The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari English Literature Essay

“The monk who sold his Ferrari” is a story about Julian Mantle, a high-profile attorney with an extreme schedule and a set of priorities that centre on wealth, power and reputation, which provides a tactic to living a simple life with greater balance, strength, courage and abundance of joy. This story by Robin S. Sharma is the tale of Julian Mantle, a lawyer brought head on with a spiritual calamity. The fable starts in a glorious garden with a lighthouse in the middle of the soil. Out of the lighthouse walks a nine foot tall, nine hundred pound Sumo wrestler who is naked apart from a pink wire cable covering his private areas. He trips over and falls on a stopwatch, which had been lying on the floor, and loses consciousness. Nevertheless, the wrestler wakes up to the fresh perfume of yellow roses coming from a distance and when he looks over there, he discovers that there is a diamond-studded pathway there. He takes that pathway only to continue on in this magnificent life and to complete his journey of spiritual importance and search for inner peace.

Julian Mantle’s spark of life begins to flicker and so he begins a life-changing journey and unearths the ancient ethnicity of India. During this journey he learns the value of time as the most important commodity and how to cherish relationships, develop joyful thoughts and live fully, one day at a time. Julian Mantle, being the exceptional lawyer he was, had achieved everything most people would like to have: professional triumph with a seven-figure income, a luxurious mansion in a neighbourhood occupied by celebrities, a private jet, a summer home on a tropical island and his cherished possession – a flashy red Ferrari parked in the centre of his driveway. Suddenly he had to come terms with the unforeseen effects of his disturbed lifestyle. John, who is a friend as well as co-worker of Julian, narrates the story.

He begins by describing Julian’s extravagant way of life, his over-the-top courtroom theatrics, which constantly made the front pages of newspapers and his late night trips to the city’s most excellent restaurants. The turning point in Julian Mantle’s life came about when he collapsed in the courtroom all of a sudden. The doctors said that it was his obsession with work that had caused him the heart attack. The last few years Julian had worked day and night without caring about his mental and physical health. That helped him become a very rich and successful lawyer but took charge of his physical, as well as mental state. At the age of fifty-three he looked like he could be seventy and to top that, he had lost his sense of humour. At the hospital, he had refused to meet any of his colleagues and then on one fine day he quit the law firm and packed off without saying where he was headed. Three years passed without any news from Julian then one day he stopped by to surprise his friend and former colleague John, who was now a pessimistic older lawyer. However Julian, in the past three years, had been astonishingly altered into a healthy man with physical exuberance and spiritual vigor. His heart attack shook him into realization mode and Julian Mantle decided to sell all his property and left for India.

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The author talks about Julian’s odyssey, how he met the sages of Sivana who had an enormous effect on him. Julian Mantle discloses his story of transformation and his secrets of a happy and rewarding life with his friend John. Julian portrays to him Sivana – a small place located in the Himalayas, the land of rose-covered huts, composed blue waters with white lotuses floating on the surface, adolescence and liveliness, stunning glowing faces, fresh and exotic fruits. He tells John about the sages of Sivana who knew all the secrets of how to live life happily and how to accomplish one’s dreams and attain one’s destiny. Julian narrates his experiences with Yogi Raman, the leader of the sages of Sivana, as he was the person who taught Julian the secret of leading a happy life.

He narrates to John the fable that contained the seven virtues for a life abundant with inner peace, joy and prosperity of spiritual gifts. Mantle reveals the seven virtues of enlightened learning. Them being – 1) master your mind, 2) follow your purpose, 3) practice kaizen, 4) live with discipline, 5) respect your time, 6) selflessly serve others and 7) embrace the present. He tells John the methods that he learned from Yogi Raman on how to tackle our minds with simple techniques like “the heart of rose technique” and “the secret of lake technique”. He tells John how to develop the mind and how to use obstacles for expanding knowledge one’s self. He talks about establishing and pursuing our own principle and teaches John the ancient art of self-leadership with practices such as “do the things you fear” and “the five step method for attaining goals”.

He expands about the importance of self-discipline and respect for time. He describes techniques such as “the ancient rule of twenty” and “the vow of silence”. He teaches John, as well as the reader, on how to focus on the priorities and thus maintain stability and simplify life. He gives examples that prove that determination is the essential virtue of a fully actualized life. Julian teaches John the virtue of self-sacrifice in serving others. He asks John to embrace the present and live in the present. He tells him not to sacrifice happiness for accomplishment and to relish the journey of life and live as though each day was his last.

Towards the end of the book Julian asks John to spread these secrets for the benefit of other people. Embracing John like the brother he never had, Julian departs. The message is a bit too clichéd and the lectures too finicky for the reader who is more or less familiar with the values and insights gathered by Julian Mantle from the sages of Sivana.

Each of the things Julian Mantle came across on his spiritual journey signifies something important.

1) The magnificent garden represents one’s mind

It is important to cultivate one’s mind on a daily basis.

Letting only positive thoughts into the mind is essential. Negativity should be considered a sin.

2) The lighthouse signifies our principles in life.

A person’s life is restricted and so it is vital to concentrate on one’s life’s main aims.

Laugh, love and live everyday fervently. As Julian had learnt at from the Great Sages, every day should be treated as one’s last one.

3) The sumo wrestler symbolizes self-development

This involves – building strength of character, developing mental toughness and facing problems bravely.

The word Kaizen means the never-ending and daily development of one’s self. It signifies crossing the limits in order to develop mind, body and spirit in spite of fear, danger and anxiety.

4) The pink wire cable signifies control

A wire cable consists of many strings that have been woven together. The strings, by themselves, are feeble and yet, together when they form the cable it is strong. Determination and discipline are like the strings that need to be woven together to make the mind and body strong.

Discipline and self-control are the acts of controlling the mind and this can be done by replacing weak and negative thoughts with strong and positive ones.

5) The stopwatch represents time: Time is the most important service of one’s life and it is essential to learn how to make the most use of the time given.

Time is fixed and everyone must be able to live life to its complete potential.

It is said that time mastery is the foundation of life mastery.

6) The fragrance of the fresh yellow roses denotes service

7) The diamond-studded pathway represents enlightened living

Live an enlightened, blissful and rewarding life. Live and believe in the “now” factor. As Julian Mantle had learnt, live in the present and think that every day is the last one.

In brief, “The monk who sold his Ferrari” written by Robin S. Sharma should be regarded as one of his best written books as it looks into the deeper aspects of life; those aspects being the reasons as to why each person is themselves.