The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life (Chopra, Deepak)

The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life (Chopra, Deepak) | Deepak Chopra | impressive and insightful

books:

The Book of Secret...

	The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life (Chopra, Deepak) Deepak Chopra Three Rivers Press, 2005 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 70 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Trick or Treat

"The most common reason that people turn to spirituality is to deal with suffering. They don't do this by accident, but because every religion promises that it can relieve pain, that faith transcends the sorrows of the flesh, that the soul is a refuge for the suffering heart." ~ Deepak Chopra

For the most part, "The Book of Secrets" is a treat. It is filled with beautiful Indian wisdom that embraces a spiritual lifestyle. There are fifteen secrets that help to explain how you can awaken to your true self. This may remind you of "enlightenment." This book goes deeper than a self-help book because it seeks to unearth the reasons for suffering. Instead of just telling you how to overcome problems, the affirmations seek to change your way of thinking so you can experience more happiness in this life.

Deepak Chopra brings a new understanding to existence and explains how you can live your life with meaning. He shows how you can become the creator of your own life and stresses the importance of the individual who observes the creation.

Throughout the book there are helpful notes on how to meditate or change your life around through a focus on positive thoughts. The idea is more that "as you think, so you become." Some of the secrets include:

What You Seek, You Already Are
The Cause of Suffering is Unreality
Every Life is Spiritual
Everything is Pure Essence

This book covers numerous intriguing topics. Awareness, Happiness, Bhakti Yoga, Buddhism, Chaos, Choice, Consciousness, Cosmic Wisdom, Death, Depression, Dreams, Ecstasy, Energy, Entropy, the Five Kleshas, Generosity, Giving, Good and Evil, Immortality, the Laws of Nature, Love, Mantras, Nonviolence, Pain, Pleasure, Rage, Spirituality, the Theory of Everything, Unity and Wholeness are all discussed in detail.

There were only two items that seemed a little tricky. The idea of evil being the same as good doesn't make sense to me because I believe they are diametrically opposed. There is a good chapter on the shadow self and how it appears in reality. The other area of concern is the idea of Satan and Deepak says: "There is no cosmic Satan to rival God, and even the war between good and evil is only an illusion born of duality."

While this book is quite a complex read, I think at the heart of the message the reader can come to a greater understanding of what it means to be a soul. Life after death is covered briefly and Deepak seems to believe in a heaven and a hell. What he doesn't explain is how your beliefs in this life can affect the destination of your soul. While he talks about Jesus' teachings he doesn't present Jesus Christ as the savior of the soul. For this information you may want to read: The Gospel According to Jesus.

~The Rebecca Review

for more information click here

impressive and insightful

I found the book to be a really insightful and a thoughtful account written in easy language with good analogues and anecdotes. This book was quite unlike many other spiritual texts that sometimes delve into hard to comprehend philosophies. This seemed to be a more general account on the principles of good and content living. I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to other readers looking for spiritual texts.

The Book Of Secrets Unlocking the Hidden Dmensions of Your life

I found deep pleasure in reading this book. I always find that reading on his level of enlightenment brings a sense of "Oh yeah ,I know what he's expressing or gee I have felt the same way.and always a wow! I can now look at this from a diffrent perspective. Is always a joy to spend time with his thoughts. thank you.

for more information click here

Commercialized, pulped ancient truths - only for those desperate to find the point in life

Chopra's "Book of Secrets" is definitely an example of a typical New Age, self-help book. Chopra describes how the power to change anyone's life lies within them and gives a few simple statements, which should help the readers realize that.

I bought this book because of my interest in yoga and meditation, and hoped that Chopra, who, after all, is an MD and a founder of the renowned Chopra Center, would give some deep insights, some real methods of meditation and way to get united with the world. Instead, this is a book, which, frankly, anybody could write. Based loosely on the ancient Indian philosophical and religious systems, exploits them without even acknowledging that the simplified thoughts expressed there are not original. And, in fact, they are not really helpful - could you not get to these spiritual truths by yourself? Besides, the biological "evidence" Chopra tries to connect with his advice is far from true; example: according to Chopra, typically, cells store no more than 8 seconds (I wonder where this number comes from) worth of nutrients and oxygen within their boundaries - well, what about adipocytes, which, after all, are quite typical... This was for me really surprising - many New Age books provide far better scientific explanation with references to original articles, allowing the reader to verify the information.

Undoubtedly, the story of Chopra's attitude change upon his father's death is the most appealing moment in the whole book (and no doubt deliberately chosen to impress the American readers, who like personal accounts)

Maybe I am not at the point of my path, where I would need this type of text and I cannot appreciate it, and therefore find it rather pathetic. I earnestly believe that there are readers, who need this type of advice and will treat Chopra's work as life-changing, but for me one reading was more than enough. To those interested in the theoretical foundations of yoga, in Indian mysticism and in its influence, but presented with the Western flavor, I would recommend the works of Mircea Eliade (including his diaries); Those who are very serious should rather dive into the original texts, like the Upanishads, or Patanjali's Yoga Sutras; to those who like everyday advice based on yogic principles, The Yoga Journal will do a great job.

for more information click here