The Conference of the Birds - Farid Ud-Din Attar

An Epic! I should say this is the one book i keep with me always after Bible . It is still inside my bag ,where ever i go i will take this book also. I finished reading this book long time back. I always underline the lines i like most in the books. But in this book,i did not do like that because each and every line i liked and treasured.

This book is a great deal of Sufi poetry , the true idol be destroyed is the Self.The Poems are multi-layered allegory.

The story is that all the birds of the world decided to choose their king as they do not have one.The Wisest of all the Hoopoe suggests that they should go and meet the legendary Simorgh .The  Hoopoe leads the bird in their journey, each bird represents a human character. The journey is tough and the birds one by one leave the group.At last only thirty birds remains and they reaches the place of Simorgh and find only a lake, which shows their reflection .

The birds have to go through seven valleys to reach the place of Simorgh .The are
1)Talab - Yearning
2)Eshq- Love
3)Marifat - Gnosis
4)Istighnah - Detachment
5)Tawheed - Unity of God
6)Hayrat - Bewilderment
7)Fuqur & Fana - Selflessness & Oblivion in God

I quote this from Wikipedia "The idea of God within is an idea intrinsic to most interpretations of Sufism. As the birds realize the truth, they now reach the station of Baqa (Subsistence) which sits atop the Mountain Qaf".

The author makes the journey even more interesting by telling short stories here and there and teach us many things. I loved all the short stories.

Read and treasure the pearls of wisdom.

Complete Audio book in youtube