The Way of the Monk by Gaur Gopal Das [Book Summary English] @GaurGopalDas

How do you get peace, purpose, and lasting happiness in life? Hello friends, my name is Haritosh Srivastav, and today I'm gonna present the book review of The Way of the Monk. This book is written by Gaur Gopal Das, who is a famous motivational coach and a monk from India. This is a 195-page long book which is full of analogies and stories and really helps you to achieve more in life. I had a terrible time reading this and is an amazing book. It starts with an analogy of a car. Our life is like a car. As a car has 4 wheels, our life has also got 4 aspects, and we're going to talk about that. It's a fictional story of Hari Prasad Aiyar and Gaur Gopal Das. Gaur Gopal Das was invited by Hari Prasad Aiyar for lunch and now Hari Prasad is dropping Gaur Gopal Das back to the ashram. There is a big traffic jam, and in that traffic jam there is this conversation about the 4 aspects of life. So let me talk about these 4 aspects. Number 1 is personal. So he talks again, uh, how can you grow through gratitude. He says that, no, we need to be positive in all the situation, even if it is a difficult situation, we need to find out something positive about that. Once we do that, it allows us to find more positives about that, and that's how we grow through gratitude. He also says that we need to press pause and reflect on what we are grateful of. I mean, you would have heard that story where I, I was complaining about Boots, I don't have that boots until I saw a person without legs. So we need to be grateful about what all we have got in life. The third concept he talks about is why worry. It's about the story of WhatsApp founder. The WhatsApp founders were rejected by Twitter and then even by Facebook, but you know how WhatsApp has become a critical part of our life. So he says that, no, instead of worrying, you need to keep improving ourselves. So that you become valuable. He also gives this beautiful flow diagram for why worry, which you can see that if you can do something about it, you don't need to worry. If you can't do something about anything, then also you don't need to worry. So the fourth thing he talks in the personal aspect is the spiritual practice, where he says there is a higher being and these are different ways and forms that we choose to connect with them. And meditation is one way which can really help you gain. He talks about his own practice of mantra meditation, which he said that it's like a plane which takes you from one place and then brings you to another place. So that is the personal aspect that he talks about. Second aspect that he talks about is relationships. He says that, no, we need to be sensitive when we speak to others. Especially when we are angry. Now, he has this beautiful story of bucket. One day he was being late and he did not like to wash his clothes, and he kicks the bucket. And there's a senior monk in the ashram who tells them, the way you treat inanimate objects, it actually gets spilled over to how you treat other people. So we need to be sensitive by our words and action, not only to humans but also to animals and also to inanimate objects. Next, he talks about a virtuous vision. What is the way we help judge or perceive people? He says there are 5 ways we judge or perceive people. One is that we see only bad and magnify that. Second is see both good and bad, but we neglect good and focus on bad. The third is we see both good and bad and we are neutral to both. The fourth way, he says, is we see both good and bad but we neglect bad and focus on good. And the fifth, as you may guess, is we see only good and magnify. He said that if we want to bring more joy to our relationship, we need to focus on number 4, which is that we see both good and bad but then choose to neglect bad and focus on good aspects of another person. He also talks about correcting cautiously. Now, we all say things in our life which breaks our relationship when we are angry, when we are not in the right mood. It's a beautiful story of Gaur Gopal Das, and he had a sort of dispute with his senior monk in Nepal. And he said that, no, if we are going to correct someone, there are 4 aspects that we need to be careful. Am I the right person? Do I have the right motive? Do I know the right way to correct someone? And is it the right time to correct someone? The 4th aspect that he talks about is the forgiveness. He said that it's a deep and obscure value, and when we are trying to forgive someone, we need to look beyond the situation. We need to separate the episode from the person, and we need to look at the higher purpose. He also cautions about forgiveness versus justice, and he says that if it is a personal level hurt that you have, personal level something somebody has done bad, you may choose to forgive. But if it is something which is at the larger level, be it at the societal level or at the national level, you have to go for justice. It takes the story of Nirbhaya Khan that happened in 2012, and he said why it was important to have that justice for that case. So that is the 4 things that he talks about in relationships. The 3rd aspect that he covers is about the work life, and he said that, no, we have the competition crossroad. We all know that there is a lot of competition But the true competition should be the healthy competition that we have always with ourselves. We need to look at how we can improve ourselves, how we can be better than what we were yesterday, and how can we keep on learning, growing, and achieving more. He said that politics is prevalent everywhere, and we need to be— we need to manage the politics, not indulge in politics. But you should know how to manage politics. The next thing he talks about in the work-life aspect is the self-discovery. As you can see, the concept of ikigai, which is very famous, famous Japanese concept of how you can find purpose in life. What are the things that, you know, you like, you can get paid for, and you are really good at? So these kind of things is said to have finding your ikigai. And if you can find that, that should be something that you invest on, that should be something you work on. The third thing he talks about is that decoding spirituality as work. And, and he says that there are a lot of misconceptions that if you are spiritual, you may not be successful. And he said there are 3 things that you should probably know. Number 1 is that spirituality does not kill ambition and zest to achieve. In fact, it can really help you to get more ambition and, and bring you more zest and calmness to achieve success. Second thing is that there is this misconception that spiritual people get walked over in business. That is completely wrong. He talks a beautiful story of the sage and snake, where a snake used to bite people in the village, and, and this one of the sages said that don't stop that. And once he sees snakes after a few days, he finds that the snake is wounded and people are beating him up, down, and center. And he says that, I asked you not to bite people, but did I did not say that do not scare people if somebody is coming towards you? That is what is important if we are talking about spirituality and work. We should work with the right zest and we should not let us be walked over by others. And he said that we should all make money, it's very important, but we should use it to serve and don't get into the trap of getting too many gadgets and other things. The last thing in work life he talks about is the integrity and character. He says that a good character can change not only your but lot of other lives as well. He says in the Hindu philosophy there are three aspects of Integrity and character. Number 1 is vichar, which is the life philosophy you have. Second is achar, which is the actions that you take based on that life philosophy. And the third thing is the prachar, which is how do you display your conduct based on the life philosophy, based on the actions of the life philosophy. So those are the 4 things he talks about in the work life. Last aspect that he covers is the social contribution. He talks about the selfless service, uh, this beautiful concept of ice cream versus candle. He says that both ice cream and candle melts, but the ice cream melts while you are trying to enjoy it, while somebody is trying to enjoy, while the candle gives light to others. And through service, we can move from being the ice cream to being the candle. He talks about family first. If you want to practice selflessness, it has to start with your family. And then he talks about nation narrative, where you expand your circle of selflessness to your— from your family to your community to your nation. He really hails the heroic effort of our soldiers who make sure that we are living at peace at our home. While they are serving at our borders. He then talks about service brings joy. He says that service means seva in Hindi, and seva is that spiritual element that brings joy and fulfillment. Now, if you bring— if you put a spiritual element to the seva, to the service, it gives you immense joy and you feel that you are fulfilled. So these were the 4 aspects: personal relationship, work life, and social contribution. That can help you live a peaceful life, help you live a life with purpose and happiness. I hope you like this video. Please write in comments what did you like, what aspect you really found insightful. I would love to hear those. Please like and share this video, and if you have not yet done, please subscribe to my channel. Thank you so much. See you. In next book review.