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Never underestimate the power
of the world
Arwa Janjali
Writer-filmmaker Ruzbeh
Bharucha's new book, The Fakir, The Journey Continues
is out. In an interview given to Arwa Janjali, he dwells on
spiritualism, his previous work and his philosophy.
To write
inspiring and motivational books, one needs a lot of motivation and
inspiration himself. Where did yours come from?
My motivation and inspiration is
Sai Baba of Shirdi. Yes, I have always been interested in the
occult, life after death, healing and all the paranormal way of
life. It was The Autobiography of a Yogi, by Sri Paramhansa
Yogananda that really made me realise that I wasn't nuts and that
allzzzz wellllll. Then came The Last Marathon. A book on life
after death and spirit communication, which I agreed to write as I
was broke and unemployed.
The Fakir
mainly deals with the philosophy of free will. Is that why the
character of Baba in the book smokes a chillum and Rudra is not the
conventional saint but more of a hippie? Also, what made you use the
element of humour in a book that deals with they mystic?
Rudra is the present day man. We all are essentially flawed. At
least I am. Rudra smokes too much, drinks, entertains suicidal
tendencies, swears, and most importantly does not take himself
seriously. A good man but trounced by fate and stupid choices and
bad free will decisions. Most of those, who I consider spiritual,
have a great sense of humour and are essentially good human beings
but flawed somewhere or the other. I like humour in the books I
read. My Masters, Shirdi Sai and Avtar Meher Baba, had fabulous
sense of humour. To the lay person, their behavious often bordered
on the ridiculous and the eccentric. Sai love to smoke. Meher loved
to play games. They swore. They abused. They laughed. They had
childlike qualities but were giants spiritually. The moment you meet
a sage and he is a dour man. who doesn't smile or laugh or joke, you
better get the hell out of that person's zone. Something is amiss. I
would be dammed if I was going to write a book with the main two
characters who didn't have a sense of humour or weren't eccentric.
Normalcy is boring.
Writer-filmmaker Ruzbeh Bharucha
The first
edition of Fakir dealt with the journey and the sequel deals with
well being. Could you explain the difference?
The first part The Fakir was all about self discovery,
channeling, healing, power of prayers, karma, and faith, while The
Fakir...The Journey Continues, is about life after death, the
power of free will, addictions, weaknesses and that life never
ends...it bloody continues...and if you don't get your act right on
planet earth itself, there ain't no magic wand in the spirit world
to get your act right up there.
How effective are spiritual books
in changing lives and getting the message across?
Never underestimate the power of
the world. Wise folks informed us, through religious books and
psychic insight, that first came The Word and the rest followed. I
don't know about other books, but I have been told personally or via
sms or mail that The Fakir has made the readers want to be better
people. Made them get closer to their Master. If you are ready, a
scribble on a bus ticket might change your life. If you aren't
ready, all the spiritual books and religious sermons won't make a
damn difference.
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