Clipmarks | arifsali's Deepak collection

The single worst idea ever promulgated

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:56:25 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: that God needs defending.

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

I've always felt that our rabid Christian preachers and their rabid mullahs are explicit enemies but implicit allies. Both support a misbegotten idea of what God demands -- total faith and unquestioning obedience. Both sides also skew and cheat about what the other actually believes. If you want to fuel prejudice, any religion can be made to look rigid, hide-bound, intolerant, and inhumane. Does it really matter when a bomb explodes in a busy night club whether it was thrown by a member of the IRA or al-Sadr's militia? When Christians fight Muslims to prove the supremacy of one religion over another, both have defiled their faiths.

What makes implicit allies out of explicit enemies boils down to one idea, the single worst idea ever promulgated: that God needs defending.

Tags: god, deepak

Why Jesus Lost the Nomination

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:27:26 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Actually, it seems to be forgotten that Jesus once ran for President, and the result was a fiasco. Since the first plank of his platform was "Love your enemies," he had no choice but to seek the nomination of both parties at the same time, promising to merge the two into one. Republicans and Democrats were brought up short by the idea. Jesus called it a win-win situation for them, given the enormous savings in campaign costs. Pollsters were bothered by Jesus's claim that he knew how the election would turn out in advance. It seems that his Father, who has a finger in everything, had tipped him off.

As it turns out, Jesus's other planks caused even more problems on the bumpy road to the nomination. The second one was "Money is at the root of all evil." This forced his campaign to refuse contributions from lobbyists and special interest groups.

Tags: jesus

Divine Impulses

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:06:13 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.intentblog.com

Video interviews of Deepak by Sally Quinn of the Washington Post on Hinduism, Christianity, death and healing.

Tags: spirituality

An Open Letter to the Presidential Candidates

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:26:40 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.intentblog.com

From

Russell Simmons, Deepak Chopra, and Benjamin Chavis

Dear Presidential Candidate:
We are writing to you on behalf of a new, more conscious electorate. As the potential next President of the United States, you know that we are living in a remarkable moment in human history. Millions of people around the world are crying out for a higher quality of life.
A global grassroots movement has already formed. Thanks to a wave of rising consciousness, countries once consigned to the Third World are praying, seeking, struggling and working for positive, even redemptive change. Given the opportunity to participate in the voting process, emerging populations will express their political will and spiritual aspirations for the future.
In that light, we want to ask you six questions:

1. How open are you to welcome and encourage a more inclusive political dialogue?

We are thinking about those who are at the margins of the political establishment.

Tags: politics, deepak

Buddha means one who is awake

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:32:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.voanews.com

What does Buddha mean and what challenges has Buddhism faced in Eastern history? How does Buddhism maintain its peacefulness and resist outside cultural and religious influences from other regions?

Deepak: Buddha means one who is awake. Buddhism has faced challenges from all religions, including Hinduism, because it does not believe in an external authority, including religious authority. It maintains its peacefulness through the experiential understanding of inseparability, which spontaneously leads to peace, harmony, compassion, laughter and love.

Tags: deepak, interview, buddhism