Deepak Chopra
TM Student/Leader Branching Out

Born on October 22, 1946, in Delhi, India, Deepak Chopra studied Medicine at the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences.

After graduating, in 1970 he immigrated to New Jersey. He did his clinical internship at a hospital there, and eventually specialized in internal medicine.

He soon became interested in Ayurvedic medicine (something which his grandfather practiced), and left traditional medicine behind in 1981.

Shortly after, and due to stress, he learned Transcendental Meditation (TM).

In 1984 Chopra met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation, and a very successful man. He made good use of Chopra's medical background and leadership skills.

In 1985 Chopra became director of the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center for Stress Management in Lancaster, Massachusetts. But he wanted to create his own business. So he decided to branch off and continue on his own.

Marketing Genius, Flawed Law-Maker

The Chopra centers offer a wide variety of services and products, including herbs, oils, and spices, jewelry, music, video, yoga and meditation classes and certification seminars. Chopra Deepak also does frequent speaking engagements, for which he charges a 25,000 dollar fee.

He usually speaks of the dangers of materialism, yet lives in a multi-million dollar mansion. Speech should reflect practice if wisdom and true happiness is to be achieved.

Chopra Deepak has written more than 50 books. One of the bestsellers is entitled: The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success.

I'd like to show you something contradictory about the first and the last of these 7 "laws":

• 1) The Law of Pure Potentiality

  "This law is based on the fact that we are, in our essential state, pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is pure potentiality; it is the field of all possibilities and infinite creativity. When you discover your essential nature and know who you really are, in that knowing itself is the ability to fulfill any dream you have, because you are the eternal possibility, the immeasurable potential of all that was, is and will be."

And at the end...

• 7) The Law of "Dharma" or Purpose in Life

  "The seventh spiritual law of success is the Law of Dharma. (Dharma is a Sanskrit word that means "purpose in life.") This law says that we have taken manifestation in physical form to fulfill a purpose. You have a unique talent and a unique way of expressing it. There is something that you can do better than anyone else in the whole world--"

I'm sorry to say this, but from Law 1 through 7, Chopra ends up shooting himself in the foot.

He starts off by claiming that every human being can "fulfill any dream", then ends up saying that everyone has a "unique talent" and is designed for one specific purpose.

The latter is true (based on evolution, not a manifestation), the first is untrue. Not everyone can be an olympic swimmer or a brain surgeon. Your genes and experiences interact to show you your special skills and talent.

This is not a law, it's a dynamic process.

I'm not taken in by Chopra's Quantum Healing theory, neither. It's a label/mantra adopted from real science in order to sell pseudo-scientific (at best) theories and products.

It's mysticism in a fancy suit. But as Chopra says himself:

"I in fact don't believe in the existence of time. That's one thing I have to tell you, and the other is that I don't take myself or what I am doing seriously."

I must applaud his business success and marketing genius, and I also have to agree with him: I don't take him or what he is doing seriously.

But he's making some serious cash doing it.

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