DEEPAK CHOPRA clarifies for readers, matters of consciousness, religion, observation, behaviour, and unfulfilled desires
I am a brahmin, but rarely go to a temple. I like the atmosphere there, but deep down, I believe that higher consciousness is within us. Compassion and Self-realisation are God and not millions of statues that are worshipped as gods. I am a man of science, I am optimistic and a believer. Whenever I want something, I join my hands and start praying but deep down, I stay confused — whether my prayer will work or not. I don’t doubt higher consciousness; rather, I doubt the method. The spiritual practices that we follow — are they the right way of doing things? Or do we need to redefine the way we pray? Ishan Vyas, 24 years, Vadodara
■ Dear Ishan, I’m glad you put your question in terms of consciousness rather than religion. The enormous value of the Indian spiritual tradition is its precise and totally complete treatment of consciousness. It is understood that higher states, including God consciousness, are within, just as you say. It is also understood that the path of awakening must suit the individual personality
Not everyone is suited to jnana, the path of intellect and the path advised for most people, bhakti, devotion, over time has brought about temples, rituals, and prayer. As a man of science, your automatic reflex to pray when you want something falls in line with countless people of all religions, but few are completely confident that their prayers will be answered, for the obvious reason that many prayers aren’t answered.
Here I do not want to enter into the question of God, although I’ve written several books on the subject. I will only point out that from the viewpoint of consciousness, a prayer is simply an intention. When we have any desire or intention, we take the action necessary to bring about fulfilment. Prayer is meant to direct the intention from a deeper level of awareness, and this allows the worshipper to connect more closely to the source of everything, which is pure consciousness.
That’s not the same as thinking that any desire from an ego level will be supernaturally supported and fulfilled. But by knowing that consciousness is the field of infinite potential, there is a real mechanism by which intentions do reach fulfilment, with or without praying. Meditation and a serious commitment to expanding your awareness will open you to the mechanisms within the field of pure consciousness, if that is something you’d like to pursue.
‘Observation doesn’t change the thing observed, observation changes the observer.’ Would you agree with the statement? Jagdish Gupta, 60 years
■ Dear Jagdish, I would say that both are true. Physics has struggled for over a century with the proposition that observing an elementary particle like a photon or electron isn’t a passive process. The particle’s behaviour at the quantum level is somehow determined by the observer.
This point runs contrary to common sense, even for a quantum physicist, because we are all so used to believing that observation, in other words looking at something, is always passive. Of course, everyone has experienced that the way two people look at each other can lead to a romantic relationship, a fight, total indifference, and everything in between. So we know that in the psychological sense, observing isn’t always passive.
There are quantum theories that insist upon putting a psychological component into the very operation of the universe, because no one can account in any other way for how mind or consciousness appeared. Trying to create mind out of the random action of atoms and molecules has proved a dismal failure. Perhaps consciousness is innate in creation, like space, time, matter, and energy.
So the speculation goes. But I’d like to say something simpler. At any moment there are three things present in our experience: a knower, the thing known, and the process of knowing. If you look at anything, a shoe, teacup, mountain, or cloud, these three elements of knowing must be present together. Without a knower, known, and process of knowing, there is no experience. That is a constant, and yet experience changes constantly. To keep up with the infinite variety of experiences, the setup of knower, known, and process of knowing adapts, depending on what the experience is. This implies that the observer and the thing being observed both are subject to change all the time, while always preserving the same setup. I hope this helps.
It is said that every unfulfilled desire that we have in our heart makes us reincarnate. Every desire we wish for, sends out a message to the universe. What about those desires that we had in the past and now we no longer wish to attain them? Do we still have to come back to live those unfulfilled desires? Sanyukta Paul
■ Dear Sanyukta, I am struck by your phrase, “Do we still have to come back?” This implies a forced action like being forced to go to jail or serve in the army. The theory of reincarnation can become very elaborate and raise many questions, but there are two things worth remembering. First, we normally remember nothing about a past or future life. The life we have here and now is our concern, and speculating about reincarnation is really a kind of mental pastime.
Second, if there is a mechanistic process that governs the process of desire, it must apply in this life, not just in the arcane operation of reincarnation. The impressions left by desires are generally known in India as samskaras, which describe a kind of memory or residue that experience leaves behind. Samskara isn’t such a simple thing that it applies only to desires — any experience can have an after-effect. In modern science, there is a field known as epigenetics that deals in physical terms with the markers left on DNA by our life experiences, so the notion of samskaras receives some support, but that is far short of the issues you bring up, which pertain to human existence itself.
All we can verify from everyday life is that when we have a desire or intention, its outcome can be instantly fulfilled or totally blocked, and everything in between. It seems more sensible to try and achieve better outcomes for our desires here and now than to speculate about another lifetime, either past or future. If your desires today have an effect on your future life, that’s intriguing, but you can’t wait around to see what happens. Living in the present is always our greatest obligation to ourselves. ■
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