According to Deepak Chopra our true nature, Spirit, is a field of pure consciousness


Deepak Chopra: Power, Freedom, and Grace: Living from the Source of Lasting Happiness
In Power, Freedom, and Grace, Deepak Chopra considers the mystery of our existence and its significance in our eternal quest for happiness. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where do I go when I die? Chopra draws upon the ancient philosophy of Vedanta and the findings of modern science to help us understand and experience our true nature, which is a field of pure consciousness. When we understand our true nature, we begin to live from the source of true happiness, which is not mere happiness for this or that reason, but true inner joy. When we know who we are, we allow the universe to flow through us with effortless ease, and our lives are infused with power, freedom, and grace.

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly

Though we all seek happiness, usually it's a side effect of having what we want, whether that's a family, a house, a good job, friends or money. But according to holistic well-being expert and one-man media empire Chopra (The Ten Commitments, The Seven Spiritual Laws), all of those reasons come and go like a passing breeze. Citing the wisdom of Vedanta, one of the world's oldest philosophies, Chopra demonstrates how happiness for a reason is just another form of misery-as that reason can be taken away from us at any time. Chopra offers no quick fixes for this inner journey to happiness for its own sake-"The key to lasting happiness is to identify with the unchanging essence of your inner self, your source"-but does offer provocative questions along the path: "How can I live with effortless ease?," "When will I be fully awake?," "What is grace and how do I live in it?”The wordy chapters can be hard to get through, and some passages may require multiple readings to fully digest ("Thought, at a primordial level, is an impulse of energy and information, and it comes from the field of pure consciousness"). Still, millions of devotees will find this title, extending the philosophies laid out in his other books, audio and video programs, of great interest. For neophytes, though, Chopra's panoply of ideas may be too hard to grasp and his goals too lofty for practical self-help.

Book Description

In Power, Freedom, and Grace, Deepak Chopra considers the mystery of our existence and its significance in our eternal quest for happiness. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where do I go when I die? Chopra draws upon the ancient philosophy of Vedanta and the findings of modern science to help us understand and experience our true nature, which is a field of pure consciousness.

When we understand our true nature, we begin to live from the source of lasting happiness, which is not mere happiness for this or that reason, but true inner joy. By knowing who we are, we no longer interfere with the innate intelligence of the cosmos. Instead, we allow the universe to flow through us with effortless ease, and our lives are infused with power, freedom, and grace.


Tools for Personal Transformation: Higher States of Consciousness
4 paths to a spiritual new you
by Deepak Chopra

"Since consciousness is the basis of all reality, any shift in consciousness changes every aspect of our reality. Reality is created by consciousness differentiating into cognition, moods, emotions, perceptions, behaviour, speech, social interactions, environment, interaction with the forces of nature, and biology. As consciousness evolves, these different aspects of consciousness also change.

Although every spiritual tradition speaks of higher states of consciousness it is especially in Vedanta that we find such a structured map of these stages of development. The average person only experiences three states of consciousness in an entire lifetime. These are deep sleep, dreams, and waking state of consciousness. The brain functions measurably different in each of these states. Brain biology and brain waves show precise and different characteristics between sleep, dream, and waking states of consciousness.

Spiritual practice or sadhana begins the process by which an individual transforms his or her consciousness from these three common states of consciousness into"higher states"of consciousness. Through of any of the four primary yoga practices (the yogas of being, feeling, thinking, doing) the mind is led past its conditioned states to its pure unconditioned state. Beyond the first 3 states of consciousness are the following four states: Soul consciousness, Cosmic consciousness, Divine consciousness and Unity consciousness. As each state of consciousness unfolds within us, it opens us into a newer more expanded reality. Let's discuss each of these in turn:

Soul consciousness is the state we experience when our internal reference point shifts from body, mind, and ego, to the observer of body, mind, and ego. We experience and cultivate Soul consciousness when we meditate. This observer is referred to as the witnessing awareness. During meditation, a person begins to identify with this aspect of the Self which is beyond thinking and feeling, (the silent witness), and then he or she begins to feel more calm, centered and intuitive in daily life. As the authentic core of oneself solidifies, there is less emotional drama in their lives. Relationships are more loving and compassionate and one finds a deeper more caring relationship with the environment and nature. With the experience of the silent witness, the biology will also reflect greater balance and the activation of homeostatic mechanisms. Meditation has been shown to lead to the reduction of stress markers, slower heart rate, lower blood pressure, enhanced immune function, and orderly and precise self-repair mechanisms. Those who practice meditation are less prone to sickness.

Cosmic consciousness is the state when soul consciousness gets stabilized and the witnessing awareness is present all the time in waking, dreaming, and sleeping states. This state of consciousness is sometimes described in traditions as being both local and non-local simultaneously. The silent witness Self is unbounded, but the body and the conditioned mind is localized. In the Christian tradition the phrase"to be in the world and not of it," describes this flavor of Cosmic consciousness. In this state, even during deep sleep, the witnessing awareness is fully awake and there is the realization that one is not the mind/body, which is in the field of change, but rather an eternal spirit that transcends space and time. The most remarkable aspect of this state of consciousness is the knowledge of one's nature as timeless and therefore no fear of death. Although Cosmic consciousness is not the pinnacle of enlightenment, nevertheless it marks the critical transition from an identity bound to a conditioned life, to a life of freedom in self-knowledge.

Divine consciousness is the expansion of cosmic consciousness where the ever-present witnessing awareness is experienced not only in the silence of the Self, but also in the most abstract qualities of nature and the mind. Dormant potentials such as the awakening of the nonlocal senses (referred to in Sanskrit as tanmatras) begin to be experienced. As the individual mind starts to access these unused realms of the psyche, they will activate extraordinary spiritual abilities previously thought to be unattainable. These include experiences such as knowledge of past and future, clairvoyance, refined sense of taste, smell, sight, touch and hearing, control over bodily functions, heart rate, and autonomic functions. In other words, objects are experienced simultaneously on a gross sensory level and subtle more abstract level. Appreciation of life from this more refined perspective represents the real engagement of the heart and love as the engine of spiritual growth at this stage. By experiencing the patterns and deeper connections that underlie external diversity, we find our soul is stirred by a profound sense of beauty, awe, compassion, gratitude and love. The integrating power of these qualities brings together the polarized world of Cosmic consciousness which is divided between the Self and non-Self. In Divine Consciousness this harmonizing and synthesizing power is felt as the presence of Divinity in our heart. Wherever one goes one feels the presence of the Divine. The Vedic seers would say in Divine consciousness, God is not difficult to find, but impossible to avoid. At this stage, there is an even greater conviction of the immortality of existence, not only as nonlocal consciousness, but also in the knowledge that you are that enduring presence of divine love. Divine consciousness also brings a deeper experience of liberation, as the external sensory world is no longer seen as a kind of spiritual exile which the soul must endure, but rather the world is a manifestation of the beauty, and love of one's consciousness and therefore integral to one's spirituality.

Unity consciousness is also referred to as Brahman consciousness. It is a state of consciousness where the ever-present witness is not just recognized as the core Self of one's existence, it is now perceived as the primary reality of every experience. You, as the observer, are that pure consciousness. The process of observation is also that consciousness. And the object of observation is that same pure consciousness. The culmination of enlightenment is the knowledge that consciousness alone exists, that is all there is , was, or ever will be. That oneness, or unity, dominates awareness even as one engages in the same mundane details of life as before. One ceases to identify with an individual body-mind apparatus and sees the whole universe as one's physical body. Of course, there is a personal body and there is a material universe, experienced through the senses, but they are now cognized to be incorporated in that one single reality of consciousness.

Dormant potentials previously mentioned are now fully operative. There is the ability to heal and transform others and everything is experienced as miraculous. A flower is seen as a flower but is also experienced as rainbows and sunshine and earth and water and wind and air and the infinite void and the whole history of the universe swirling and transiently manifesting as the flower. In other worlds every object is seen as the total universe transiently manifesting as a particular object. And behind the scenes one can feel the presence of the same ever-present witnessing awareness that is now in both subject and object. Unity consciousness is the ultimate level of freedom from fear. It is characterized by an abiding sense of joy and peace. There is no"other"outside of oneself to be afraid of, and the constant dance of unity masquerading as diversity is seen as the blissful nature of life itself. All of creation is seen as the play of consciousness or leela.

This state of enlightenment is sometimes compared to the drop of water that is experiencing itself as the ocean, knowing that it was the ocean the whole time. You and God are now one because there is no you left any more. Sometimes when people try to conceptualize this by projecting their current sense of self into Unity consciousness they are afraid that in losing their old identity they will lose their existence, memories and individual perspective. But the enlightened person doesn't' see it that way. They understand that personal identity was an illusion to begin with. They realize that nothing real or valuable is ever lost on the path to enlightenment. They are experiencing their original identity but only now recognizing it in its completeness and its full glory. This state is of course described in the Vedantic tradition but is beautifully captured in the following verses from T.S. Elliot:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

This brief outline of higher states of consciousness is only intended to give a general sense of the unfolding of human potential. It is important to emphasize that spiritual development is not fundamentally an intellectual or a faith-driven enterprise. Enlightenment is not attained by reading and studying, nor by fervent belief in something outside yourself. The development of higher states of consciousness primarily comes down to regularly and systematically experiencing deeper values of the Self and then integrating that into one's daily life. The specific experiences an individual has on this journey, will necessarily vary, based on the spiritual tradition and practice one follows, but also based upon your own personal history and tendencies.”

http://life.gaiam.com/article/tools-personal-transformation-higher-states-consciousness
Web (May 14, 2013)


A Consciousness-Based Science
By Deepak Chopra, M.D., FACP, Menas Kafatos, Ph.D., Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor in Computational Physics, Chapman University, and Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D., Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University, and Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)

"The greatest mystery of existence is existence itself. There is the existence of the universe and there is the existence of the awareness of existence of the universe. Were it not for this awareness, even if the universe existed as an external reality, we would not be aware of its existence, so it would for all practical purpose not exist. Traditional science assumes, for the most part, that an objective observer independent reality exists; the universe, stars, galaxies, sun, moon and earth would still be there if no one was looking. However, modern quantum theory, the most successful of all scientific creations of the human mind, disagrees. The properties of a particle, quantum theory tells us, do not even exist until an observation takes place. Quantum theory disagrees with traditional, Newtonian physics. Most scientists, although respecting quantum theory, do not follow its implications. The result is a kind of schizophrenia between what scientists believe and what they practice. When we examine this hypothesis of traditional science, we find it more a metaphysical assumption than a scientific assertion.

How can we assert that an observer-independent reality exists if the assertion itself is dependent on the existence of a conscious observer? This raises the additional dilemma of who or what is the observer and where is this observer located? When scientists in general describe empirical facts and formulate scientific theories, they forget that neither facts nor theories are an insight into the true nature of fundamental reality apart from any observer. What we consider to be empirical facts are entirely dependent on observation, in agreement with quantum theory. The scientific observer in this case is an activity of the universe called Homo sapiens usually with a Ph.D. in physics. However, many scientists have never really asked the question"Who am I?”

Most neuroscientists who still don't believe that quantum theory has anything to do with the brain would assert that"I," the conscious observer, is solely an epiphenomenon of the brain, that consciousness is produced by the brain, just as gastric juices are produced by the stomach and bile is produced by the gall bladder. The problem with this of course, is that any neuroscientist worth his/her tenure will tell you that there is no satisfactory theory in neuroscience that explains how neurochemistry translates into conscious experience. How do electrochemical phenomena in the brain create the appreciation of the beauty of a red rose, the taste of garlic, the smell of onions, the feeling of love, compassion, joy, insight, intuition, imagination, creativity, free will, or awareness of existence of self and the universe? There is no physicalist theory based on classical physics to explain these subjective experiences. Nor is there any obvious means for coming up with one.

When traditional science finds itself in such an impasse it might be time to question some of the basic assumptions about so-called independently-existing reality. We must revisit the idea that science is a methodology and not an ontology. Current science, however, is based on a physicalist ontology. This is the basic belief that reality is physical and mind is an epiphenomenon of matter (the nervous system). Nonetheless, we are baffled when asked to explain how matter becomes mind. We suggest here a fundamental revision in our most cherished scientific assumptions. We boldly suggest that matter, force fields, particles, waves, even the fabric of space and time are not denizens of fundamental reality, but that they are perceptual and cognitive experiences in consciousness. Actually, what we propose would be in agreement with what the great physicists who founded quantum theory almost 100 years ago would hold. But we are also going beyond, taking the statements of quantum theory to the next level: All of physical reality is a perceptual experience in consciousness alone. The experience may turn out to be different for different species.

What is physical reality to a bat, a honey bee, a nematode, a whale, a dolphin, an eagle, an insect with numerous eyes? There is no fixed physical reality, no single perception of the world, just numerous ways of interpreting world views as dictated by one's nervous system and the specific environment of our planetary existence. We propose that the worldview of current science as it is being practiced, which operates from the assumption that human perception and particularly facts emanating from observations made with human scientific methods are the only fundamental truth, is clearly flawed. Furthermore the subject/object split that is the basic premise of the current scientific methods has led to the creation of arguably detrimental technologies including mechanized death, petroleum products in our food, genetically-modified foods, global warming, extinction of species, and even the possible extinction of the human species. Building on the quantum view of the cosmos, which accepts a non-local, entangled reality that includes observers as fundamental, we suggest the next natural step, a new science rooted in consciousness, one that strives to interpret the entire universe, with all its observers, all modes of observation, and all objects observed as nothing other than consciousness and its manifestations!

Rejecting what we believe is the most reasonable and rational approach proposed here will lead nowhere and force us to accept randomness and lack of purpose as the hallmarks of the universe. Such a view is, ultimately, leading to no meaning for our own very existence. We suggest that perceptual objects experienced in consciousness, including our very brains, are not the source of consciousness. We suggest rigorous testing of this radically-different ontology. We feel a holistic science that does not separate observer from that which is observed would lead to the unraveling of the mysteries of the universe that at presently seem beyond reach, leading to an understanding of a conscious universe in which all are differentiated activities of a single field that is an undivided wholeness and in some sense bridges external reality with inner being.”

Deepak Chopra, M.D., FACP, is the author of the forthcoming book, God: A Story of Revelation.
Menas Kafatos, Ph.D., Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor in Computational Physics, Chapman University, co author of the forthcoming book, Who Made God and Other Cosmic Riddles.
Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D., Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University, and Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), co-author of the forthcoming book, Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind to Maximize Health, Happiness, and Spiritual Well-being.

deepakchopra com
Web (May 14, 2013)




Related Articles
According to Bible our true nature is a field of pure consciousness
According to Torah our true nature is a field of pure consciousness
According to Gita our true nature is a field of pure consciousness
According to Upanisads our true nature is a field of pure consciousness
According to Granth our true nature is a field of pure consciousness
According to Devi our true nature is a field of pure consciousness
According to Krishna our true nature is a field of pure consciousness
According to Deepak our true nature is a field of pure consciousness






Disclaimer: Our material may be copied, printed and distributed by referring to this site. This site also contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the education and research provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance freedom of inquiry for a better understanding of religious, spiritual and inter-faith issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.






search



Home
Introduction
New Age Children
Miracle Photo
Meeting His Messengers
Prophecies
Age Of Aquarius
Nostradamus
Mayan End Age 12-21-2012
Our Conscious Earth
Adi Shakti's Descent
Witnessing Holy Spirit's Miracles
Jesus' Resurrection
Book Of Revelation
Gospel of Thomas
His Human Adversary
Kitab Al Munir
Al-Qiyamah (The Resurrection)
His Light Within
His Universe Within
His Beings Within
Subtle System
Lectures To Earth
Shri Mataji
Self-Realization
Drumbeat Of Death
Table Of Contents
HALF THE SKY Forum
Contact Us
Declaration of the Paraclete
The Paraclete opens the Kingdom of God
Cool Breeze of the Resurrection - BBC 1985
The Supreme Source Of Love 1985
The Great Mother
The Vision Part One
The Vision Part Two
The Vision Part Three
The Vision Part Four