‘Affluence has very little to do with happiness’

Deepak Chopra is a guru on a mission. Aiming to achieve world peace, he’s battling cynics who believe that there’s no solution to the world’s problems at hand. The ‘poet-prophet of alternative medicine’ as Time magazine described him, in a long-distance conversation from Seattle, talks to DNA about finding happiness in a world that is in economic recession and one that is haunted by the dark shadow of terrorism.

Is there anything new that you’ll be saying in your Mumbai lecture ‘Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Life’ that you haven’t said before?
This time around, it’ll be a more scientific understanding of the evolution of human consciousness and its intertwining with imagination, intuition and cognition. It’s about how we influence our thoughts, relationships, imagination, intuition and environment — which are ultimately interconnected.

We’re now in the middle of a global recession. So where does one find solutions to happiness under such circumstances?
First, it’s up to us to realise that we created the world recession. It is an indicator of a spiritual crisis that arose from greed and a misguided perception of money. It was a result of the injudicious trust in economic derivatives. Less than 2% of the 2.9 trillion that circulates in the world’s markets daily is used for goods and services. The rest is trying to make money from money. It’s gambling. What they’ve succeeded in doing is converting the global markets into a giant casino.

From another perspective may be it’s a good thing, after all. Once we understand the nature of money and that it’s an indication of what we value may be it will lead to a restructuring of our values and the way that we view the world.

There’s so much unhappiness and chaos right now. What is your approach to finding happiness in this mess?
It’s about realising that economic affluence has very little to do with happiness. Life situations don’t make much of a difference. Research has shown that if some people win a lottery one year, they’ll be happy for a while, but after a year, they’ll be in exactly the same condition of happiness or unhappiness that they were one year earlier.

Happiness arises out of the ability to see opportunities where others see only problems. It is also about finding a passion and pursuing it. When people are able to express their creativity, when they have meaning and purpose in life, when they have meaningful relationships and are able to make other people happy in general, they are happy then.

But how do we overcome our everyday issues in life?
There is a way out. Firstly, if you want to do something for the world, it is essential to fulfil yourself first. Finding the hidden dimensions within yourself is the only way to fulfil your deepest hunger. Also, you have to make that internal shift within yourself that you won’t add to the world’s problems. Secondly, take up a project or some work that is of value to society.  And thirdly, hang out with the right people. In three words, it is simran, seva and satsang.  Simran, in an external sense, also means moving beyond the narrow confines of your race or caste identity and finding a broader world beyond. In that sense, prime evidence of simran would be someone like Barack Obama.

We live in the age of terrorism. Any solutions to the menace…?
We need to get rid of the idea of a military solution to terrorism. The fact is that the terrorist ideology doesn’t die with a terrorist. You can kill a terrorist but you can’t kill the terrorist ideology through guns. The root cause of terrorism is a combination of economic deprivation, a lack of education and mistaken ideologies.
The solution is to develop an economic partnership with other nations to counter this. Like say, if India and Pakistan were to replace their arms race with an economic partnership and were to assist each others’ development, we would be on track towards a solution.

Personally speaking, what are your ambitions now?
I have a foundation — Alliance for a New Humanity (www.anhglobal.org) and another website — www.itakethevow.com. I am aiming to recruit a 100 million people into my campaign for non-violence. I believe that’s required to bring about a peaceful world.

And how will you go about enlisting people?
I do it by spreading the message of the three S’ - simran, seva and satsang. I speak to 10,000-15,000 people a week, there are 40,000-50,000 people who’ve joined the Alliance for a New Humanity and there are nearly 15,000 people who’ve taken the vow for a peaceful world.  So I’m doing my best spreading the message of peace — the rest I leave to God. Even if it doesn’t happen in my lifetime, I believe it will happen one day.

Deepak Chopra, scheduled to be in India for a three-city tour (Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore) between the March 25-29, will be speaking on ‘Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Life’ at the Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai on March 26.