Searching for Meaning of Life and Its Journey: A Study of Coelho's Novels in the Light of Rumi's Masnavi

The question of life's meaning, the nature of love, and the quest for self-realisation have persistently occupied both mystical and philosophical traditions across cultures and historical periods.Literature, as a reflective and transformative medium, frequently becomes a site where these existential concerns are articulated, negotiated, and reimagined.This paper undertakes a comparative literary and philosophical study of Paulo Coelho's Brida (1990) and By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994) in dialogue with selected passages from Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, particularly The Tavern: Whoever Brought Me Here Will Have to Take Me Home and A Community of the Spirit.The study argues that both Coelho and Rumi conceptualise love not merely as an emotional or romantic experience but as a transcendent, divine force that dissolves binaries between self and other, masculine and feminine, and sacred and secular.The research highlights the enduring relevance of Rumi's poetic wisdom in addressing modern anxieties surrounding identity, freedom, fear, and the search for meaning.Ultimately, the study proposes that spiritual love and inward transformation emerge as universal pathways toward an authentic existence that transcends historical, cultural, and gendered boundaries.