• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1034 0

symbolized a deep truth—that enlightenment was possible. Until modern times, everyone in India knew that the double thread was the promise of a second birth. It stood for a legacy going back before memory began. Today, enlightenment is no longer the goal of life, not even in India. The most that any teacher can do is to open the door again; he can answer three questions in the age-old way:

• Who am I? You are the totality of the universe acting through a human nervous system.

• Where did I come from? You came from a source that was never born and will never die.

• Why am I here? To create the world in every moment.

To gain this knowledge for oneself is like being pushed through the birth canal again. You may utter a cry of surprise—and perhaps of shock and pain—at finding yourself in an unknown world. Once you accept this second birth, you continue to have thoughts and feelings, but now they are soft impulses against a background of silent awareness, faint ripples that rise and fall without disturbing the ocean of being.

I can’t help feeling that enlightenment was never India’s prize to possess—or any culture’s. The second birth comes from looking at life as it already is, seeing it from the still point inside. To the degree that anyone does that, they are enlightened. The universe goes to the still point in order to create time and space. You go there to fetch a word or the memory of a face or the scent of a rose. At this very moment, the world is blossoming into its infinite variety before falling silent in amazement at the miracle it has just achieved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DEEPAK CHOPRA’S books have become international bestsellers and classics of their kind. Dr. Chopra is founder of the Chopra Center for Well Being in Carlsbad, California. Visit his website at www.chopra.com.

Also by

DEEPAK CHOPRA

Creating Health

Return of the Rishi

Quantum Healing

Perfect Health

Unconditional Life

Ageless Body, Timeless Mind

Journey into Healing

Creating Affluence

Perfect Weight

Restful Sleep

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

The Return of Merlin

Boundless Energy

Perfect Digestion

The Way of the Wizard

Overcoming Addictions

Raid on the Inarticulate

The Path to Love

The Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents

The Love Poems of Rumi

(edited by Deepak Chopra; translated by Deepak and Fereydoun Kia)

Healing the Heart

Everyday Immortality

The Lords of the Light

On the Shores of Eternity

How to Know God

The Soul in Love

The Chopra Center Herbal Handbook

(with coauthor David Simon)

Grow Younger, Live Longer

(with coauthor David Simon)

The Deeper Wound

The Chopra Center Cookbook

(coauthored by David Simon and Leanne Backer)

The Angel Is Near

The Daughters of Joy

Golf for Enlightenment

Soulmate

The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire

Copyright © 2004 by Deepak Chopra

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Harmony Books, New York, New York. Member of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

www.crownpublishing.com

HARMONY BOOKS is a registered trademark and the Harmony Books colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Design by Lynne Amft

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chopra, Deepak.

The book of secrets : unlocking the hidden dimensions of your life / Deepak Chopra.

1. Spiritual life. 2. Meditations. 3. Life skills. I. Title.

BL624.C4764 2004

158.1—dc22 2004011311

eISBN 1-4000-8314-1

v1.0