Why did the monk sell his Ferrari? To buy another Ferrari?

I recently finished all leaves of a literary piece “The Monk who sold his Ferrari” by Robin Sharma.

The book, with the pride of three million copies sold worldwide, excels with rich language, apt idioms, inspiring quotes, fables, messages and speeches of great writers, symbols and many more.

This is the book that is supposed to serve to awaken you and the same urged me to choose to read it, at least spending 15 to 30 minutes a day to cover the 198 pages. It had its impact on my daily life and I hope, it will also turn you into a new leaf.

Story: An ambitious lawyer, after a heart stroke, gets awakened, sells all he had, says good bye to his profession and looks for someone in the Himalayas who would transform his life. How he got enlightened, how he shared the ageless principles of the Sages of Sivana with John, another lawyer to transform him make the rest of the story.

Run your own race. Find your Destiny. Stop daydreaming and live the present. Live totally, with full potential of your Real Self.  These are the central threads and the objective here is to transform the readers who, by applying the principles unfolded by Julian to John, can rejuvenate themselves and make their lives more meaningful and joyful ones.

But Why did the monk sell his Ferrari? To buy another Ferrari? 

Aim, dream, goal, achievement and finding your destiny are all different words but refer to the same “desire”. 

How ridiculous it is to say that the ancient principles of the sages of Himalayas is goal setting,  that is,  merely the corporate term of the western mind. 

I was forced to stop reading somewhere in the middle of the book where the spirit of spirituality completely disappears and Robin Sharma, as a unique corporate trainer, elaborates the principles of goal setting through his so called enlightened protagonist Julian Mantle who has sold all his wealth to learn this “ancient principles of sages" known as goal setting.

Robin Sharma is a great writer but not the awakened one and  knows not the least how an awakened one lives. I love his language but how long I can read the experience of a so called yogi whose words have no life in it.

I can never imagine a sage who asks you to write your goal in a paper and visualise it with a deadline and says this what he learnt from the sages of the East.

Robin Sharma is , in my opinion, marketing his known spiritual ideas.  

The long discourse between these two is, more or less, that of a soft skill trainer to a corporate employee.  The focus here is not enlightenment but personality development- a high quality western product with Eastern label. The language used is from a learned mind, not from a liberated soul.

In fact, the book does have no story at all but a long night discourse between Julian and John about the ageless principles of Sages. Nothing is to speak of descriptions of events or characterisation.  No story is here to be developed, or struggles to overcome.

The book will be a good guide and an inspiring one for IT people and for all who want to achieve their goal.

I feel now and tell myself -Don’t judge a book by its cover.  This book is, of course, “The Lost Child” in a Sales Fair.

However, the following quotes from the book, that touched my heart will be remembered by me as a true source of inspiration for ever.

“The size of your bank account and the size of your house have nothing to do with living life with a sense of joy and wonder. This world is full of unhappy millionaires.”

“I had everything money could possibly buy. But I sold my soul for it.”

“A person with three solid friends is very wealthy indeed.”

“Don’t let others steal your time. Having the little courage to say no to the little things in life will give you the power to say yes to the big things.”

“when you control your thoughts, you control your mind. When you control your mind, you control your life. And once you reach the stage of being in total control of your life, you become the master of your Destiny.”

“… truly enlightened people never seek to be like others. Rather, they seek to be superior to their former selves. Don’t race against others. Race against yourself.”

“…books do not actually teach you anything new. Books simply help you to see what is already within your self. That’s what enlightenment is all about.”

“Don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish.”

“people who study others are wise but those who study themselves are enlightened.”

“The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master.”

“Your I Can is more important than you I.Q.”

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside awakens.”

“I am simply a man who has found his soul.”