“The Alchemist”

A magical fable about following your dream

- Paulo Coelho
VP
Jan 2008
What is so special about this
book?

“A modern classic – Publishing phenomenon ---- 43 million

copies and translated into 56 languages”

“Life enhancing impact on millions of people”

“... beautifully poetic but his message is what counts .... he

gives one a hope and puts a smile on one’s face”
 The experience

“Reading The Alchemist was like

getting up at dawn and seeing the
sun rise while the rest of the world
slept”
What is the book about?

“Teaches us about the essential

wisdom of listening to our hearts
and following our dreams”
What is the book about?
The fable is about Santiago, the
Shepherd Boy, who is chasing his
dream with a single minded
intensity

It can very well be your and my

experiences if we follow our dreams
 Personal Calling
Someone asked Paulo Coelho what was
the secret behind such a huge success
of this book. His answer was, “I don’t
know. All I know is that like Santiago,
the shepherd boy, we all need to be
aware of our Personal Calling”.

“What is a Personal Calling? It is God’s

blessing, it is the path that God chose for you
here on earth” – The Alchemist
Four obstacles to Personal Calling
• Conditioning from childhood that it is impossible
– Over time the personal calling gets buried

• Fear of hurting those we love

– We do not realize those who genuinely wish us well would like us to be
happy and will be willing to accompany us on this journey

• Fear of defeats
– Yes defeats are likely to happen as we fight for our dream
– But the secret of life is to fall seven times but get up eight
times!

• Fear of realizing our dream!

– If you believe you are worthy of what you fought so hard to get, you
understand why you are here
Why is it so important to live our Personal
Calling?
(especially if we are going to suffer more than others)

“Because once we have overcome the defeats

we are filled with a greater sense of peace
and euphoria .....” – The Alchemist
 The Fable
Santiago, a boy from the Andalusia region of
Spain, chooses to become a shepherd
because he wants to travel far from his land.
He has a recurring dream that tells him to go
to the Egyptian Pyramids because a treasure
awaits him. He follows this dream and comes
across various experiences including meeting
an Old King (God?) who inspires him to follow
his dream and The Alchemist (Guru?) who
guides him to the treasure. In the process
there is a huge transformation in this boy.
In the following slides, let me just pick up some
key experiences of this shepherd boy and
highlight them, along with the lovely learning in
each one of them.
 The boy leaves his home
His father tries to discourage him from his burning
desire to become a shepherd and travel with his
sheep. Finally when he finds him pretty made
up in his mind, he gives him money to buy
sheep and blesses him.

While blessing him on his way the father tells the boy,
“Take to the fields and someday you will learn our
countryside is the best and our women the most
beautiful”
(Home sweet Home !)
 Gypsy’s interpretation of his dream
A gypsy interprets his recurring dream as a sign
that he should travel to Egyptian Pyramids and
that a treasure awaits him there.

He does not give much credence to this and is

back on his travel itch ...... in fact to see a girl
he has taken a fancy to, during his previous
year’s visit.

And then ........ he meets this Old King (God?)

It changes the course of his life .....
 And then he meets this Old King .....
At first the boy is irritated at this Old Man
trying to strike a conversation with him. But
then he is startled to find that this Old Man
knows everything about his past and that he
is a King. The boy asks, “Why would a King be
willing to speak to a shepherd boy?”

The Old King says .................

“Because you have succeeded in discovering
your destiny”

Does the author imply the “Old King” is none other than
God???? God communicates with one who succeeds in
discovering one’s destiny?
 The Old King .... to the Boy

“ .... There is one great truth on this planet: whoever

you are when you really want something, it is because
the desire originated in the soul of the Universe. It is your mission
on earth”

“To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real

obligation”

“And, when you want something, the whole

universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”
 The Old King .... to the Boy
The Old King tells Santiago that he will appear whenever one who is
chasing his destiny is frustrated and is at the point of giving up.

“I always appear in some form or other. Sometimes in the form of

a solution or a good idea. At other times, at a crucial moment, I
make it easier for things to happen ...... but most of the times
people do not realize I have done them”

He relates how a miner had abandoned everything to go mining for emeralds

and after five years of single minded back breaking efforts he is at the point of
giving it all up. Since the miner had sacrificed everything to his destiny, the Old
King decided to get involved. He transformed himself into a stone that rolled up
to the miner’s feet. The miner with all his frustration and helpless fury of his
five fruitless years picks up this stone and throws it aside. But he threw it with
such a force it fell on another stone and broke it. And there embedded in the
broken stone was the most beautiful emerald in the world.
 The Old King .... to the Boy
“In order to find your treasure (destiny) you will have to follow the omens. God
has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens
that he left for you”

A certain shopkeeper sent his son to the wisest man on the earth to learn the secret of
happiness. This wise man lives in a huge palatial place. He asks this boy to carry a
spoon filled with some drops of oil, wander around the palace and return, without
spilling the oil drops in the spoon. When the boy does so and returns, he asks him what
all he saw in the palace. The boy’s abashed reply was he was so focused on the oil
drops that he could not see anything. The wise man sends him back asking him to see
the wonders of the palace and come back ... the spoon with the drops of oil still in the
hand of the boy. This time the boy sees all that the palace had to offer and on his
return recounted what all he witnessed. But the wise man asks him why the oil drops in
the spoon were missing. Only then the boy realized that he has spilt the oil drops. Then
the wise man tells him, “The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the
world and never to forget the drops of oil in the spoon”.
 On goes Santiago ----- Tangiers --- Egypt
The shepherd boy goes on and finds himself in Tangiers. Robbed of his belongings, all
alone in a strange country which speaks an unknown language, he feels quite dejected
but decides to work, earn enough money and go back home. He starts working in a
Crystal Glass shop and gets so involved in it that he makes the shop-owner very
successful with his ideas and hard work. In the process he learns ........
“there is a language that everyone understands ...... the language of enthusiasm, of
things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something
believed in and desired”. Suddenly he realizes Tangiers is no longer a strange city and
just as he had conquered Tangiers he could conquer the world.

He asks himself why he wants to go back to home and his sheep and not go after his
dream of a treasure in the Pyramids. He acknowledges to himself the comfort that the
familiar life (home & sheep) offers and the fear that the unknown (desert) evokes. And
then he decides to go after his dream and joins a caravan that goes towards Egypt.

“Taking a decision is only the beginning of things. When someone makes a

decision he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he
had never dreamt of when he made his decision”
 Gnana Yoga vs Karma Yoga !
In the caravan Santiago meets an Englishman who is in search of a particular Alchemist
known to live in the desert .... to learn the science of alchemy .... which converts any
metal to its highest form of purity.

In my opinion this part of the book is where it gets very

interesting. Here are two guys, traveling in the unknown, one
elderly Englishman in search of The Alchemist, the other a
young man from Spain in search of his dream. The
Englishman steeped in constant study of the books filled with
equations and formulae on Alchemy and Santiago
immersing himself in the desert and learning constantly
from it. Both are getting enriched in their own ways. At one
point they exchange the roles. Santiago tries to read the
books on alchemy and the Englishman tries to observe the
desert. But both give up, finding it futile. The Englishman
expresses that alchemy is a serious discipline requiring every
step to be followed exactly as done by the Masters. He feels
the boy’s soul is too primitive to understand all these. On the
other hand the boy is getting more and more convinced that
alchemy can be learnt through one’s own daily life.

The boy tells himself, “Everyone has his or her own way of learning things. His
way is not same as mine nor mine as his. But we are both in search of our
destinies, and I respect him for that”
 Desert’s teachings ... to the boy
In the desert not knowing when tribal war might strike, the Camel driver in the caravan
tells the boy, “I am alive. That is all I think about. When we are marching I just
concentrate on marching. If I have to fight, any day to die is as good as any other day.
I do not live in my past or the future. If you concentrate on the present you will be a
happy man. Life is the moment we are living right now”

“Future? The secret is here in the

present. If you pay attention to it you
can improve on it. And if you
improve on the present what comes
later will also be better. Forget about
the future. Live each day according
to the teachings.”

“The dunes are changed by the winds but the desert

never changes”
Desert’s teachings ... to the boy

The closer he got to the realization of his dream

more difficult things became. He was
being constantly subjected to tests of his
persistence and courage.
He could not be hasty or impatient.”
 The boy meets The Alchemist (the Guru?)
It is the Englishman with his books and formulae who is searching for The Alchemist in
the desert but The Alchemist identifies the boy as his student that God has sent to him.

When the boy asks The Alchemist whether he is going to help him towards his destiny,
The Alchemist says, “No. You already know what you need to know. I am only going to
point you in the direction of your treasure”.

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will

find your treasure. You have got to find that treasure,
so that everything you have learned along the way can
make sense” – The Alchemist
 The boy’s dialogue with The Alchemist
(the Guru?)
To whoever reads the book, I would suggest pay a lot of attention to Pages # 114 &
115. Here The Alchemist tells the boy the consequences of not following your dream.
And the vacuum that gradually ensues.

The boy asks The Alchemist why he could not understand about alchemy from the
Englishman’s books. And whether he should be understanding those codes. The
Alchemist says, “Perhaps, if you were in a lab of alchemy ... but you are in the desert.
Immerse yourself in it. The desert will give you an understanding of the world (Karma
Yoga?). In fact anything on the face of the earth will do that. You don’t even have to
understand the desert. All you have to do is contemplate on a single grain of sand and
you will see in it all the marvels of creation”.

“How do I immerse myself in the desert?”

“Just listen to your heart. It knows all the things because it came from the Soul of the
World (Brahmam?), and one day it will return there”

“What kind of things the author is referring to here in

these dialogues? Aren’t they all sounding very very
familiar!
 Great quotes from The Alchemist

“Before a dream is realized the Soul of the World tests everything learned along the
way. It does not do this because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing
our dreams, also master the lessons we have learned as we moved towards that
dream. That is the point at which most people give up. In the language of the desert,
one dies of thirst just as the first of the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.”

“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every

search ends with the victor being severely tested”

“The world is only the visible aspect of God. What the

alchemy does is to bring spiritual perfection into contact
with material plane”
 The Alchemist – the Grand Finale
The boy’s transformation
The boy turned to the hand that wrote it all. As he did so he realized the
universe fell silent. The boy reached to the Soul of the World. He saw that it
was part of the Soul of God. And he saw that the Soul of God was his own soul.
And that he a boy could do miracles. In fact he transforms himself into a wind.

“And there was a smile on the face of The Alchemist”

 The Epilogue - The boy’s treasure
The book goes on to show that the boy reaches the Pyramids and searches for
the treasure. He listens intently to his heart to find where the treasure is.

The heart whispers, “Be aware of the place where you are brought to tears.
That is where I am and that is where your treasure is” ........

Want to know how the book ends this fable? Does the boy find his
treasure? In the Pyramids? ....There is a twist in the tail!
Just look at slide 11 and read what the boy’s father had said when
the boy was itching to commence his journey. Therein lies the
beautiful end to this beautiful fable!

(beyond saying this, I do not want to be a spoilsport spilling the beans as how
Coelho ends the book. Do buy/borrow/steal a copy and read for yourself)
 In a nutshell ......
“Teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening
to our hearts and following our dreams”

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will

find your treasure. You have got to find that treasure,
so that everything you have learned along the way can
make sense” – The Alchemist

The heart whispers, “Be aware of the place where you are brought to tears.
That is where I am and that is where your treasure is” ........

“And, when you want something, the whole

universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”
 What this book means to me?

As I read through it .... the boy’s chasing his dream, his learning
from everything he comes across, the helping hand from the Old
King, the guidance from The Alchemist and his remarkable
transformation ...... all together make this book look like a tribute
by the author to .... “Karma Yoga, the Guru in one’s life and God’s
constant kind presence nearby”!
 Each human being was given two
qualities: power and the gift. Power
directs us towards our destiny; the
gift obliges us to share with others
what is best in us
- Paulo Coelho
Each human being was given
two possibilities: action and
contemplation. Both lead to
the same place.
- Paulo Coelho
(has this author studied our Srimad Bhagavad
Gita!)
Thank you!