Of monks, money and madness..... Review on The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Robin Sharma

Rose covered huts?..

Freshest and most exotic fruits??.

Now before you dismiss this as a figment of my imagination trying to sound romantic and get everyone to feel as if this is paradise unknown untouched? No you might as well rate this review an SU and move on with more important chores of the day.

Why, you might ask? Because these phrases in my opinion do not reflect spirituality or self mastery and merely evoke the shallow thoughts of ?see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil? mindset which to everyone?s shock and dismay is just as close to wisdom as Hitler was to kindness.

Now have I lost every bit of sense in the last few weeks or am I short of reviewing material and in sheer despair resorted to such ramblings? This is a review on one of the most popular books released in the recent past and one that?s about to be the basis of a movie. Without much ado, let me first give you an idea of the fictional part.

Background:

FAQs ?

Who is the Monk?

An old lawyer, Julian Mantle, who at the prime of his career reached the zenith of success which, right then according to him was defined by his Red Ferrari, summer home in a secluded island, palatial bungalow is a much coveted neighbourhood. An alumnus of Harvard Law School, he suffered a stroke while battling a case in the courtroom which altered the course of his life.

Why did he sell his Ferrari?

He was too ?sick and tired? and sick of being ?sick and tired? and decided to sell off his material possessions and seek to erase the emptiness/boredom/dullness from his life.

What did he eventually get?

He traveled all the way to India in search of oriental thought and spirituality to achieve oneness with nature and regain ?youth and vitality?.

How do we know all this?

The author is supposedly a lawyer himself and used to betray feelings of dismay and hope alternately whenever Julian his boss would show his madness for work and detachment from ?everything that?s good in life?. The author is the central character who has the privilege of being exposed to a series of pedantic lectures (positive thoughts, ?practical solutions to regaining youth and vitality?, self mastery- Swami Vivekanand just took a 720 degree turn after having heard the kind of clichés perpetrated by authors in the name of awakening power and spirituality in people about some of the pointers discussed at length in the latter half of the review.

Was it just a story with certain characters believing in a set of principles or was it a dialogue- a healthy argument of sorts?

The message has been narrated by Julian in the form of a fable and a substantial part of the book is nothing more than an elaboration- building on the key words mentioned in the fable by making it a rather childish dialogue between the author and Julian.

Tidbits of the fable and the dialogue that ensued are as follows:

Mind being a garden in which you plant healthy positive thoughts.

Sumo Wrestler as an analogy to practicing Kaizen in life ????.

Julian: The Sages of Sivana would punish themselves by standing beneath ice cold waterfalls on Himalayan peaks whenever a negative thought gets planted for even one negative thought can poison one?s mind.

Author: Isn?t that an extreme step? I mean standing getting frozen to destroy evil?

God give me a break! What I expected out of the book was a healthy discussion on Life- its purpose- contradictions may be and probably a different take on oft-repeated quick fix solutions to happiness.

Why is this reviewer hell bent on lambasting some poor chap who scribbled something in the larger interests of mankind?

The reviewer has absolutely no problems with people scribbling, writing, reading, singing or any other activity which people might deem fit to pursue. She believes in democracy ?letter and spirit as well. This is just a humble opinion of a person utterly devoid of thoughts that mark the greatness of relatively wiser beings like Mr. Robin Sharma.

Analysis:

As I mentioned earlier, this book is well suited for youngsters learning the basics of spirituality/ a higher purpose in life/ and how and what to do to enjoy the bounties of nature. So as far as the writing style goes- any kid would find it deeply satisfying to read and try all that?s has been quoted in this book. For those of us who have had the brains to figure out certain key elements on how we want to lead our lives- it could have served as a gentle reminder of our priorities in life but alas the book fails to ignite any curiosity or excitement to try and emulate the principles of the protagonist- Julian who in turn imbibed these from the ?Saints of Sivana?.

Let me address the issues piecemeal.

If the mind can be made as powerful as that of the sages and if self mastery can be attained then I do not understand how and why one negative thought (which for most ordinary mortals is very natural) can destroy the very existence of goodness. Goodness was supposed to have existed despite negativity. Wonder how despite having attained self mastery, a person cannot tolerate a negative thought. C?mon, individuals get all kinds of thoughts and if sanity is a feature of any norma being, he/she would know when and where to draw the line. Aren?t we mature enough to handle negativity or shall we be escapists trying to deny any trace of jealousy, hatred, competition and so many of those thoughts which are natural and pretty harmless as long as the person understands each of them and their root cause? Asking kids to nurture positive thoughts is one thing and asking people to run away from evil is quite another. Tough minds know when to say no.

Secondly, the book claims that success on the outside begins within. For one we would do well to not place success in water tight compartments of ?outside? and ?inside?. You succeed when you feel you did. It has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone other than you-yourself. It seems as if the purpose of one?s life is to start out with a given set of material goals and one you are through with those, you leave everything saying I have succeeded from an external point of view and now let me leave everything and set out to achieve inner peace. Wisdom lies in understanding the meaning of success which can only be internal otherwise by very definition- what you do to please others was never success in the first place. Who cares if others find it a success or failure? You do what you think is right.

I found it a series of very superficial shallow statements claiming to evoke higher thought by way of practicing some elementary mechanical exercises both mental and physical which defy the very idea of self mastery. For it begins with the mind and is accomplished by it alone.

I am sure a lot of us might disagree with all of this but then the beauty lies in the difference of opinion, doesn?t it? It will get so boring if all of us believed in some credo and were duty bound to follow it. To each his/her own.

Keerti