The Secret Letters Of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, By Robin Sharma

Rebottled Wisdom By: Arun Ganapathy

Julian is the Monk who sold his Ferrari; he is also the holder of Nine Talismans, each of which ‘holds a piece of essential wisdom for happiness and a life beautifully lived’. The risk of them being stolen or destroyed makes Julian entrust them to a ‘different trusted safe keeper who would turn it over when Julian had need of it’. And Julian needs it now. So, without really explaining why he himself can’t go, Julian entrusts his cousin Jonathan with the task.

We are already well into the second chapter of Robin Sharma’s latest book, The Secret Letters Of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. 
Jonathan, a corporate high flyer, accepts the task despite his busy work schedule and what follows is globetrotting. Jonathan travels across the world to exotic locales; his first stop is Istanbul where Ahmet, the safe keeper, leads Jonathan through the bazaars of the city and hands him the first talisman with the message that reads: 


‘The power of authenticity. The most important gift we can give ourselves is the commitment to living our authentic life. To be true to ourselves is not an easy task…. Every decision we make, every step we take, must be informed by our commitment to living a life that is true and honest and authentic to ourselves and ourselves alone. And as we proceed, we are certain to experience fortune well beyond our highest imagination.’

Is Sharma saying (or going to say) something original? As you journey further with Jonathan to the catacombs in Paris and then to a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, in Kyoto, the messages read much like a blend of a bit of Eastern philosophy and advice that you can find in many self-help books. The descriptions of Mexico the correlation of the Mayan achievement to the message about ‘making small daily progress’ in the chapter that follows is very readable; but this interest is brief, for in the following chapters where Jonathan travels to places like Spain, Nova Scotia, Shangai and finally the Taj Mahal, the writing slips back into the unconvincing attempts at prose, fictional settings and self-help advice of the early chapters.
 
 

Robin Sharma is acclaimed as one of the most widely read authors today, but this book is far from inspiring.