Deepak's First Blog Entry
Deepak Chopra - June 23, 2005
I am excited to be participating in this Blog. As I travel around the world I would love to share my experiences both internal and external with all of you. Please feel free to respond.
Some of you may know that I have always been fascinated by the phenomenon of meaningful coincidence and synchronicity. This morning, I was thinking of someone that I hadn’t heard from in 10 years and wondering what had happened to them or where they were. And even as I was having that thought my phone rang and that very person was calling me.
I am sure you have had that a similar experience many times. The phenomenon is well known and goes under the name of meaningful coincidence, synchronicity. Through the years I have met a lot of people who have achieved extraordinary things in their lives and all of them say they were lucky; God was on their side, being at the right place at the right time. I think they are saying the same thing. In the Vedic literature we have an expression “Ritam Bhara Pragya”, it literally means that if your mind is synchronized with the synchronistic mind of the universe you tap into the local correlation of the universe and your intentions become very powerful leading to the spontaneous fulfillment of desire. The following are the nine characteristics that I have find in all synchronistic experiences.
1. Synchronicity is as conspiracy of improbabilities.
2. The experience is a result of karmic relationships coming together.
3. Synchronicity is orchestrated in a domain of consciousness beyond space and time where there is non local correlation.
4. It moves us into more expanded state of consciousness where you see events and relationships contextually and as interdependently co-arising.
5. Synchronicity is the result of an intention that you have had consciously and or unconsciously.
6. The experience begins to transform your life and leads to the phenomena of “good luck”.
7. There is great emotional fulfillment from the experience.
8. The meaning and purpose of your life starts to become clear.
9. You no longer see the outer world as separate from your inner world from thoughts, feelings, emotions, fantasies and dreams.
I have found the following attitudes helpful in accelerating this experience:
1. See the world as an extension of yourself.
2. Keep in mind that nurturing relationships is the most important activity in life.
3. Keep your intention lively in your consciousness but detach from the outcome.
4. Remain independent from the good or bad opinion of others.
5. Stay emotionally healthy, free from resentments and grievances.
6. Harmonize the masculine and the feminine in your own being.
7. Keep a diary of all coincidences and ask yourself what are the karmic significances and what do they mean
It has been said that coincides are anonymous gifts from God. I would love to know what you think and would also love to hear your experiences with this amazing phenomena.
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at June 23, 2005 01:36 AM
2
Sex and Spirituality
Deepak Chopra - June 30, 2005
Recently I have started to write a contemporary version of the Kama Sutra. An ancient text that sees pleasure (kama) as one of the four goals of life. The other three being: Dharma which is harmony with the universe; Arth (material abundance) and Moksha (enlightenment). Before I started the book I thought I would put down any insights I personally had with relationship with sex and spirituality which I would like to share with you:
1. Sexual energy is the primal and creative energy of the universe. All things that are alive come from sexual energy. In animals and other life forms, sexual energy expresses itself as biological creativity. In humans, sexual energy can be creative at all levels - physical, emotional and spiritual. In any situation, where we feel attraction, arousal, awakening, alertness, passion, interest, inspiration, excitement, creativity, enthusiasm, in each of these situations, sexual energy is at work. When ever we feel these states of awareness, we must put our attention on the energy that we are experiencing, nourishing it with our attention, experiencing it with joy and keeping it alive in our awareness.
2. Sexual desire is sacred and chaste. The suppression of sexual energy is false, ugly and unchaste.
3. During sexual union, there is union between flesh and spirit.
4. Bliss, carefreeness and playfulness are the essence of sex.
5. To improve your sexual experiences, get rid of your expectations.
Expectations are primarily in three areas: 1) Performance, exemplified in the question, "How am I doing?" 2) Feeling, exemplified in the question, "How am I feeling?" 3) Security, exemplified in the question, "Do you love me?"
6. In sex, as in all areas of life, resistance is born of fear. All resistance is mental. It implies judgment against what is being felt. Sex becomes a problem when it gets mixed with hidden emotions such as shame, guilt and anger.
7. Sexual intimacy is the road to the taste or experience of true freedom, because it is the one area of life in which we can become completely uninhibited and free.
8. Sexual fulfillment occurs when the experience comes from playfulness instead of need. Frequently people bring their conflicts and needs into the sexual experience. When sex is used to fulfill needs, it leads to addiction. When sex comes from playfulness, the result is ecstasy.
9. All problems related to sex, neurosis, deviancy, sexual misbehavior, violence, abuse, can be traced to resistance, to suppression and repression, not to the sexual urges themselves. If we are allowed to discover our urges, desires and emotions, without outside inhibition, they won't go to extremes. Extremism, in any form, is a reaction to repression, inhibition and suppression. Aggression and violence are the shadow energies of fear and impotence.
10. Sex is a means of escaping our little self or ego. It is many peoples' only experience of meditation.
11. Meaningful sex has to be value based. Values are personal. Each situation that has sexual energy in it, involves the whole human being and their entire value system. My values may be different from yours, and I have no right to be the moral judge of anyone's values. It is important, however, to have core values, and respect them. Without values, we become spiritually bankrupt. Sexual experience will never cause problems and will always be joyful, if lovers share the same values.
12. True intimacy is union between flesh and flesh, between subtle body and subtle body, between soul and soul. Sexual energy is sacred energy. When we have restored the sexual experience to the realm of the sacred, our world will be chaste and divine, holy and healed.
I would love to hear your comments.
Love,
Deepak
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Posted by Deepak Chopra at June 30, 2005 11:05 PM
3
The Greatest Crisis in the World
Deepak Chopra - July 02, 2005
I am travelling and will be home tomorrow. I will respond to your responses. Thank you.
In the interim, here is an article I had posted on another blog, huffingtonpost.com, several months ago. I wanted to share it with you:
The following remarks were written for a conference of news people but were judged as too harsh or unfair to the media. I thought it would be interesting to see how bloggers respond to the same ideas--
On a day-to- day basis those of us who don’t work for a news organization imagine that a reporter’s job must be fascinating because he (or she) is constantly running after the future. The evening news isn’t just a string of random events. The future is a mystery, and by gathering bits and pieces of it reporters are on the front line of unfolding the mystery. A new reality is always on the horizon of our television screens.
But what if the exact opposite is happening? I often feel that the evening news simply repeats an old reality. Headlines emerge as recycled versions of the same attention-grabbing crises:
Natural disaster strikes Third World county. Panic and chaos ensure.
New disease breaks out in Africa or Asia.
Peace talks break down in the Middle East.
Rebel forces approach the capital in heavy fighting.
These stories, and dozens more like them, are the prototypes of what is considered news. It would be legitimate to ask in what way they could be called news at all. Nothing becomes real until we perceive it. What I perceive on cable news is that the real crisis that should be covered–the greatest crisis in the world, in fact–is the crisis of perception.
The current perception I get from the evening news is that the world is dominated by human failure, crime, catastrophe, corruption, and tragedy. We are all tuning in to see how the human mind is evolving, but the media keeps hammering home the opposite, that the human mind is mired in darkness and folly. This schism gives rise to stark contrasts.
In the old reality progress comes from technology. In the new reality progress comes from exploring the untapped potential of consciousness.
In the old reality disease is a constant threat. In the new reality individuals are learning that they can become healers.
In the old reality terrorism holds populations in fear. In the new reality a majority of people have given up the outworn tactics of war and violence.
By constantly harping on the old reality as fact and the new as fanciful, eccentric or implausible, the media is using its massive power to fuel the crisis of perception. For example, which of the following stories seems more real to you, more deserving to be called news?
A. Muslims riot around the world after allegations that the Koran was flushed down a toilet in Guantanamo.
B. Spiritual groups hold a vigil at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem that leads to a sharp decline in Middle East violence.
I’m almost certain that at any news organization the first is big news, the second is New Age whimsy. What about the following example?
A. Vioxx is withdrawn from the market on fears that it promotes heart attacks in the elderly.
B. A man with HIV goes into remission through prayer and meditation.
Again, the first is hard news, the second is dubious, false, or a strange anomaly. On the basis of this prejudice against the new reality, the media endlessly trumpets the next new cancer drug, despite the fact that cancer rates have stubbornly remained unchanged for decades, while treating as quasi-hoaxes thousands of spontaneous remissions from cancer that are well documented in the medical literature. Yet isn’t the real issue something that Buddhists have known for centuries: It is an illusion to see mind and body as separate?
Instead of encouraging expansion of awareness, the media treats as news stale medieval religious views that lock us in intolerance. Isn’t the real issue another Buddhist insight: My enemy is as fully human as myself?
It is in the field of unseen and even bizarre phenomena that quantum physics has totally altered the world, and I would offer that by extending the same discoveries to human awareness, you will find the real future, the real news. There are going to be Einsteins of consciousness, and they will force the status quo to change. Journalists need to keep abreast of human potential as a fresh, ever-evolving picture. Ask yourself,
Why do more people in the U.S. turn to alternative medicine than established M.D.?
Why are global communities forming to meditate on a mass scale?
Why do millions of people tell the Gallup poll that they have had paranormal experiences such as communicated with the dead?
Not because they are foolish or superstitious. Rather, the official version of reality is fraying around the edges, and millions of people have chosen to opt out of the official version of truth. While the news continues to recycle the past, the future is gathering strength far away from the glare of publicity, which is where reality has always been born.
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 2, 2005 06:39 AM
4
Removing Toxicity - Rest and Sleep
Deepak Chopra - July 02, 2005
Just got back from a hectic tour. Found your enthusiastic responses to the posts. This is going to be a lot of fun sharing our opinions and experiences.
People frequently ask me how I manage to cope with the travails of travelling, especially getting enough rest and sleep. I thought I would post a few suggestions on what creates good sleep.
Of course, when you are travelling its not possible to pay attention to all the minor details, but if you keep the following points in mind, I think it will be very helpful. My best advice for jet lag is eat very little on the plane, drink lots of water and when you get to where you are getting, just follow the rhythm of the place.
Removing Toxicity
The following conditions, situations, and factors may make a person more
likely to suffer from insomnia, students concerned about exams: people
working the night shift; frequent raveling; depression; stress stemming
from any cause; chronic pain of any kind; taking medications – including,
paradoxically, tranquilizers and sleeping pills; consumption of alcohol; and
being overweight. Unless the primary problem is corrected, the insomnia is
difficult to cure.
If you have restless slumber or find it difficult to fall asleep, then avoid
drinking alcohol and caffeine, especially in the evenings. Nicotine from
cigarette smoke also disturbs sleep. Exercise regularly, but not too late
in the evening. Follow a regular routine and try to go to bed before 10:00
pm. Make sure that your bedroom is the right temperature for you, and that
it’s not too hot or cold. Use your bed only for sleep or sex, and no other
activity. If you read in bed or watch TV or do paperwork, your brain will
associate those activities with your bed and your bedroom environment, and
this may result in insomnia.
The principal concept is this: Most sleep disorders are the result of an
imbalance in some other part of your life. Removing toxic elements from
your life – be they in the form of substances you ingest (drugs, food, and
so on), relationships, or other sources of stress – is the easiest and most
effective way of making the sleep experience a pleasant one.-
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 2, 2005 10:34 AM
5
The Endless Debate
Deepak Chopra - July 03, 2005
Channel surfing the other day, I became aware of the controversy sparked by Tom Cruise and Brooke Shields. Brooke Shields has recently written a book on how pharmaceuticals saved her life from severe post-partum depression. She was at a point almost dangerous to the life of her child and her own life. Tom Cruise, on the other hand, is going on the circuit claiming that drugs are over-prescribed, that life style changes, nutrition and exercise are all that are necessary for the treatment of depression. Who is right?
It is obvious that they both are, but only partially. I think it is really important to understand that in our current understanding of reality, we have to really start going beyond dualistic thinking.
Is it nature or nurture?
Is it body or mind?
Is it biological organism or environment?
Is the universe particle like or wave like?
These endless debates should come to an end. A single reality differentiates into cognition (how we think), emotions and moods (how we feel), perception, behavior, biological function, environment, social interactions, interactions with natures forces, and personal relationships. They all simultaneously, interdependently co-create each other. More and more, people are understanding that that single reality is consciousness itself, the ground of being. Isn't it time we made the study of consciousness a discipline in our academic institutions? This way we would not be bound with certitude to a fragmented perspective. We would recognize that there is a role for everything.
Drug treatment, behavioral and cognitive therapy, life style changes and everything that everybody elese is talking about. Why not integrate all these approaches.
Love to hear your thoughts.
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 3, 2005 06:15 PM
6
ENDLESS DEBATE - PART II
Deepak Chopra - July 05, 2005
I have noticed a lot of discussion on this topic. As you can see many people have benefited from a variety of approaches in their quest to overcome depression. This in it self shows that no single approach is infallible. I have always thought of healing as a creative process in fact I think all healing is a result of biological creativity. Creativity involves the following 9 steps:
1. Intended outcome
2. Information gathering
3. Information analysis
4. Incubation in the non local domain
5. A quantum leap of insight
6. Inspiration
7. Implementation
8. Integration
9. Incarnation
For those tackling depression I would recommend all of these 9 steps. First have a clear intention of your intended outcome which of course must be visualized and experienced in a full sensory experience: sound, bite, touch, taste and smell. Next gather all of the information for the treatment of depression both pharmaceutical and holistic. Third analyze the information to the point of fatigue. Look at all of the components that create reality. Question your perception {how you interpret the reality around you}. Examine your cognitive function how you think, witness your thinking. Fully embrace the emotions you are experiencing and take responsibility for them, witness them, label, describe them, express them, share them with loved ones, learn to release them through ritual and celebrate the release. Also examine you personal relationship, your social interaction, your behavior, your biological physical experiences and your interaction with the forces of nature. In other words, examine all of the different components of reality Ask yourself what needs to be changed – perception, cognition, moods and emotions, behavior , biological, social interaction, environment and interactions with nature. Having done this, go into a period of incubation though meditation, play, recreation, music, dance, poetry, massage, imagination, laughter, restful sleep. Allow for the proliferation of uncertainty. You will have a spontaneous insight into what suits you most. If the insight is genuine you will feel inspired. Implement into action what you have gained from insight integrated with the rest of your life and incarnate with your new experience. This way you will not be attached to any single approach and the approach you choose will be most suited for you. I hope this helps. I invite your comments.
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 5, 2005 09:45 PM
7
The Answer Is Still Peace
Deepak Chopra - July 08, 2005
The terrorist attack in London today has once again created deep anguish in our collective soul...
Around the world people yearn to find peace and give solace to the suffering and bereaved. Once again the clash of polarized enemies clamors for attention. Al-Qaeda takes pride in this heinous and sordid crime, while Western nations seek to bring the terrorists to justice. Yet it would be naive to take the simple way out and call this an example of pure evil and depravity.
In a very real way we are all part of the London tragedy. Everyone is caught in the tangled web of social injustice, economic disparities, ecological disaster, war, and terrorism. Unless we accept this fact, we will continue with our madness of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Mahatma Gandhi declared that if we continue on this path the whole world would go blind. Will we ever see through our blindness and create a global community of connected humanity? To promote peace today means promoting a critical mass of consciousness where violence is never an option.
London, like the attacks in Madrid, Bali, and Indonesia before it, should make us want to live for peace above all. I understand how it's possible to respond to terrorism with deep anger; I cannot understand responding to it with anger that goes on and on forever. There are causes behind every terrorist act and therefore hope that these causes can be changed, even as we continue to pursue justice. We still ignore the source of global instability: religious fundamentalism which has its roots in extreme poverty, where 50% of the world lives on $2 per day, 20% of it on less than $1 per day, a world where 8 million people die each year because they are too poor to survive.
Terrorism also festers because of a lack of education, toxic nationalism, ignorance about the outside the world, and deep economic disparities. Twenty thousand children died yesterday of hunger-related causes around the world, twenty thousand will die today, and twenty thousand tomorrow. That is not part of the evening news. Why not?
Nature abhors a deep imbalance. The human species has become the most dangerous predator on our planet. Nature might be saying to herself, "Human beings were an interesting experiment that didn't work, so let's move on." Or, perhaps, our self awareness has reached a turning point. as Inside ourselves we've always carried the seeds of creativity. The next creative leap isn't a mystery. Millions of people are ready to join in harmonious interaction with Nature--and with our own complex inner nature--to create a world of peace, harmony, laughter and love. Let us strengthen our intention
to create that critical mass of peace consciousness. Every tear can be a drop of nourishment for the new world that wants to be born and is making itself known little by little, every day. Each one of
us can help create this critical mass by becoming the embodiment of peace conciousness through peace practices :
Being Peace
Thinking Peace
Feeling Peace
Speaking Peace
Acting Peace
Creating Peace
Sharing Peace
Celebrating Peace.
The Alliance for the New Humanity is committed to connecting and strengthening the synaptic network of the emerging planetary mind.
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 8, 2005 01:01 AM
8
Stuck at the Airport and Thinking about "Acceptable Slaughter"
Deepak Chopra - July 08, 2005
I am sitting at La Guardia airport in New York City. My flight has been delayed for 4 hours now.
A gale is keeping our small commuter plane grounded with no end yet in sight. All around me I can overhear talk about yesterday's terrorist attacks in London. Someone just said, "It could happen anywhere, any time. Don't be surprised if a bomb goes off right here." The woman she was talking to said, "I wouldn't put it past them."
Rather melodramatic but recent events have exploded the myth of security. We had all been deluded for decades by the illusion that living in a military super-power somehow makes us invincible. Four years after 9/11, which cracked the illusion to pieces, people have been spending a lot of time trying to patch it back together again. It seemed to work, until yesterday.
In the press and on this blog I've been asked what I would do about terrorism if I were President. How would I prevent future attacks? How would I bring known terrorists to justice?
It's the Big Issue that causes everyone to draw in a long breath, waiting for the answer.
But the answer won't be forthcoming unless we untangle the complex web of events that all of us are bound in.
The first step could be to begin questioning our ideas about acceptable slaughter by any side. Is a bombing raid on a city where the majority of the dead turn out to be innocent women and children--otherwise called "collateral damage" acceptable killing?
Is a beheading less acceptable?
Why is killing a person in uniform more acceptable than a person in civilian clothing?
Who makes the rules about "civilized vs. uncivilized" killing? Can we begin to question these rules?
I think most people would give answers that expose an underlying bias. This is the bias that of course "we" are good and mostly right while "they" are bad and mostly wrong. It's on that basis that unacceptable slaughter continues on all sides.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 8, 2005 11:40 PM
9
"Acceptable Slaughter" Part II
Deepak Chopra - July 09, 2005
While on the road, I have been reading all of the responses to my last post and am very appreciative of the discussion taking place. This morning I recalled a quote that I recently came across from a Nicaraguan poet by name Ruben Dario: "There is no truth, there are no lies, everything is according to the color of the crystal before your eyes."
The following is an AFP News item: "The Afghan Government has launched an investigation into a US air raid in which the US military has confirmed civilians were killed. On Tuesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he was 'saddened and distressed' by the deaths of up to 17 people in the US air strike."
There are estimates of over 100,000 deaths in Iraq since the beginning of the war. There are no reliable numbers on the amount of civilian deaths in Afghanistan.
The terrorists bomb civilians in London and New York, and the "military" bomb civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq. They all claim "self" defense. We are all caught up in this tangled web. Both sides seek revenge and retribution and call it justice.
The fundamental questiion of inseparabillity and interdependent co- arising of events goes unaddressed.
What can be done?
Here are 9 steps to conflict resolution for world leaders to think about:
1) There is no question of negotiation unless adversaries agree to speak to one another with respect.
2) There is a sense of perceived injustice on both sides.
3) There is always room for forgiveness.
4) Belligerence antagonizes the adversary even more and hardens them to seek retribution.
5) It is important for world leaders to be emotinally intelligent and understand the principles of emotional intelligence. This includes learning to undertsand your own emotions, having empathy, understanding the emotions of others, and learning the art of relationship management
6) Understanding people have different values than yours.
7) Refraining from proving the other side wrong.
8) Never bringing ideology into the discussion.
9) Understanding that fear is a factor on both sides.
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 9, 2005 08:28 PM
10
Peace Cells
Deepak Chopra - July 11, 2005
Just gave the closing speech at the institute of Noetic Sciences Annual Conference in Washington DC, followed by a 4 hour lecture on the evolution of consciousness. There are great scientists here and great pioneers including Edgar Mitchell, the 4th man to walk on the moon,...
and Erwin Laslo, who has written the most extraordinary book called, Science and the Akashic Field - A Unified Field Theory of Everything.
This is the first time somebody has given a unified field theory that includes consciousness. It is organizations like Noetic Science, the Budapest Club, The Alliance for the New Humanity, and Resurgence that are forming the first peace cells. Soon these clusters of peace cells will increase and we will start connecting the synaptic networks of the new planetary mind. It feels like a phase transition, a quantum leap of creativity for the human species. We must be diligent and earnest and keep our awareness on creating a critical mass of coherent consciousness in the world. It is the only thing that came make a difference. Lets keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 11, 2005 02:16 AM
11
Consciousness is Observing Itself and Everything Physical is Really Non Physical
Deepak Chopra - July 11, 2005
I am on my way to the airport in Washington DC taking a flight to Chile.
I picked up the latest Scientific American and there is an interesting article in it entitled, "The Quest of Christof Koch." The article claims that Christof Koch one of the world's leading neuroscientists, at the California Institute of Technology, believes that consciousness is distinctly physical. According to Dr. Koch, consciousness can be described by existing neurological theories and he’s on the way to figuring it out. Koch is a long time collaborator of the late Francis Crick, who with James D. Watson won the Nobel Prize for discovering the double helix structure of DNA. As I was reading the article, I wondered why no one would see the obvious, that both Christof Koch and his consciousness and the consciousness that he is seeking to understand are simultaneous interdependently co-arising activities of the total universe. Consciousness is observing itself!
When we say, "a physical basis for consciousness" we are forgetting that everything physical is at the most fundamental quantum mechanical level really non physical.
Love to hear your thoughts,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 11, 2005 07:22 PM
12
Deepak's Q&A - Psychology
Deepak Chopra - July 12, 2005
Question:
I have been meditating for a year now, and meditation has helped me out alot in numerous ways. I am attending university in September. I am taking the criminal justice program, and there is a lot of psychology involved. (CON'T)
Someday, I would like to teach meditation and help people through the use of psychology and meditation, rather than prescribing people with medication because I believe in natural ways of healing. I also don't like to label people. Is there any advice you could give me? It would greatly be appreciated. I have seen your lecture about the 7 spiritual laws of being successful, and other seminars of yours given to me by my meditation instructor, which helped a lot.
Answer:
You will be learning a lot about mental pathology in your studies. I would just suggest that with your spiritual interest, that you balance the pathology with the understanding that inherently we are all whole spiritual beings. Also that healing involves much more than an analysis of the old traumas and conditioning of the past. It is even more important to actively encourage the unfoldment of one’s spiritual potential so that proper developmental progress can be reengaged.
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 12, 2005 01:45 AM
13
The Ecstatic Dance
Deepak Chopra - July 12, 2005
I just arrived in Santiago, Chile a few hours ago. I am looking out of my window at the Andes Mountains engulfed in mystical clouds. Way off in the distance I can even see a snow capped peak.
As I was flying down south from Atlanta and looking at the map, a 10 hours flight, I realized that even though I was going be on the Pacific side of the South American continent. I was going to be in the same time zone as New York. Chile is a long pencil-like country and Santiago is almost the same longitude as New York. It occurred to me that even though I was arriving here in the middle of winter (it was cold and windy when I landed) that I wouldn’t be experiencing any jet lag. Jet lag as you know is the disruption of circadian rhythms which is the biological rhythm that occurs in us as a result of the 24 rotation of the earth on its own axis. We have other rhythms in our body. There is the seasonal rhythm that occurs as the earth goes around the sun. (This was certainty going to be affected.) There is a lunar rhythm, a 28 day cycle that occurs as a result of the movement of the earth, sun, and moon in relationship to each other (the human menstrual cycle is a lunar rhythm, but there are others). We also have a tidal rhythm that occurs as a result of the gravitational effect of the sun, moon and all the stars in the distant galaxies on the oceans of our planet. But we also have an ocean within us as 60% of our body is water and once upon an evolutionary time when we stepped out of the ocean we brought a lot of it along as our body fluids. Randomly, I remembered something from Shakespeare, "There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Our bodies are literally a symphony of the stars. When our bodies are totally in sync with this symphony everything is effortless, spontaneous, and the exuberance and abundance of the universe flows through us in joyful ecstasy. There is a poem of Tagore where he says, "where is the fountain that throws out these flowers in ceaseless ecstasy!" Since the earth is Gaia, a living organism she and her children, all life forms and sentient beings, are part of the ecstatic dance. Flowers bloom in spring, the ground hog comes out of the earth, fish return to their spawning grounds, birds migrate, the mating rituals begin, young and old hearts fall in love and people are moved to write poetry. All this is a non local single correlation of the One consciousness at the heart of creation. A Haiku poem says, "Autumn leaves, snow in winter, summer breezes, spring flowers. If you are fully awake this is the best season in your life."
Ecstatically yours --- Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 12, 2005 07:01 PM
14
Deepak's Q&A - Weight Problem
Deepak Chopra - July 13, 2005
Question:
All my life I have tried to lose weight, and have managed to several times. But now that I am older the problem is worse than ever, and I feel such a failure because I am about 60 lbs overweight, and the more I try to muster the effort to discipline myself the worse the situation becomes and the more weight I gain. What is the insight I need to change my life and be healthy and slender as I truly want to be?
Answer:
Don’t look on this as a battle with your weight and image. Understand that what you are trying to do is help your body find its ideal health and well-being. His involves more than just attention to diet and exercise, you must learn to listen to the intelligence of your body. Listen to what your body really wants to eat, not what it craves or habitually wants in order to emotionally feel better. Learn to eat only when you are hungry and to stop eating when you notice you are not hungry anymore, instead of eating until the food is gone or you are full. Pay close attention to the taste, smell and sight of the food, and make sure you are eating in a pleasant, calm setting. Your body has all the knowledge you need to regain your health. Let it be your guide, and media images or your internal self-sabotaging self. You might benefit from reading one of my earlier books, Perfect Weight.
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 13, 2005 02:07 AM
15
Soul of Leadership in Santiago
Deepak Chopra - July 13, 2005
I am in the middle of a seminar "The Soul of Leadership" in Santiago, Chile.
The seminar is being attended by corporate and business leaders from all over Latin America. At this moment we are discussing the mechanisms of intentionality, insight, imagination, inspiration, creativity, and choice making. We are on our lunch break -- a lot of discussion and insights from various peoples' experiences. More when I catch my breath.
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 13, 2005 08:32 PM
16
Deepak's Q&A - Pre-Waking Experience
Deepak Chopra - July 14, 2005
Question:
I was in the state: 'just before waking', when I saw myself, but not with my eyes, as a cocoon of light and I started to vibrate faster and faster. I came to a sudden stop and I had a very vivid and colorful vision of a somewhat human being who I was holding in my arms.
Then I was in a normal state of waking. Later that day as I was washing my car, an elderly lady came up to me in distress, she needed a ride because her car had broke down. I gave her a ride near were her car was suppose to be. I never saw her car. She was supposed to meet her mechanic there. I drove around the block because I was curious but I never saw her again. later I realized that this lady was the one I had the vision of. It happened again, this time however, the vision was of a different somewhat human being who also needed a ride. This was at a time in my life when I was having spiritual and psychic experiences. Do you have any idea of what this was about?
Answer:
I don’t have a clear cut explanation for you, but it’s interesting that in your vision you were holding this being in your arms, and then in waking life they came asking for help and you offered it. If there is a message there, then it probably lies in your simple act of offering help when asked.
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 14, 2005 02:01 AM
17
Correspondence with Nick
Deepak Chopra - July 14, 2005
Dear Deepak,
I'm about to write to all who participated in Be The Change recently with the sad news that one of our core members, Colin Morley, has died in the London bombings. Police confirmed to his family last night that his body was found in the Edgware Road site.
I don’t know if you met Colin....he led the Circle time which we had in the middle of each day, after lunch.
I was very impressed with your article, The Answer is Still Peace – and I wonder if I could use it (attributed of course) on our website and in some emails informing everyone of our loss.
Many thanks,
Nick
http://www.bethechange.org.uk
***********
Dear Nick
Feel deep grief at our loss Nick. Of course you may share the article with whoever you wish. I will keep us all and Colin in peaceful awareness. Feel deep anguish for our collective suffering. love, deepak
Love, Deepak
************
Dear Deepak,
Beautiful....thank-you....we now have a weblog type space on our home page for people’s comments – http://www.bethechange.org.uk ....would you be OK if I entered this:
“Feel deep grief at our loss. I will keep us all and Colin in peaceful awareness. Feel deep anguish for our collective suffering. love deepak”
To honour Colin – and the others who died – we’re beginning to think what we might do to change the whole approach – of the politicians and the media in particular – to these events and those who perpetrate them and who, somehow, we must reach....Do you have any plans to visit London in the coming months?
Love to you too,
Nick
********************
Nick you do not need my permission for any of this. You are reaching out my friend. Keep reaching out and there is always someone listening love, deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 14, 2005 06:17 PM
18
Deepak's Q&A - Personal Growth and Responsibility
Deepak Chopra - July 15, 2005
Question:
For several years now I've been learning about and trying to put into practice the ideas you have been espousing in your books and lectures.
Prior to those years I've made some life altering decisions that I probably should not have made (20/20 hindsight). I've always been one to believe that a person meet their responsibilities even at the expense of personal happiness/fulfillment especially when they involve other human beings that would not be in a particular situation if not for your decisions and that as a result depend on you. Do you have any words of advice for me and any others (and I imagine there are many) in this type of situation who wish to adopt your ideas and techniques in the pursuit of fulfillment and yet do not wish to neglect responsibilities that may stand in their way? Is it even possible to have it both ways?
Answer:
The personal fulfillment and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive goals. In fact, they are interdependent. You don’t have to choose between your spiritual well-being and your responsibilities you may have to a child, a spouse or parent. Those obligations are part of your life and therefore a part of your spiritual growth. All of the practices that I include in my books and seminars are designed to be incorporated into everyday life. They are not meant for those who have no social duties. By attending to your individual evolution you are making yourself strong enough to discharge your social responsibilities, and by taking care of those who depend upon you, you are helping your larger self by discharging those responsibilities to others that reflect those aspects of your inner life that need attention.
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 15, 2005 06:22 PM
19
Freedom
Deepak Chopra - July 15, 2005
Long flight from Santiago, Chile to Atlanta to Denver and finally from Denver to Aspen.
On my way to Chile, I discovered that I had lost my credit card and had only $3 on me. My phone stopped working. I have one of those palm pilots which gets email and text messages and so I am constantly communicating with colleagues, friends, and family from all over the world. I felt uncomfortable in having to relinquish my habitual certainties. My luggage got lost in Denver. Bedraggled, in dirty, smelly clothes without anything to change into, $3 in my pocket, and a phone not working, I arrived in beautiful Aspen. The plane landed in the lush mountain top valley. All around me were majestic mountains, mute and proud as ever present witnesses to magnificence. Suddenly, there was a hint of freedom in the fragrant mountain breeze.
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 15, 2005 09:17 PM
20
Reincarnation
Deepak Chopra - July 16, 2005
I have been receiving a lot of emails asking questions about reincarnation and the meaning of death, so I thought I would post some material from one of my previous lectures on this subject.
This material is derived from Vedanta, theosophy and the writings of Swami Ramacharaka. Some of these concepts here may sound too metaphysical or archaic. I am reworking this lecture in the terminology of quantum physics and will post it here soon. The following is a summary of the ideas and experiences of some of the greatest people who have lived on our planet.
The Meaning of Death
When people ask if the soul lives on after death, the answer is yes. When people ask if the personality lives on after death, the answer is that personality doesn't even live on while we are alive. Our personality is always changing, we are not the same person we were five, ten or fifteen years ago. It would be a sorry state if we were. Our personalities are constantly evolving, transforming, growing. If the question is, does the individual survive death, the answer is, what's an individual? In reality there's no such thing as an individual, what we call "me", the individual is different from day to day, week to week, year to year. The question would be, which individual are you talking about, the old individual who was bordering senility, the young person who was in love and full of romance and desire, or the young child who was full of innocence and wonder. Which one are you talking about? Which one would you survive as?
The individual is constantly undergoing changes so what survives is a soul which is beyond individual personalities in the sense that there is a continued transformation of what we call the individual, during life and after death. The caterpillar dies to become a chrysalis and begins a long slumber with its own energies. Then the chrysalis dies to become a butterfly which is a very different level of existence so, is the caterpillar the same individual as the chrysalis and the butterfly? It is the same creature that has become something else and yet every cell in its body is different, every energy in its body is different, every expression of the energy in its body is different. Everything experiences a change of form and a change of activity. There's a change of the expression of energy within the form and then there's a change in the form. Nothing really dies. The water drop becomes vapor, which becomes a cloud or a rainbow, which falls as rain to become water deep in the ground transforming into a spring, which becomes a stream then a river, a waterfall and finally back to the ocean. In each state it's the same drop of water with a different expression. There's a constant transformation in nature and a constant transformation in that which we call our being or our soul. Therefore the idea that we are a set personality, fixed in space and time, is an illusion, a mirage. Everything is changing but nothing ever dies.
In Western religions the hereafter has been traditionally thought of as a place existing in space and time. Heaven, hell, purgatory or some other localization are portrayed as being above or below or in some distant region. To Eastern philosophy this concept, whether called heaven, hell or whatever, is not thought of as a place but as a state of awareness, a plane of existence. A plane of existence is a vibratory expression of Spirit or consciousness in which the cosmos lives and moves and has its existence. The cosmos that you are experiencing right now, with trees, plants, people, houses, cars, stars, and galaxies, is a vibratory expression of Spirit or consciousness at one particular frequency. However, in any given location in space, there may be the simultaneous presence of several different planes of existence. For example, if you are listening to a one hundred piece orchestra, there are a hundred instruments playing, each occupying the same place in space and time.
You can listen to the symphony as a whole or, if you wish, put your attention on the music or vibration of each specific instrument or even separate out the individual notes of the different instruments. Several vibratory frequencies are existing independently yet occupying exactly the same place in space and time and the presence of one does not displace any of the others. If you had an ear that could only hear one frequency, you would miss out on the rest of the symphony and only hear one instrument out of the hundred or, if your ear could only hear the frequency for a few notes, you would miss on all the other notes being played. 99% of reality would be unavailable to you because you weren't tuned into those frequencies. Another example is electro-magnetic energy which includes what is called visible light. Visible light contains all the colors of the spectrum in the same beam of light. That same electro-magnetic radiation however contains invisible light such as x-rays, micro-waves, radio waves, radar, etc. They all exist in the same location simultaneously and yet you only experience that which is called visible light and even there, you don't normally experience it in its individual components. The visible and invisible light are all part of the same electro-magnetic spectrum which is simultaneously vibrating at different frequencies at the same location in space and time. Every pin-point of space contains all these different vibrating frequencies simultaneously and one does not displace any other from its location either in space or in time. With the correct instrument, tuned into the right frequency, you can pick out any vibration you wish.
Similarly these different planes of existence represent different vibratory frequencies of consciousness, the world of physical matter being just one expression of a particular frequency of consciousness. Space, fire water, earth are in fact different vibratory frequencies of consciousness in the material world, different planes of existence in the material world. Even in the regular material world you can see that anything has a quantum mechanical nature which is energy and information, it has a gaseous or vaporous nature because if you heat it will evaporate, it has a fiery nature because if you heat it to a certain temperature it will be just luminous flames, it has a liquid and a solid nature. Every day, ordinary matter simultaneously exhibits different vibratory frequencies but you experience them only in one frequency because of the nature of your sensory apparatus. Any material item can be experienced in these different forms but, after taking in all these different levels of existence, your senses give you only one perspective. Solid things can be said to have dense vibrations or in spiritual terms, to be vibrations of a lower plane. Vaporous things can be said to have a fine vibration or a vibration of the higher plane. Here however, the reference to higher or lower does not mean being up or down, better or worse but is just an indication of the levels of density.
Just as there are different planes of material things, there are also several planes of existence of the Spirit called spiritual planes. The most obvious vibratory frequency of consciousness is the material plane but there are also finer or what are referred to as higher spiritual planes known as the astral planes. There are almost an infinity of astral planes which are divided into the higher and lower astral planes, the lower astral planes being higher than the material planes. In the lower astral planes are found experiences of psychic phenomenon, clairvoyance, clairaudience, telepathy, psychometry. Other vibratory frequencies of the lower astral planes include ghosts, apparitions of disembodied souls, etc. These are
sometimes sensed by humans in certain states of awareness but are often sensed by animals, which have a sharp sense of awareness to some of these lower astral planes. In the lower astral planes we also find thought forms and thought clouds, astral bodies traveling during sleep or altered states of consciousness, astral colors and auras. All these are vibrations of Spirit in the lower astral plane.
Every physical body has an accompanying astral body. This astral body is a complete mirror of the physical body with a heart, liver, arms, legs, a face, etc. but as it is vibrating at a different frequency, most people are not aware of its presence. During life, the physical body provides a covering for the soul at a lower frequency, it gives it the appearance of being localized in the material world. In death, the physical body disintegrates leaving the astral body to clothe the soul at a higher frequency, giving it a different appearance of localization.
Upon death of the physical body, every soul enters the vibratory frequency of the astral plane that corresponds to the existence it had on the material plane, the frequency that corresponds closest to the reality of
its material life. The disembodied soul then begins to work up its karmic experience and gradually ascends to the higher frequencies of the more spiritual astral planes. It can therefore be said that, the highest vibratory frequencies, the highest planes, correspond to the descriptions of heaven given in the religious traditions. On the astral plane there are vibratory frequencies that correspond to every possible version of heaven, hell or purgatory, not as places but as planes of existence. The disembodied soul moves from one to the other based on how it works out its karma and moves according to its desire, from one imagined plane to another. In reality all these planes have been imagined by the Spirit, just as it imagined the material plane. Just as in the material plane, on the astral planes, the Spirit continues to play roles. Each astral plane is the experience of a concept of the Spirit just as the material plane was also the experience of a concept of the Spirit. The Spirit conceives, constructs, becomes.
The cosmos is, in reality, non local. You say the earth is local, the sun is far or the moon is near, but it is only so from this vantage point. In the universe everything is non-local. You are at the center of the universe because infinity extends in all directions and someone who is on the other side of the world is also at the center of the universe because infinity extends on all sides of him. Both of you are centers of the universe which, of course, means you must both be at the same location. The fact that you appear to be in different locations is a sensory artifact based on this vibratory frequency of consciousness. Similarly with time, each moment is the center of time, eternity stretches forwards and backwards. This is the only moment because all other moments are also the center of eternal time and every moment is therefore the same as every other moment. The cosmos, being non-local, means there is no up or down, north or south, east or west, these are only points of reference for our convenience. There are no pertinent, particular locations in space or time. The transformational process after death is not a movement to some other place or time, it is just a change in the quality of attention. It is a condition or state of vibrational quality of your awareness.
Based on the experiences of people who have had near death experiences, the insights of sages and rishis, or just by changing the quality of your own attention in meditation, or by having the intention or desire to have these experiences, what seemingly happens is, as death approaches, there is a dulling of the senses. The senses are material so, as the transition begins, they start to fade one by one. The last one to leave is sound, which was also the first to come. However, as the material senses become duller, there is an increase in the psychical senses such as clairaudience, clairvoyance, celestial sights and sounds, heavenly beings, and brilliant lights. During this time, people who have a close association to a dying person may feel the presence of that person in the form of an apparition, sound or physical sensation even from a distance and sometimes even before the death of the person. Somehow they have tuned into the dying person's vibrational frequency or their own astral body may have projected to the dying person so they were able to became aware of the transition of the person.
At death, the astral body, which is the exact counterpart of the physical body, separates from the physical body. The soul then enters a period of sleep in the astral body, a deep slumber. Normally the soul sleeps in deep peace but, if the person departed prematurely or had many unfulfilled desires, this sleep may be restless and disturbed. Disembodied souls that have a very strong attraction to the physical plane of material existence and have not been able to let go, people who have died suddenly or violently or unnaturally (such as those who have been murdered, committed suicide or have died from drugs ), can get stuck in these lower astral planes for an extended period of time (time measured in the material sense). These disembodied souls can vibrate at a lower astral frequency for a fairly prolonged time as we perceive it. When a person dies suddenly or unnaturally, they haven't had time to work out their earthly karma and until they have fully processed their attachments and karmic obligations on this plane they will remain drawn to this denser plane and continue to vibrate on the frequency of this plane for some time, even though they are on an astral plane. They remain caught between two worlds so to speak. Also, if there is intense attachment from the people left behind and they keep calling to the soul through seances and such, the soul will continue to be disturbed in its sleep. The will of those left behind can cause restlessness of the soul. When a person dies, it is important to let them move on and rest in peace. The soul sleeps in the astral body just as the fetal soul sleeps in the womb. A peaceful death and a letting go will produce a peaceful sleep in the astral body. A restless soul may attempt to revisit the earthly realm as a ghost or apparition but ultimately, even in these cases, fatigue will set in and the soul will eventually settle into its deep sleep in the astral body.
At death, and from people who have had near death experiences, we hear that often the whole panorama of a person's life flashes before his eyes in a split second. This is a demonstration that every second contains the whole of eternity. During the deep sleep of the soul, all the memories of past events in the physical body, get impressed onto the soul, forming the karmic software which will give rise to its future individuality. In the process of dying, very often, a person will have a review of this software, seeing their entire life re-run in a few moments. A concentrated record of an entire lifetime is then carried into the slumber state of the soul as the karmic software. In Christian and other religious doctrines we hear expressions such as "rest for the weary", "entering the long rest", which seemingly are also relating to this slumber of the soul. When a person has a near death experience, they have, for a moment, vibrated at a certain astral plane and then come back to their normal, physical, vibratory frequency.
The period of the soul slumber varies according to the degree of evolution of the soul at the time of death. The main reason for the sleep or slumber of the soul is to shed its attachments and then to awaken to the astral frequency or plane most appropriate to its level of evolution. The degree of attachments will determine how long it takes to shed them. When the soul awakens it can only enter a plane of existence that is familiar to you. If you entered a plane higher than your level of evolution, you would become confused and uncomfortable. Likewise, it is not possible to go backwards in evolution, you can only progress. First, the astral soul sleeps to partially detach and forget the things that are not necessary to remember and then awakens to the astral frequency plane that is most appropriate to its level of evolution. Once it re-awakens, it continues with its evolution, from that point, to higher levels of awareness.
At physical death the physical body disintegrates and the soul begins its first period of sleep in the astral body. During this sleep the astral body and soul are encased in a kind of astral shell or cocoon. Just as sleep is important to the physical body, so this sleep is important to allow the soul to rejuvenate itself. When the soul awakes from this deep slumber it sheds its shell which is then said to float in the astral atmosphere until it eventually fades away. At this point the soul is still in the astral plane and continues its evolution moving to higher astral frequencies of its astral life. During this astral life a whole new world of experiences begin. The soul meets the souls of other beings who are also in the astral world, vibrating at a similar level of evolution at that time. It may meet the souls it encountered in the physical world if they are now on that same vibratory frequency. In the astral planes there is no physical body only thought form. All communication is telepathic. When Spirit vibrates in the world of physical objects its vibration is very slow and dense, it appears to be still, frozen Spirit. Similarly when it is at a very high frequency of vibration, it is also still. At both extremes it is still and in between is the whole range of movement of creation. In the astral world of experience, the disembodied soul can visit planes of vibration lower than itself at will, but can only visit higher planes through evolution. Just as when you pass particles through finer and finer sieves, any particle can always pass back to a grosser level but can only advance when it has reached the correct level of refinement.
The astral plane is a manifested reflection of the imagined ideal. The scenery on the astral plane is just a projection of the thought forms inhabiting it. Like everything else, it is a manifestation of the imagination. The Spirit pervades all of space and the experiences on the other side match the beliefs and expectations of the life here in the physical body. Depending on your level of evolution, you will experience your ideas of heaven or hell in this life when you reach the other side. There are many astral planes and even in these planes your experiences will correspond to everything that you have previously imagined. You have your own heavens, hells, purgatories and everything else to work through on the physical as well as astral planes. In the astral world, everything is created through imagination. In the physical world, if youwant to build ahouse you need to collect the bricks, put them on top of one another and so on. In the astral world, you could just imagine the house the way you wanted it and it would appear. However, to the person in the astral world, the house would seem just as real and solid as the one in the physical world. Evolution on the physical or astral planes is gradual, it takes time. All suffering and all enjoyments occur in the imagination in the astral plane, even though, like on the physical plane, all appears to be real. The skeptics, cynics and unbelievers in the physical plane will be the same skeptics and unbelievers in the astral planes, they just won't realize that they are in fact in the plane that they don't believe exists. The body or personallity you inhabit in the astral world is the one you most identified with in the previous physical life. As this is an imaginary body, you can keep it the same or change it during the astral life. You could actually do this with your physical body but, due to social conditioning, most people follow the accepted process of aging. However, in every seed of desire is the promise of future blossoms, fruits and gardens. Evolution is really the process of fulfillment of desire that is being worked out through these on going cycles. In the astral world, you fulfill and refine the desires that are left over from your last physical life. You also refine all your knowledge and experiences from the material world. The astral world is like a graduate school for your previous physical incarnation. In the astral plane, the soul stores up energy for manifesting its higher more evolutionary desires so they can be fulfilled in the physical plane.
Just as when the soul has reached its maximum level of evolution in a physical body it must shed that body and begin its first soul slumber so, when the soul on the astral plane reaches the maximum evolution for that astral lifetime it goes back into slumber and takes with it the karmic software it has been preparing for manifestation again into the physical plane. During this second period of slumber, the soul seeks a set of suitable parents so it may be reborn into the physical plane to continue its evolution. Now, however, because of the evolution that has taken place on the astral plane, you reincarnate onto the physical plane at a higher level than where you left off. You are born into a higher evolutionary circumstance of events. Only a feint memory of what has gone before remains but a whole new level of insight and creativity blossoms. The process continues to repeat itself over and over, each time progressing to a little higher plane. When the karma has been worked out there, you reach the maximum limit for that plane and must go back into a slumber again and so on and so on. This process continues through higher and higher physical and astral planes. The movement is always upward. You can never move downward as your karmic plan is such that your actions will always be better next time. The degree of freedom of choice you have as to how you come back into the physical world is dependent on the degree of witnessing you have. Depending on your ability to witness, to be aware of your situation, you will be able to choose the physical or astral lives and bodies you incarnate into and the speed at which you will work through your karma. Just as in the physical plane you are refining skills and talents, so too in the astral plane, the soul is refining skills and talents that will be expressed in material existence. Whenever you are born physically or astrally, you come with the increased talents from all previous existences.
At birth, because of your previous actions and karma everyone is at a different level of evolution. We can compare the earthly life to that of a caterpillar, the astral sleep to the chrysalis and the rebirth onto the astral life as the butterfly. Each time, still not fully expressed but higher than the previous life. The cycle of evolution must go on, a new caterpillar, a new chrysalis and a new butterfly. There is a constant upward spiral. Soul bonding and soul relations occur on the astral plane just as they occur in the physical world. As Walt Whitman said, "I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, or else I'm awake for the first time and all before has been a mean sleep". Relationships in the astral plane mean that you are vibrating at a similar frequency to someone and therefore feel love, unity and bliss. It is not a relationship in spatial or physical terms as in the astral world there is no physical form only thought form. When the disembodied soul thinks of a loved one back on the physical plane, the person on the material plane may experience a feeling of the presence of the departed one. There can be a communion of soul with soul even though one is vibrating in the material plane and the other in the astral plane.
Death of astral life leads to slumber, which leads to preparation for rebirth in a physical body. To continue its evolution, the soul must renew its attractions, its needs to fulfill desires and the need to incarnate with other souls with whom there is a karmic relationship. The reason to keep coming back to the material plane is to fulfill desires and renew relationships with souls with whom there has been a previous kinship. The soul often awakes slowly from its second period of sleep and the effects of the slumber can continue well into childhood and the early stages of growth. When you are first born, there is still some element of soul slumber present, the baby drifts back and forth not fully aware of its physical surroundings. Sometimes this can last into adulthood and you may notice people who don't seem fully here, they are still partially in their soul slumber. Usually, however, there is a gradual awakening of awareness through childhood and adolescence. The dreaminess of youth is often due to soul still not being fully awake, the exceptions to this being child prodigies and geniuses who have woken up very quickly. Any soul that has worked through its karma and has awakened will not have that dreamlike appearance or will have more witnessing but, most people on the earth carry some degree of a hangover from the soul slumber of the last life.
When a soul has completely worked out all its karma, it looses all earthly desires. It has transcended all material objects and attachments to become enlightened. There is not need to be reborn onto the physical or astral planes as we know them. This soul continues to spiral upwards to continue it evolution on planes we cannot imagine. We are reborn to express and exhaust the force of desire. In the absence of rebirth, the soul moves to higher and higher realms of existence, to an infinity of them that are beyond the scope of our imagination or understanding. As Rumi says, "When I die I will soar with angels, and when I die to the angels, what I will become you cannot imagine".
In addition to the astral planes already discussed, there are the celestial realms which belong to higher astral realms of existence vibrating at very high frequencies. They are still in the imaginable realms, just as each religion has its imagined heaven or hell. They are however, very high levels, close to the unimaginable levels. At a certain high level of evolution, some souls may choose to complete their evolution in the celestial rather than returning to the physical world. Once a soul has reached these levels it would not normally want to re-take a human birth except to provide a particular service and would complete its material cycle in this celestial realm. The force of evolution is always to go to the highest possible level but your karmic limitations may not allow you to go beyond a certain level at that time, in which case you must keep returning to the cycle. Most people of course are unaware of all this and it continues to happen spontaneously and simultaneously. Right here, right now, we are surrounded by an infinity of planes. The celestial as well as the realms of suffering, tormented souls exist right next to us. If you could shift your perception right now into one of these higher vibratory frequencies you could be with the angels. In the field of infinite possibilities you are existing on all these levels at the same time but at the level of experience you exist in only one, your own, plane of existence at any one time.
During astral projection or travel at night when a person is asleep, the astral body actually leaves the physical body but remains attached by a filament which brings it back again. If the filament gets severed then of course, the way back could be lost. It is only dangerous to flirt with the lower astral planes if you don't understand them. They are only scary if you don't know what they are about. If you realize that the whole thing is imagined by the Spirit, from the lowest level to the highest, from demons to angels, and everything in this universe, there can be nothing dangerous about it. Ghosts, demons etc., are all imaginary forms of the universal Spirit which is doing its Lila or play.
This Vedic perspective is very intellectually satisfying. Different theologies claim a more fixed view point saying that heaven looks this way or that, hell is here, purgatory there. This could be very intellectually disturbing. If a devout Muslim landed in a Christian heaven, or visa versa, he'd be very unhappy, it certainly wouldn't meet with his expectations. Whenever expectations don't meet reality you are disappointed. Here however, there's a scheme for everybody to vibrate at that level which matches their expectations, your image of hell here will be your hell there and the heaven you are hoping for will also be waiting for you. All your desires are fulfilled because within every desire are the mechanics for its fulfillment, your own evolution.
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 16, 2005 12:51 AM
21
Deepak's Q&A - Kapha
Deepak Chopra - July 16, 2005
Question:
I have a few questions regarding Ayurveda, Kapha and my body. I am probably 90% Kapha, and have been following Ayurveda for a few years now.
Since following Ayurveda, I have been very healthy, my sinus problems are gone, and have not been sick since. I exercise 3-4 times per week. Sometimes more, (Both weight training and aerobic) I have one issue to discuss. I am 40 years old (Italian) very athletic, approximately (230 lbs). 6’-2” I usually do not eat breakfast, but if I do, I will eat fruit or something light. (since Ayurveda does not feel breakfast is necessary) (I used to eat a big breakfast)I get a strong hunger around 10 am, and usually have a light snack, with coffee. I eat lunch always before 1:00 pm, and I am always very hungry around noon. I eat a well balanced meal trying to have all the tastes as Ayurveda recommends. I usually eat some chicken, vegetable, fruit, sometimes some nuts. My problem starts in the afternoon. I never get hungry before 7:00 pm, and sometimes feel like I am not digesting very well. I feel a little bloated Sometimes late afternoon, almost as if I ate too much for lunch, but I never overeat. This feeling of heaviness usually goes away around 8 to 9 pm. And that’s when I get hungry. Now it’s late for dinner, but I need to eat, cause I can’t go to bed hungry. Almost seems as though my digestion comes to a halt after lunch or something. This is a pattern that happens everyday, and it seems no matter what I eat, I get this feeling. But don’t misunderstand, I don’t feel sick. Just a little heavy. I try to drink hot water on occasion, and usually drink invigorating tea around 3 pm. I’m finding that since starting Ayurveda, I cannot tolerate even the slightest amount of overeating, and my body has become very sensitive to foods I used to eat, and now no longer want. Also, I am eating a lot slower and less. Also, it seems I don’t need very much food to keep my energy up. In fact, my energy goes down if I eat too much. I am a firm believer in Ayurveda principles, because it is the only philosophy that has helped me understand my body and good health. Trying to figure out my afternoon dilemma.
Answer:
It sounds as if you have made great strides in your diet and daily regime. I applaud your dedication to following these principles for your body type. You’re eating your main meal at midday as is appropriate, but it doesn’t appear that you are digesting it as thoroughly and quickly as you should. I suggest you take a little fresh ginger or something spicy to kick-start your digestive fire at the beginning of your meal. Also, taking some comprehensive digestive enzymes after your meal should help as well. This way your lunch will digest more easily and you will be hungry for your evening meal before 7 p.m. Try this out for a week and see if it doesn’t take care of the problem.
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 16, 2005 06:40 PM
22
Blog Posting
Deepak Chopra - July 18, 2005
Dear Friends,
My mother is critically ill. I’m flying to India. I will not be posting on the blog for the next few days.
All my love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 18, 2005 05:57 PM
23
My Mother
Deepak Chopra - July 20, 2005
Dear Friends,
My mother took her last breath a few minutes after I arrived in her room in New Delhi.
It is a full moon night here. Today is also Guru Purnima. It is the holiest of days in our tradition, the day everyone salutes and pays respect to their guru.
All my love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 20, 2005 10:25 PM
24
Wrapped around my finger!
Deepak Chopra - July 28, 2005
Dear Friends,
I have just returned to California from India after cremating my mother's remains and immersing them in the Ganges at Hardiwar.
I want to thank all of you for your condolences. My mother was happy to be released from her mortal existence and although we all grieve and mourn her loss, we also celebrate her flight to freedom. She was generous and kind beyond measure and gave a lot to her family and to the world.
You may have seen Bharat Chopra's entry on this Blog. He is my nephew and the son of Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, my brother who is the Dean of Continuing Medical Education at Harvard Medical School. As Bharat has already described in detail the events around my mother's cremation, I will not do so again. However, I wanted to share with you, a moment of humor in the midst of the grief and suffering.
Sanjiv, I, and Bharat drove together to Hardiwar. Of course we had a professional driver as we are no longer used to driving on the hazardous and congested highways of India. We had the ashes of my mother in a small pouch and we took turns holding the pouch in our lap reverently. According to our custom, the remains should remain in the hands of the immediate family until they are immersed in the Ganges. They can not be put on the floor of the car or anywhere else. Along the way, we discussed the meaning of existence and the impermanent and transient nature of what we call a person. Is our real identity a person or is it a deeper existence that transiently manifests as a pattern of behavior of the universe that we call a person? We also reminisced about the days when Sanjiv and I were children and how our mother would dress us up in starched uniforms and send us with a kiss to school. Somewhere during that conversation, my brother said to Bharat, "Bharat, these rituals around cremation are beautiful, but they also can consume a lot of your energy. Maybe, when I and your uncle (Deepak) die you should just take our bodies to a crematorium and throw the ashes in the back yard of the house." I interjected, "Sanjiv, why not throw them on the par 3 at the Oakley Golf Club!" (Sanjiv recently had a hole in one over there.) Sanjiv responded, "That is not a bad idea, maybe you'll want yours at the golf club in La Costa." Bharat responded, "They have a technology these days where through a mechanized process you can crystallize the ashes and convert them into a diamond like stone." Sanjiv really liked the idea saying, "That’s what you should do and then you can wear the stone in a ring around your finger. When people ask you, "What's that?" You can always say "It's my dad and I have him wrapped around my finger!"
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 28, 2005 12:44 AM
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The absolute break between life and death is an illusion
Deepak Chopra - July 28, 2005
What bothers people about losing the body is that it seems like a terrible break or interruption.
This interruption is imagined as going into the void; it is total personal extinction. Yet that perspective, which arouses huge fears, is limited to the ego. The ego craves continuity; it wants today to feel like an extension of yesterday. Without that thread to cling to, the journey day to day would feel disconnected, or so the ego fears. But how traumatized are you by having a new image come to mind, or a new desire? You dip into the field of infinite possibilities for any new thought, returning with a specific image out of the trillions that could possibly exist. At that moment, you aren’t the person you were a second ago. So, you are clinging to an illusion of continuity. Give it up this moment and you will fulfill St. Paul’s dictum to die unto death. You will realize that you have been discontinuous all along, constantly changing, constantly dipping into the ocean of possibilities to bring forth anything new.
Death can be viewed as a total illusion because you are dead already. When you think of who you are in terms of I, me, and mine, you are referring to your past, a time that is dead and gone. Its memories are relics of time passed by. The ego keeps itself intact by repeating what it already knows. Yet life is actually unknown, as it has to be if you are ever to conceive of new thoughts, desires, and experiences. By choosing to repeat the past, you are keeping life from renewing itself.
Why wait? You can be as alive as you want to be through a process known as surrender. This is the next step in conquering death. So far the line between life and death has become so blurry that it has almost disappeared. Surrender is the act of erasing the line entirely. When you can see yourself as the total cycle of death within life and the life within death, you have surrendered – the mystic’s most powerful tool against materialism. At the threshold of the one reality, the mystic gives up all need for boundaries and plunges directly into existence. The circle closes, and the mystic experiences himself as the one reality.
SURRENDER IS ...
Full attention
Appreciation of life’s richness
Opening yourself to what is in front of you
Nonjudgment
Absence of ego
Humility
Being receptive to all possibilities
Allowing love
Love,
Deepak
Posted by Deepak Chopra at July 28, 2005 09:59 PM
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