Book Review: The Prophet
The Prophet.. Sign towards the Spiritual Road !!!
Going on with my book reading I took the thinnest book I can find in my pending list of “Books to read”, THE PROPHET By Khalil Gibran. And frankly this will be the only book which I liked after “The Monk who sold his Ferrari”. The philosophy in this book is like those which you can apply in day to day life. It’s not difficult to understand life but it’s difficult to understand ourselves.
Going on with my book reading I took the thinnest book I can find in my pending list of “Books to read”, THE PROPHET By Khalil Gibran. And frankly this will be the only book which I liked after “The Monk who sold his Ferrari”. The philosophy in this book is like those which you can apply in day to day life. It’s not difficult to understand life but it’s difficult to understand ourselves.
I will write different review for this book. The reason for this is,
1: this book doesn’t have any story but more like one person sharing his views on different aspect of life.
2: I want to share the knowledge of this book thru the small note on each part of life by the author.
3: I am bored of writing in my own language. Just kidding!
So it starts with the arrival of the Ship. After years of waiting, the time has come to move on & live yet another life. Is there pain to leave the place or is it joy of the ship coming? Whatever it is, the time doesn’t wait for anyone and nor does the ship. How often have you sailed in my dreams? And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream. Now let’s hear the thoughts of the author on some of the aspect of our daily life:
LOVE: Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love. And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
MARRIAGE: Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
CHILDREN: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts
GIVING: You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.
WORK: What is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
JOY AND SORROW: Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
JOY AND SORROW: Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
FREEDOM: You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
PAIN: Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE: For self is a sea boundless and measureless. Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.” Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.”
TEACHING: If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
FRIENDSHIP: Your friend is your needs answered. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
TIME: The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness, And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.
PLEASURE: For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life, And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love, And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.
BEAUTY: Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and your are the mirror.
Lastly on his FAREWELL, he says.. You are also as strong as your strongest link. To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam. To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconsistency.
