Chetan Bhagat in conversation with real-life monk who sold his Ferrari

Chetan Bhagat the popular Indian writer was recently seen in conversation with AiR-Atman in Ravi, the transformational author and Spiritual Guru during the podcast on latter’s YouTube channel. While the two happily discussed books, it was obvious that the conversation would move on to bigger philosophies of life. However, a high point of the show was when the popular Indian author realised that he was indeed in a rendezvous with a real-life monk, who actually sold his Ferrari, not literally but definitely in the sense of giving up a booming career in the quest for spirituality.

It came up when Chetan referred to AiR’s latest book Happiness is Success and questioned whether it was a mistake, for he had always heard about people chasing success in the expectation of happiness. He even mentioned that he became an IITian, then a banker and then an author all in the want for success and thus happiness. Responding to it, AiR said, “I chased after success for 25 years, from one peak to another to another. I was trying to attain achievement and fulfilment through money, success, fame and more money. It made me happy, gave me pleasure which was just the first peak of Happiness.

“We do not realise that pleasure comes and pleasure goes, eternal bliss forever flows. When I realised the real meaning of happiness, I stopped. You read the book The Monk who sold his Ferrari, for example, it is a theoretical book, but I am the real guy. I shut down my business at the age of 40 because I wanted to find the way to be happy without being unhappy,” he added.

Drawing parallels between his own classmates from IIT who are rich but unhappy because they are always chasing momentary happiness, Chetan got more curious about AiR-Atman in Ravi’s life as an entrepreneur. AiR-Atman in Ravi replied, “When I started my father had a small rented shop. From that one shop I made it ten times bigger. I was the first person to bring modern retail to India. I bought 200 acres of land to build a Disney World kind of amusement park, a casino, a shopping centre in Bangalore. I was planning a helipad, a shuttle train for the place. I could see that at 40, this project would give me happiness for the next 20-25 years. And then my life would be finished. I might have added another zero to 500 crores in that time when my Guru asked me ‘Are you just meant to live and earn and burn? What is your purpose on earth?’

As Chetan Bhagat discovered the path that AiR-Atman in Ravi took to finally find Enlightenment, the third and eternal Peak of Happiness, he himself realised that his own perspective towards life has changed.