As they say “Books take you away from reality” ….

As they say “books take you away from reality” I don’t feel the same sorry!

I believe books teach us how to create our reality and live a life, broaden our view,books are not always an imagination, it can be anyone’s reality, with time my focus diverted from story to writer,I have felt more for words than fictional characters, I always wanted to know what was on their mind when they were writing,I am a reader, but I don’t find any escape I love my reality somehow books played an important part in that acceptance, when you read so many characters, how they act in different scenarios, Their approach towards life and people around them, how a writer is creating an illusion, making it logical and believable!

All of this has contributed to our life, we evolve with a book its a part of our growth. For those who find escape in books, I pray their reality to become so beautiful that they never want an escape in any form.

As I am talking about books, their impact on our daily life and their contribution to our thought process and mental growth. There are plenty of books I really enjoyed reading and learnt a great deal from but I will share the book that has a radical effect on me is :

Forty rules of love by Elif Shafak

“Forty Rules of Love” is a masterpiece by Elif Shafak one of the most celebrated Turkish writer. This book is a classic for Rumi and Shams of Tabriz’s admirers.

In which she effortlessly explained that how you can be unhappy and empty in a picture perfect marriage. To fill this emptiness she started writing a review on the book “Sweet blasphemy” as a part-time job. Reading that book changed Ella’s (the protagonist) perception about life, happiness and her personality evolved with every turning page. She found love at the age of forty.

But for me, the captivating part was Shams of Tabriz (the whirling dervish who confronted folk wisdom and stereotypes) & Rumi’s relation. I have read many versions of Shams and Rumi’s equation, countless western misunderstandings of mystical love but no one has ever described their bond so beautifully.

One of my favourite rule from Sham’s Forty rules:

Jalaluddin Rumi met his spiritual companion, Shams of Tabriz, they have spent several months together and it changed the great scholar and teacher Jalaluddin Rumi’s life. Shams gave him the key to all doors and taught him how to defeat his “Nafs” and how after winning the inside war a lover’s true self appears. 

Rule no #2 The path to the Truth is a labour of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge and ultimately prevail over your Nafs with your heart. Knowing your ego will lead you to the knowledge of God.

Rumi was grieving and turned into a poet when Shams left (Note: don’t pay attention to the western interpretations) because Shams was the one who taught him the right way to love GOD & HIS creation, Rumi’s Love for GOD & his poetry was a gift from Shams. Rumi loved Shams companionship because of Shams connection with GOD “Rumi loved Shams love for GOD”, he loved his wisdom, he was Shams’s admirer, Rumi wanted to learn and absorb all the knowledge and wisdom he had, but he knew Shams’s life was  flowing river “unstoppable”. 

Rule no# 40 A life without love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western. Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water.

*you will be a different person after reading this. Highly recommended !