The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Book Preview

“Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.” ~ Robin Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

Characters in the Book: Julian Mantle, a 56-year-old successful lawyer is the main character in the book. John is another main character who is Julian’s friend and was working as his intern before. Yogi Raman is the leader of the Sages of Sivana whom Julian met on his spiritual journey towards mystic India. Yogi Krishnan shows the direction for Julian’s spiritual journey towards Sivana.

The book will explain to you “the meaning of your life, the purpose of our life”.

This is the story of a guy named Julian who was a very successful lawyer. He was famous, rich and he fought only cases to protect some truly wealthy people. He owned a large mansion, a private jet and of course a Ferrari. But even after achieving these huge things in his life, he was not satisfied. He wanted more fame, more money which led him to a point where he was working for almost 18 hours a day.

As a result, he was divorced, barely interacted with his family and looked like an 80-year-old man, even though he was just 53 years old. So once during a regular court session, he felt some pain around his chest area and suddenly gets fainted. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared that he had a heart attack. When Julian regained consciousness, the doctors advised him not to go so hard on himself, as he was not really in a position to keep up with all that pressure. Doctors advised Julian to quit his job and to live the rest of life peacefully with whatever he had earned. This came as a shock to him. He had been winning all the cases in his entire life, but when it came to his own life, he looked like a loser. It took him a few days to digest this fact and gradually he began to realize all his mistakes.

So one day, on a fine morning, he took a very bold step. He began to sell all the material things he had possessed. He sold his mansion, his private jet and even sold his Ferrari. Once he was done on selling things, he set out on a journey to search the real purpose and true meaning of life. This journey was aimed towards the mystical land of Indian sub-continent across the great Himalayas, home to the Indian monks. These monks were not ordinary human beings, but they were among the people with highest level of wisdom and they were capable of liberating the potential of anyone’s body, soul and mind.

Julien learned from his sources that the monks live happily for more than 100 years, that too with an energy of a young man. It took him several days to find one of those monks who heard Julien's story and finally agreed to take him to their secret place.

Julien began to live there with the monks in that village. Observing Julien's dedication and devotion, the monk decided to teach Julien the principles of life on a condition that Julien will not keep that knowledge to himself. Instead, he would spread it to an outside world. So, the monks started narrating a story.

Imagine you sitting in a beautiful garden. The garden is filled with a variety of trees, flowers and birds chirping around. The flowers in the garden smells really nice and you are having a good time over there. You notice that there is a lighthouse in the middle of the garden and suddenly the door of that lighthouse opens as you can see a sumo wrestler coming out of the lighthouse. It is really weird and strange to look at this sumo wrestler, as he is just wearing an underwear made of thin wire. He wanders around and finds a golden stopwatch lying in the garden. As soon as he tries to pick it up, it slips and he falls on the ground, lying motionless. After a while, you could see him coming back to his senses, probably because of the sweet fragrance of the roses in the garden and he is looking to his left. To his left was a paved path of small diamonds that led to a place where the sumo wrestler could find all the happiness in his life. He begins to walk in that direction and soon gets out of the sight.

Julien asked the monk if this was some kind of a joke as this story made no sense at all. The monk then replied that this was not an ordinary story, as this story has seven biggest principles of life. He then went on to explain the story, leading it to its own hidden meaning.

1. The first principle is related to the garden, which symbolizes our brain.

If you sow good seeds, you will eventually see nice fruit on the trees, good plants bearing beautiful flowers, and nice smooth grass. But if you put garbage in the garden, or if you just stop watering the plants, that place will soon turn into a dump.

Similarly, if you fill your brain with positive thoughts such as kindness, love, empathy and if you keep motivating yourself, your brain will develop into this beautiful garden bearing positive good thoughts. This will help you to achieve great things in life with inner peace. But if you think negative or if you don't give your brain with regular exercises, it will turn into a garbage dump that can only produce something toxic. Its rightly said, an empty mind is devil’s workshop.

2. The second principle is related to the lighthouse, which symbolizes the goals in your life.

The lighthouse shows the right direction to the ships sailing in an ocean. Similarly, we should choose the right path in our life. You can only reach a destination if at all you know your destination.

Choose a target and work to achieve it. You may have to face some difficulties as you move toward your goal. But if you are consistently moving in the right direction, sooner or later, you are going to reach your destination.

3. The third principle is related to the sumo wrestler, who symbolizes the kaizen.

Kaizen is a Japanese word that means continuous learning and improvement. Sumo wrestler has to be very specific with his diet and discipline to achieve this huge physique. Similarly, we need to keep on learning always. It is similar to develop the habit of reading books because books are the best mentors. Not only you learn things from books, but you are constantly improving in every small things that you do in your life. Moreover, books are a consolidation of everything that the authors have learned in their entire lifetime and you can have all that knowledge in just a few hours. So, take part in all activities that you think will help you improve your life.

4. The fourth principle is related to the underwear that the wrestler is wearing which is made up of wires, which symbolizes self-control and discipline.

It may be a small thing, but without the underwear, the wrestler will be naked and that really won’t be a pleasing sight. Now if you have seen cable wire from inside, you might be aware of the fact that it usually is made up of many thin wires which together forms a cable. These thin wires might be weak alone, but when put together are even stronger than an iron rod.

Similarly, our self-control and self-discipline are made up of every small thing we do in our day to day lives. It can be waking up early in the morning or eating healthy. We feel that these small things don’t really matter. But in reality, these are the only thing that matters. You won’t see an instant impact, but in the long run, these small things can bring some big changes in your life and they will define who you really are as an individual.

5. The fifth principle is related to the golden stopwatch which symbolizes time.

No matter how rich or poor you are, you only have 24 hours in an entire day, not even a second more or less than anyone else. But the way we utilize these 24 hours is what makes us happy or sad, rich or poor.

Most of us have this habit of procrastinating which is nothing but a waste of time. By the time you’re done with building castles in the air, someone else out there just signed a hugely profitable deal. By the time you woke up in the morning, someone else is running from the gym feeling fresh, fit and happy.

This does not mean that we should always keep working. Instead, we must enjoy and have some fun activities in our day-to-day life. And what’s really important is to manage everything in those 24 hours. Every successful person knows how to manage time. So, they manage to do every single activity in the same 24 hours that each one of us has got.

6. The sixth principle is related to the fragrant roses.

There is one famous saying in China which means that there’s always a little fragrance remaining in the hand of those who give flowers to others. So here this flower and its fragrance symbolize social cause.

No matter how much you earn or earn or what heights you reach, the satisfaction of helping others is priceless. It is not surprising that some of the richest people in the world today give generously, investing their hard-earned money in a rural development, and many other things. So, if you want to have that precious feeling of happiness and satisfaction, help others selflessly and you will find yourself happy most of the time.

7. The seventh principle is related to the path of diamonds, which represent the small moment of happiness that comes our way in life.

These moments are always in the present time. Our human brains are designed in such a way that we tend to get disturbed thinking of our past and worrying about the future.

You never really enjoy the small happy moments that we have in the present. It can literally be anything, playing with your kids in a nearby park or maybe spending some quality time with your partner. These present moments are supposed to be lived in present and these are the real diamonds in our life. If only you understand this now, you are really going to be good at relationships, and well, a real happy, contented person.

These were the seven lessons that the monk taught Julien which completely changed his life. As promised, Julien spread out this knowledge to the outer world, and that is what we all should do to help our loved ones get all the happiness in life.

Conclusion:

The monk who sold his Ferrari is the type of book that reminds you of life lessons that you may probably knew but never applied practically. It focuses on simple things that we can do that can make a big impact in your life. Some books are meant to be tasted, some are meant to chewed, some digested. While there are some rare books that not only meant to be digested but also made to be a part of the body and mind. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is one such book. Always follow these principles for self-improvement in your day-to-day life:

1. Master your mind: An Empty Mind is a Devil's Workshop.

2. Follow your purpose: You can only reach a destination if at all you know your destination.

3. Practice Kaizen: Our self-control and Discipline are made up of every small thing that we do in our Life.

4. Live with discipline: Our self-control and Discipline are made up of every small thing that we do in our Life.

5. Respect your time: Every successful person knows how to manage time. So, they manage to do every single activity in the same 24 hours that each one of us has got.

6. Selflessly serve others: There’s always a little fragrance remaining in the hand of those who give flowers to others.

7. Embrace the present: We should not worry about the past and concentrate on the present.