The Reincarnationist Q&A – Deepak Chopra
Welcome back to the Reincarnationist Blog’s series of interviews. Today’s subject is Deepak Chopra. This particular Q&A was previously published on our blog back in ’07, so the questions are slightly different that what we’ve been publishing this past month. Enjoy! (…and stay tuned for the next several months for many, many more Q&As with authors and others whose perspectives you may find very interesting!)
THE QUESTIONS:
Title of your latest book as of Sept 1, 2007 –
Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment, HarperOne, May 2007
Do you believe that reincarnation is possible?
I think consciousness outlives the death of the physical body through which it expresses itself. Also, the universe is constantly recycling itself while evolving to higher levels of creativity. Because we are a part of the universe, we too recycle ourselves and continue to evolve to higher levels of creativity. As a result, there is no such thing as a person. What we call a person is a constantly evolving confluence of memories, desires, imagination, relationships, meanings, contexts, and archetypal stories.
What books on the subject have made an impression on you or do you recommend people who are interested in the subject read?
Life Before Life by Dr. Jim B. Tucker
Life After Death: The Burden of Proof
What is your most marked characteristic that you believe could be a hold over from a past life?
As I mentioned, I do not think of myself as a person. We are wisps of memory, and threads of desire latching on to chunks of consciousness and participating in a cosmic dance. The only solution to all of life’s conundrums is enlightenment – to move to a domain of awareness beyond the personal self to the universal self. Any holdovers that I have from the past are part of my collective karmic inheritance. These include attachment to outcome and need for approval.
What is your principle defect that you believe might be inherited from a previous incarnation?
As I mentioned, I do not think of myself as a person so I am unable to answer the question.
Which of your favorite heroes do you think you actually could have been and why?
I believe that we all have relationships with archetypes but since we do not have a separate self, our heroes are archetypal energies that we karmically resonate with. My heroes include Jesus, Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Krishna, amongst others. But I do not believe I was one of them because as I have shared before, there is no such thing as a separate self.
What three people from history would you like to have over to dinner for a discussion about reincarnation?
Jesus Christ, Buddha, Hitler not to discuss reincarnation but to understand what made them who they are.
What do you think happens when we die?
We upgrade or downgrade the illusion that we call reality as a result of the state of consciousness we are in.
When you come back next time, who would you like to be?
Don’t plan to return.
We would love to hear your responses to these questions. Please feel free to copy and paste the Questionnaire with your answers into a Comment for this post.
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Laura Faeth on 27 Sep 2007 at 12:12 pm #
Wow! Deepak Chopra answers M.J. Rose’s questionnaire. Cool! I’ve found several of Deepak’s books quite helpful on my own spiritual awakening through rock music. I think Dr. Chopra’s thoughts about not perceiving himself as a person, and more as an aggregate of memories and desires connecting to chunks of consciousness, is fascinating. The question is, how do we either dissolve or transform the ego to get to that awareness of oneness?
Deepak has often written that meditation is an important pathway towards enlightenment. When Buddha reached enlightenment, it is said that he remembered all of his physical incarnations. When people recall a past life, they often sense they were in one physical body, and during the between-life state, I’ve read that people still have a sense of self but without the body. It’s pure consciousness. It seems we’re trying to evolve to the point where we can attain a sense of oneness while still exist in physical form.
How different would the world be if more people could exist from this place of unity and expanded awareness? I think Deepak is right. Enlightenment is the answer. But is our society ready for enlightenment? Are we ready to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are eternal beings, and our souls reincarnate in order to grow and learn? I can’t answer that, but hope the answer is yes!
Vijay Kumar on 19 Feb 2010 at 5:10 am #
Reincarnation is the most grossly misunderstood concept of Hinduism! Wikipedia dictionary defines reincarnation as rebirth of the soul atman in a new body! How can that be? When the soul atman is indestructible… how can it rebirth in a new body?
As per sacred Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism… every soul atman manifests the human form to work out its karma… remove dross impurities within! For a soul atman… the entire life cycle of 8.4 million manifestations is one single span of life!
Body after body… manifestation after manifestation the journey of life continues uninterrupted for every soul atman! After death of body the soul atman simply manifests another life form based on residual balance of karma! Death carries no meaning in spiritual world… in the world of souls’ atmans!