Book Review: 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari"

“The Monk who sold his Ferrari” is written by Robin Sharma and symbolizes the true value of life. The primary characters of this book are Julian and John.

Julian is a wealthy and successful lawyer. He owns a mansion, a private island, and a red Ferrari. John, on the other hand, is one of his associates and is inspired by Julian’s successful life.

At first, the story starts with Julian’s heart attack due to a stressful work schedule. While in the hospital, he decided not to practice law anymore. He sold most of the goods he owned and left India to search for the essence of life.

He made no contact with his associates. After quite a while, he returns from the mystical Himalayas, where he has imbibed the true wisdom of life.

Julian tells his fellow junior, John, about how he met the Gurus and Yogis, who helped him during this journey.

The book is about 200 pages, which normally takes five to six days for an average reader to complete. A person who prefers spiritual life will enjoy reading this book. It focuses on the self and can give superior results.For example, when John saw Julian, he was amazed at how youthful Julian looked.

It happened due to sacrificing a stressful and materialistic lifestyle. The author enlightened the reader about the seven virtues of life through each phase, story, and symbol. The seven virtues are The magnificent garden, the towering lighthouse, the Sumo wrestler, the pink wire cable, the gold stopwatch, the fragrant rose, and the path of diamonds. Each virtue has its lesson, which will connect the reader. Also, it is noteworthy that each lesson has a summary so that the learner can get an overview of the lessons.

It is also essential to mention that sometimes the book tends to get monotonous, due to its heavy bunch of philosophies and humorless lessons. This doesn’t mean that it is not interesting.

This book’s title instantly grabs the attention of the readers. It depicts how a wealthy person who owns a Ferrari has selected a spiritual and peaceful life.

This book also focuses on many aspects, some of which are listed below.

• Allow the mind to have positive thoughts, and forget all the negative memories as they exude negative vibes
• Life with proper discipline ensures success. Lack of discipline leads to chaos.
• Respect time, as it won’t come back. Plan every day to ensure better productivity.
• Explore the meaning of your life, and set goals to achieve it.
• Helping others selflessly will give you peace of mind and heart.

This book is recommended to anyone with a stressful work life and trying to find inner peace. It taught me how focusing on self can lead to a pleasant life. It also shows how a materialistic lifestyle can ruin everything.

Some beautiful quotations from the book

• “Happiness is a journey, not a destination.”
• “Never regret your past. Rather, embrace it as the teacher that it is.”
• “Blaming others is nothing more than excusing yourself.”
• “Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.”