2 0 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 8 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 2 the problems of religion. He explains, “[t]he problems of religion stimulate the philosophic spirit” (Radhakrishnan 1996, 6), hence drawing a very close connection between theory and praxis, which ultimately culminates into spiritual realization. This kind of attitude frees us from the biases so that we can objectively realize the subject of religion and spirituality. The interrogation of Coelho’s work hence involves not only how the finite world in his select novels engage the matters of religion and spirituality, but also how and where they locate the two. This exploration extends to the rest of the article. The Zahir, for instance, locates spirituality outside organized religion, in group therapy and Tengrism. Michael’s group therapy is an alternative spirituality which not only acts as psychotherapy and healing therapy but also spiritual therapy, which is extremely therapeutic for the soul. Storytelling is a very essential activity in his spiritual community, where the members talk about the stories of “jealousy, abandonment, depression” from their own personal lives (Coelho 2005, 54). In doing so, one has a feeling that one is not alone in the crowd: “I think about myself and the many times this has happened to me. They are, after all, statistics. We are not alone” (Coelho 2005, 54). The members illustrate their personal experiences to ensure that others benefit from their energies but at the same time “empty their own minds,” thus benefitting themselves spiritually. They reach a stage where the process develops their potential to the maximum and they can go no further in the process of emptying themselves of their past: “as we empty our minds of old stories, a new space opens up, a mysterious feeling of joy slips in, our intuitions grow sharper, we become braver, take more risks, do things which might be right or which might be wrong, we can’t be sure, but we do them anyway” (Coelho 2005, 118). Michael believes that during the sharing of his stories it is “the voice” or “the presence” that speaks for him on stage. He narrates only those stories that the voice or the angelic presence asks him to do, and therefore he believes his experience is mystical. His going into trance makes the members in the group believe him to be gifted with a special power, while the narrator thinks it to be just epileptic fits. Research shows that the “primary and necessary cause” of such experiences can only be the “mystical capacity” of a person; drugs, dance, music, and so on are not the primary cause but can only trigger the mystical experience (Clark 1968, 91). Drugs cannot be the cause or even instigation of mystical experiences, as shown in the case of Michael’s group therapy. However, dance and music as forms of transcendence exist in institutionalized religions too. Dance, in fact, is a recurring element of transcendence specifically in Indian literature. Sunil Kothari (1978, 73) explains: “Through dance the symbolic meaning of the desire of soul (ātmā) to merge with the Super-soul (Paramātmā) God is conveyed. The outpourings of the poets, the saints, the devotees underline this symbolic motif.” R. K. Narayan’s well-known novel The Guide is an apt example which considers dance as a spiritualizing state of being and meditative in nature. The character Rosie is a classical dancer in the novel whose dance on the song from an ancient Sanskrit composition makes her lover, Raju, transcend time and space. He admits: “I could honestly declare while I watched her perform, my mind was free, for once, from all carnal thoughts. I viewed her as pure abstraction” (Narayan 1958, 125). In The Zahir too, the ritual of dancing transports the members to an alternative world. The narrator, who is part of the therapy group, has a mystical experience and desires to surrender himself to the sound of instruments that are “emitting sounds to no known language as if they were speaking directly with angels” (Coelho 2005, 97). To him, the tracing movements of the members in white clothes seem to express the communion with God. In the same novel, Coelho views another spiritual possibility in the worship of “sky god” or Tengri. Tengrism is the traditional religion and belief system of Kazakhstan, whose basis is concordant, peaceful, and balanced coexistence of mankind and nature. Tengri has also been associated with the name of Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan), the great Mongol leader. It is believed that he was protected by Heaven and thus came to be known as Tengri or the “son of Heaven” (Sagaster 1987, 328). In the novel, Esther meets Dos, his grandfather, the local tribes, and shamans in Kazakhstan, from whom she learns about this religion. They believe in sky worship and consider it a “kind of religion without religion” (Sagaster 1987, 323). They recognize that they cannot take divinity out of nature and put it in a “book” or within the “four walls” of any religious institution (Sagaster 1987, 323). Tengrism and its relation to Kazakh culture and nomadism as explored in the novel have been extensively discussed by Charles Weller in an article entitled Religious-Cultural Revivalism as Historiographical Debate: Contending Claims in the Post-Soviet Kazakh Context. Revivalism of the traditions of the past is one of the foci of Weller’s article (Weller 2014, 142). Weller argues that Tengrism was revived and could peacefully co-exist with the other dominant religions, Islam, and Buddhism, because of
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