Who is Jesus? He's three people, says Deepak Chopra

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Who is Jesus? He's three people, says Deepak Chopra

Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:04pm EST

By Michelle Nichols

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Who is Jesus? According to spiritual guru Deepak

Chopra, there are three interpretations.

 

In his book " The Third Jesus, " published this week, Chopra says there

is a " sketchy historical figure, " a second " abstract theological

creation " and a third Jesus with the highest level of enlightenment --

what Chopra calls God-consciousness.

 

" I want to offer the possibility that Jesus was truly, as he

proclaimed, a savior, " Chopra wrote. " Not the savior, not the one and

only Son of God. Rather Jesus embodied the highest level of

enlightenment.

 

" He spent his brief adult life describing it, teaching it, and

passing it on to future generations, " he said. " Jesus intended to

save the world by showing others the path to God-consciousness. "

 

Chopra, author of more than 50 books and head of the spiritual group

Alliance for a New Humanity, describes God-consciousness as " a

metaphor for a shift in consciousness that makes Jesus's teachings

totally real and vital. "

 

He said he began searching for the third Jesus as a child attending a

Catholic Irish missionary school in India after being fascinated by

what he described at the " most interesting, romantic, passionate,

spiritual story of all time. "

 

" Yet I was struck by the fact that my friends, who were part of the

Church, had been indoctrinated into a belief system where guilt was

actually a virtue and I couldn't quite come to terms with that, "

Chopra told Reuters in an interview.

 

" I said to myself there must be a third Jesus, a state of

consciousness that I can actually relate to, and I started to really

study the New Testament and the Bible, " he said.

 

EAST MEETS WEST

 

Chopra paints this third Jesus as one of both Eastern and Western

spirituality.

 

" Leave aside the differences in the language of it -- they are all

talking about the same thing, " he said. " So I hope in the very least

it will contribute to some healing of the rift in our collective

soul, which is the cause of all the wars and all the problems we're

having today. "

 

Chopra said the Jesus created by the Catholic Church was confusing

because although the religion had done a lot of good in the world, it

had also taken part " in the Crusades, in witch hunts, in burning

people on the stake, homophobia, depriving women of their rights, all

kinds of things. "

 

" The present day crisis in Christianity is it's bogged down in issues

like -- what would Jesus do? They make pronouncements on things like

abortion, women's rights, homophobia, stem cell research -- nothing

to do with Christ, " he said.

 

" It influences our politics, it influences our national policy, it

influences whether we go to war or not in the name of God, " he

said. " It's inanity of the utmost extreme. "

 

Chopra said he hoped readers would take away a practical way to

understand the New Testament and understand that engaging in

contemplative meditation can lead to positive change.

 

" Everything changes for the good, " he said. " The way we think, the

way we behave, the way we feel, the way we have our personal

relationships, our social interactions, our environment all changes

in an evolutionary direction because we have shifted in our own

consciousness. "

 

And that, he said " is precisely what is meant by the kingdom of

heaven is within you. "

 

(Editing by Bill Trott)

 

www.reuters.com