Deepak Chopra has touched millions of readers by demystifying our deepest spiritual concerns while retaining their poetry and wonder. Now he turns to the most profound mystery: What happens after we die? Is this one question we were not meant to answer, a riddle whose solution the universe keeps to itself? Chopra tells us there is abundant evidence that "the world beyond" is not separated from this world by an impassable wall; in fact, a single reality embraces all worlds, all times and places. At the end of our lives we "cross over" into a new phase of the same soul journey we are on right this minute. In Life After Death, Chopra draws on cutting-edge scientific discoveries and the great wisdom traditions to provide a map of the afterlife. It's a fascinating journey into many levels of consciousness. But far more important is his urgent message: Who you meet in the afterlife and what you experience there reflect your present beliefs, expectations, and level of awareness. In the here and now you can shape what happens after you die. By bringing the afterlife into the present moment, Life After Death opens up an immense new area of creativity. Ultimately there is no division between life and death---there is only one continuous creative project. Chopra invites us to become cocreators in this subtle realm, and as we come to understand the one reality, we shed our irrational fears and step into a numinous sense of wonder and personal power. Publishers Weekly In India death is perceived very differently than in the West, "as a brief stopping point on an endless soul journey," says Chopra in this introduction to life beyond bodily existence. Chopra, a medical doctor and world leader in mind-body medicine as well as author of more than 45 books, now ventures to answer: what happens after we die? For Chopra, death deserves to be called miraculous, a "doorway to a far more important event the beginning of the afterlife" and a mode of being that "can be as creative as living." Chopra effectively uses the classic Vedanta story of Savitri a woman who comes home to find death, Lord Yama, waiting to take her husband, and who seeks the monk Ramana's advice to outwit death to frame each chapter. Chopra grounds each topic in the long arc of this singular story, which is the perfect springboard for Chopra to introduce concepts such as Akasha (the highest stage a soul can attain) and Eternity within the Indian tradition (where we are beyond death, life, maleness, femaleness, and the experience of time). Chopra presents a fascinating account of life after death for Westerners that will certainly please his avid fans and draw in new readers as well. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Acknowledgments xxMemoir: The Life Beyond 1Life After DeathDeath at the Door 21The Cure for Dying 35Death Grants Three Wishes 45Escaping the Noose 55The Path to Hell 69Ghosts 81The Invisible Thread 93Seeing the Soul 107Two Magical Words 119Surviving the Storm 139Guides and Messengers 155The Dream Continues 169The Burden of ProofIs Akasha Real? 197Thinking Outside the Brain 215The Mechanics of Creation 237Epilogue: Maha Samadhi 251Reading Notes 255Index 271