Reminiscences-2: "Dr Deepak Chopra"

Today is October 22, the 63rd birthday of the renowned endocrinologist, popular speaker and author of many bestselling books, Dr.Deepak Chopra. I am a great admirer of Dr Deepak Chopra and like him, an enthusiast of alternative medicine.

First of all, let me convey my hearty greetings to Dr Deepak Chopra: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your, Sir! May God grant you a long, happy and purposeful life!!

My introduction to Dr Deepak Chopra was through my friend, Professor S.Raghunathan, who was the Director of Computer Center, Alagappa University for a time. He told me about him and lent me his best-selling book, 'Quantum Healing'. It is a memorable and wonderful book, which I loved. I read the book through at one stretch and thereafter, started taking notes. Reading the book was all right, but taking notes proved to be very difficult. For it nearly amounted to copying the entire book! The book is studded with gems through and through , especially for people like me, who are deeply involved in Homeopathy. It helped me to gain a lot of insight into Homeopathy, though Dr Chopra himself has been an admirer of Ayurveda.

Later whenever I saw a secondhand bookshop, I would enquire whether they had any book by Dr Chopra. Thus I started my own collection of his books (Quantum Healing, Unconditional Life, Ageless Body and Timeless Mind and The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and started reading them one by one. With every book, my admiration for him started growing.

Then thanks to YouTube, I started hearing his famous video interviews and talks: The 30-part video talk on Quantum Healing the 11-part Quantum Health; Jesus: Story of Enlightenment; His interviews with Richard Dawkins and Alan Steinfeld ; and many more (which I have embedded in my video page at Orkut for the benefit of my friends). Watching them was an enlightening experience.

He has written more than 45 books and has won many awards and accolades. His latest book is "Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul".

The Chopra Center for Wellbeing was opened at Carsbad, California, in 1996 by Drs.Deepak Chopra and David Simon to help people experience physical healing, emotional freedom, and higher states of consciousness. It offers a wide variety of programs, retreats, and teacher training programs that integrate the healing arts of the East with the best in modern Western medicine. Its goal is to guide people about healing principles that they can use to nurture their own health, restore balance, and create greater joy and fulfillment in their lives.

Chopra Centre's official site:
http://www.chopra.com/

Then there is THE CHOPRA FOUNDATION dedicated to improving health and well-being, cultivating spiritual knowledge, expanding consciousness, and promoting world peace. Its mission is to advance the cause of mind/body spiritual healing, education, and research through fundraising for selected projects.

Dr Deepak Chopra's official website:
http://deepakchopra.com/

In the above site, the most interesting feature his answers to our questions. Some regular features include: 'Ask Deepak', 'I am currently reading...', 'Daily Inspiration', 'Upcoming Events'.

For a detailed article on Dr Deepak Chopra from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra

Kindest regards to Dr Deepak Chopra and Grateful thanks to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Reminiscences-1: "Rabindranath Tagore"

What Rabindranath Tagore, Joseph Broz Tito, Gary Cooper, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Eva Peron have in common? Well, they were all on born May 7; of course, the years are different. On this 7th day of May, I chose to reminisce about one of them, viz., Rabindranath Tagore.

My first introduction was to his novel, The Wreck. It was an abridged version meant for pre-university-level students. Somehow a copy came into my possession and loved it. Later I also saw a Tamil movie, based on that novel. I learn that the novel has been filmed into other languages like Hindi also. Much later, I borrowed a copy of Tagore’s “Gora” from the local library. I was fascinated by the novel. Later when I saw it displayed on a platform for sale, I jumped at the chance. So I possessed a copy of it also and could read it again. I remember to have underlined the lines most appealed to me. The journal in which I had jotted down has disappeared. Most of the quotes have disappeared from my memory. I remember at least one quote to the effect: "He who does not fight evil is also a wrong-dower; for it is he who is the cause of all evil in the world."

In my office, a few famous lines from Tagore’s Gitanjali and displayed prominently at the entrance, which I liked very much. They are:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Beautiful lines.

On browsing I find, Project Gutenberg has many books of Tagore (full text). I am glad to furnish for the benefit of my visitors; they are as follows:

Tagore, Rabindranath, 1861-1941
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/t#a942

* Wikipedia
* Chitra, a play in one act (English)
* Creative Unity (English)
* The Crescent Moon (English) (as Translator)
* The Cycle of Spring (English)
* Fruit-Gathering (English)
* The Fugitive (English)
* The Gardener (English)
* Gitanjali (English)
* Glimpses of Bengal - Selected from the Letters of Sir Rabindranath Tagore (English)
* The Home and the World (English)
* The Hungry Stones and Other Stories (English)
* The King of the Dark Chamber (English)
* My Reminiscences (English)
* The Post Office (English)
* Sadhana : the realisation of life (English)
* Sadhana, the Realisation of Life (English)
* Songs of Kabir (English) (as Translator)
* Stray Birds (English)

In our Literary Study Circle at Karaikudi (which is defunct now), at one meeting Tagore’s short story, Post Office, was discussed. Prof.Palani Raghuladasan who initiated the discussion. I could feel how much the short story has touched him. It is a beautiful story. Full text of Post Office is available in Project Gutenberg and I invited readers to take a look at it.

Grateful thanks to Project Gutenberg and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.