Picture this. Over 23 million copies of James Redfield's debut novel have sold worldwide since it was first published more than 30 years ago. Not only that. It was a spiritual novel, capitalising on Americans' quest for the sacred, and topping the fiction list-the true barometer of the cultural marketplace-which is really something. Call it spiritual activism, or what you may. 'The Celestine Prophecy' is a gripping tale. It begins with the mysterious disappearance of an ancient Peruvian manuscript with its nine key insights. Insights, which each human being is predicted to grasp sequentially, one after another, as one moves towards a comprehensive spiritual culture on the living planet. You may call it a spiritual utopia of sorts-something that is happening at present in our lives. The build-up is excellent and full of coincidences, the kind one has learned to expect in everyday life, yet without being able to connect the patterns or decipher their spiritual meaning, or intent. Redfield admits that his book was inspired by such important works as Carlos Castaneda's 'The Teachings of Don Juan,' and the famous prophesies of Nostradamus. What's more, his book also draws generously on Baconian logic. Was it not Francis Bacon's last work, 'The New Atlantis,' which pictured for the first time a society with science having its proper place, at last, as the master of things? Or, Plato, who had much, much earlier told us the old legend of Atlantis, the sunken continent in the Western seas, for Bacon and others to bid fair and identify Columbus's New America with Old Atlantis? That story also begins with Peru. However, Redfield does not give any reference to Plato's 'Timaeus,' or Baconian philosophy, or, for that matter, the ten steps of yogic pranayama, etc. Rather, he is quite hypnotised by himself astonishingly, while carrying on with what is essentially a world waiting to be born. 'The Celestine Prophecy' signs on with one of the most basic queries of one's own self: why was one born into a family? Why was one destined to get into the act of leading a particular lifestyle? Where lies the need to know oneself fully? Redfield responds and explains with anecdotes, spiritual and adventurous - each of the nine insights. The first, for example, is attuned to coincidences, a personal journey that opens up our life. Real life is replete with such happenings. For example, a phone call from a close friend, or better still, a soul mate. The second identifies itself with the nature of the universe: the separation of fact from superstition, the mystery of the universe far beyond the laws of Newton, or the theories of Einstein. The understanding of the physical world, where human beings learn to perceive what was formerly an invisible form of energy, makes the next insight. The fourth and the fifth insights reveal the nature of human conflict as being due to a shortage of and manipulation of this energy. The sixth, seventh, and eighth relate themselves to help clear our old, repeated dramas and finding our true selves, the intuition of what to do and answer the true secret of happiness, and how one can relate to others in a new way - in order to bringing out the best in them - by keeping the mystery element operating and the answers emerging. Why is the ninth insight the most important, you'd sure ask. Right? Redfield unravels its essence: 'By the middle of (this) millennium, humans will typically live among 500-year-old trees, gardens, yet within easy travel distance of an urban area of incredible technological wizardry. The means of survival, foodstuff, clothing and transportation will all be totally automated at everyone's disposal. Our needs will be completely met without the exchange of any currency, yet also without overindulgence, or laziness. Guided by their intuition, everyone will know precisely what to do and when to do it and (also) fit harmoniously with the actions of others.' Now, the amusing part of the book. It's only natural that some Peruvian clergymen and police were not overjoyed by such revelations; they wanted the manuscript destroyed before it caused more harm than good to human conscience, and the church. They dreaded the 'transformed understanding of the physical universe.'Perish the thought. If the ninth insight also depicts a human world where everyone has slowed down and become alert, more alert, and ever vigilant for the next meaningful encounter that comes along, Redfield speaks broadly in terms of all insights integrated into the consciousness - a heightened sense of alertness and expectation. Of a destiny that will help increase our energy level, the level of vibrations in the atoms of our bodies, the emergence of a cheap source of energy in the form of fusion, superconductivity, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)- the truth of life itself. The rest is history as Redfield began working on a sequel about the tenth insight, and a host of other titles, thereafter, which are now part of his own Celestine genre. Not merely because he knows only too well that his success was assured, whether or not his exciting new image of human life and its positive vision have it in them to underline the eternal ambience and vibrancy that often leads us to unveiling every human sensibility, including the need to knowing oneself. 'The Celestine Prophecy' has been a perpetual bestseller. It continues, three decades on, to hold its readers in a spell of its own, while attracting a new generation of fans - in a host of languages - from Miami to Beijing and Mumbai to Mombasa. It is not only friendly on your wallet, and travel kit, but it also conjures up classical allegories of spiritual propensities, not to speak of our world's new-found penchant for 'celestial' hype that ought to be taken with just a pinch of salt.