In his book, The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore, Deepak Chopra depicts the biblical scene of the "Sermon on the Mount" and the “new” ideas Jesus preached, the Beatitudes. So powerful and different were the words Jesus spoke that Mahatma Gandhi carried the sermon's ideas with him at all times and lived its message to the letter, Chopra said in an interview "He was not even a Christian; he was a very orthodox Hindu, but he lived the Sermon on the Mount," Chopra said. "And this bald, frail man brought down the British Empire without firing a bullet."
The Sermon on the Mount is a message that can cross many worlds, according to Chopra."The words of Jesus, no matter which version or how you read them , ring with a truth that is very profound," he said. "Why restrict it to Christians and make it exclusive?" He believes there are three interpretations of Jesus — the historical Jesus, the theological Jesus and what Chopra calls the "Cosmic Christ," the third Jesus who has broad appeal. The story of Jesus is "the most romantic story ever told; it's a very beautiful story," he said. "Jesus is part of our collective unconsciousness and you know he's not going to go away. So we have to see what kind of relationship we are going to have with this kind of divine inspiration."
Chopra says he does not
belong to any religion. He is not a Christian, a Buddhist or a Hindu. For that
matter, he doesn't believe Christ was a Christian or that Buddha was a Buddhist.
"These are institutions we created later," he said. "I believe
in a secular spirituality, a domain of awareness where we can all experience
the same truths."
Chopra first learned of Jesus as a young boy in India. His teachers were the Irish Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic lay organization, to whom the book is dedicated. Because of them he has read the Bible "thousands of times."
Proof of the historical Jesus, Chopra says, comes from the New Testament, the writings of St. Paul and the Roman historian Josephus, who was originally Jewish. The theological Jesus, he believes, was created by an institution responsible on one hand for great charitable and humanitarian works and on the other acts of war and cruelty such as the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition. Christianity today "has been hijacked by movements that violate Jesus's teaching even as they proclaim they are defending it," he writes in the book.
Increasingly, Chopra believes, people seek a more personal relationship with God. And that's where the third Jesus comes in. Changing minds…"He can shift our perception of how we see this world," Chopra said. That's where what Chopra calls "God-consciousness" plays a role. In a sense, it's a combination of Western and Eastern approaches. "God-consciousness means to see the divine in all that you perceive," he said. "Mother Theresa understood that when she said: 'When I look at these children that I take care of, I see God in them and I feel this profound love.' "With that approach, God is not hard to find, he says. Matthew 5: 13-16
In his book, Chopra lays out 15 steps to "God consciousness" based on the teachings of Jesus and outlines how to achieve them on a practical level. The most important, he believes, is the first step: To realize that the kingdom of God is within you. "The kingdom of God is not a place, " he said. "It's a state of being. The (gnostic) Gospel of Thomas says, 'It's already here and you just can't see it.' "
"If we want a change in this world, we will have to do it ourselves," he said. "We can't worry about the theological institutions or the politicians. But we can connect with other like-minded people doing the same thing and hope one day there will be a shift in consciousness. "You can't fight ignorance, you can only switch on the light."
Deepak Chopra: Christ teachings go beyond the Christian church.
BOOKS: “Jesus' broad appeal,” BARBARA KARKABI, Copyright 2008
Houston Chronicle, Published 6:30 am CST, Saturday, March 8,
2008
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