myths, signs and images, one, ought to attempt the journey of existence with affection and care. One needs to pay the cost for one's dream. The novelist lays accentuation on taking choices: one ought not be discouraged by different imposing impediments that come one‟s way. Coelho claims that really the best secret of accomplishment in life is love, for it is at the foundation of personal transformation and collective development. Santiago longs to travel looking for a common treasure as indulgent as any at any point found. His voyage crosswise over various mainlands symbolically uncovers that man is the ace of his destiny and by taking negative forces alongside signs decidedly, one can reach to the higher secrets of the world. The essence of the novel lays on the rationality that solid resolve, courage, determinism, passion and steadiness are simply the main way realization. Santiago effectively experts these entire positive just as negative forces to keep pursuing his dream lastly can find the treasure handles that lie covered up in the profound openings of the human self.

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