Robin S. Sharma is an acclaimed international guru who guides readers towards enlightenment . The success of his best seller The monk Who Sold His Ferrari is nothing less than sensational !

That book had a captivating, as well as a delightful story. When I was still under the spell of Sharma’s books, I started reading this book. This book does lay a tough task ahead of us !
“ Who will cry when you die “ sets about making us think hard as to how to manifest the fullness of our talents. It is not simple though, we know ! Robin Sharma calls this book life lessons which is ofcourse very apt. The title suggests that we should live such a life that the world cries when we die ! Who would’nt ask for that ? He gives simple solutions to what we think are complex problems. But I find that, the language and the way he puts them are simple, but to follow them is definitely complex.

The author has given not less than hundred points for us to follow to enrich our lives.At this rate, reading this book has to be a life long pursuit, if we want to follow atleast some of them. I personally feel, if we patiently read through the book completely, we are on step one already ! It needs a strong determination on our goal towards self improvement to think and climb on to the second step ! It is, in patches, similar to a moral science book , since it is full of “do’s” and “don’ts” in life !
But we can’t deny that even if we start practising a few of them to start with, there will be better balance,control and effectiveness in our daily lives. There is no doubt that this will be a pleasure for the people who interact with us ! So we start with the idea that “the pleasure of my improvement will be others’, not mine !” To think this way, is not easy either !
To start with,if we identify our calling & make it our way of life, our life starts changing for the better. We all want to be the person which we never are, ultimately ! I think I am going through this phase personally after all these years, in my life and hence I am able to appreciate this point better ! We struggle to establish an identity for ourselves throughout our life, but very often, only unsuccessfully ! Sharma suggests working hard at it, is worthy of the reward, we get in life.
A very interesting suggestion of R. Sharma is to take a “ worry break”, allotting a specific time every day, exclusively to brood over your difficulties. He says make a note of all your worries the whole day and wallow in your problems in the allotted time. He assures us that gradually we will decrease the time for this break and eventually this habit will be eliminated forever ! Sounds worth trying ! But there may be one problem – we will end up creating worries since we have allotted a time for that & we do not want to waste that time, not worrying ! So this suggestion has to be tried with special care !
Like Deepak Chopra, Sharma also suggests regularly spending time in communion with nature and silently witness the intelligence within every living thing. I personally follow this, since reading this book and find that it keeps me centred on my highest life priorities. This has made a difference in my life.
Sharma expects us to be mature enough to see troubles as blessings which teach us valuable lessons in life. It is rightly said that tough men last and tough times don’t ! I personally feel this trait cannot be cultivated, but we come to accept it only when life takes its toll on us, mercilessly, sometimes.
Yet another point which I liked very much in this book, is one I have been practising, ever since I attended my energy classes. Whenever we give away money, if we bless it and give, it comes back to us manyfold !This only proves the timeless truth that the hand that gives is the hand that gathers. To bless the money every time we give cash or cheque – does sound odd and funny, but even once you are proved right, you start practising it – who does not want money to come back, multiplied ?
Our respecting our own instincts – the voice within, is stressed by the author and rightly so. It helps us decide whether that thought or action is within or outside our “comfort zone” as we call it. I think this is one of the best suggestions given by the author & the morally strong sounding word “ conscience” is replaced by the layman’s word “ voice within” ! Now it looks within our reach!
If the book “ The monk who sold his ferrari” helped readers cope with the rat race of life, this book with its long list of lessons does make us wonder whether we can take up the challenge at all. But I am not one to give up easily & try I did my best ! Regular reading of the book and trying to incorporate atleast a few in my life have made my mind more full, and life more happy. The more I live, the harder I want to work and rejoice in life for its own sake. Only then I would have been fully used up when I die and hopefully, people who know me will cry !

Love & regards, Vanga Srikanth