The simplest things are often the most profound. And simple writing is a tough job. Kamla K. Kapur uses her simplistic literary approach to unravel the depths and layers of Rumi’s philosophy in her latest book Pilgrimage To Paradise: Sufi Tales From Rumi.US-based multi-faceted Indian author Kamla K. Kapur explores the mysteries of the human spirit by focusing on the works of celebrated 13th Century Persian poet and Sufi saint Rumi.

Even while she penned her debut novel Ganesha Goes to Lunch (a collection of Indian mythical tales), she was mentally working on a book on Rumi. "The seeds for the book had already germinated. If there’s one thing I’ve learned with any certainty, it’s that everything happens in its own time," she says.

The book is a recreation of 30 stories from Rumi’s Mathnawi which deals with themes like the inevitability of death, the deceptions of the world, and the power of love, and as Kamla puts it, "I hope these stories will lead the serious readers back to the rich and priceless complexity of Rumi’s originals."

So, is her book a simplified version of Rumi’s extensive works? "My stories are not simplified. They retain, I believe, the rich complexity and the essence of Rumi’s spiritual message. I have reworked and recreated the stories for modern times, for an attention-deficit generation that does not have the time to dig through Rumi’s voluminous work and read stories that are interrupted by discourses and poetic flights for sometimes as much as 100 pages," says the author, who lives half the year in the remote Kullu Valley in Himalayas and the other half in California with her husband.

However, the author had more than one reason to write the book. She mentions in the preface how Rumi’s Mathnawi came as a "leap of joy in the midst of my grief" after her father’s demise in 2007. "An intense involvement in any project is a deeply healing process. Being engrossed in Rumi was like the total focus a bee has when it is gathering nectar from a flower. Being so deeply involved in the stories helped me to imprint the essential spiritual truth, taught by all religions, deeply into my soul — that when you see with the eyes of the heart, there is no death," she avers.

Talking about Rumi, and why he is still one of the most sought after multi-dimensional authors in the world, Kamla offered us a deep insight into the saint’s philosophy saying his thoughts and values cannot possibly have been more relevant than for a time like today’s.

"Rumi reminds us of the beloved that our hearts seek through all the suffering and joy. His messages of love and separation resonate in our deepest core because it is Sufism we can hold on to in these times when the world has been polarised into Islamic and non-Islamic," she opines.

She insists she is not a scholar of Rumi’s philosophies, but rather a lover whose hunger has been both whetted and satisfied through Rumi. "I am not a scholar at heart and I like to think of myself as a dilettante, one who takes delight in many things and many spiritual traditions, not as a specialist in any one of them. Like I said in my introduction, I am a lover of Rumi rather than an Islamic or Sufi scholar," she concludes.

By Debarun Borthakur