The Third Jesus, like Buddha, has been brewing in his mind for many years, he says. It asks the provocative question: Who is Jesus Christ? Dr Chopra's intriguing answer is at once a challenge to the current systems of belief promoted by churches and a fresh perspective on what Jesus can teach us, regardless of one's religious background.
'There is not one Jesus,' Dr Chopra writes, 'but three: A historical Jesus; a theological Jesus and the cosmic Christ, the spiritual guide whose teaching embraces all humanity.' He speaks to the individual who wants to find God as a personal experience, to attain what some might call grace, or God-consciousness, or enlightenment.
"I said to myself long ago, 'Why not write a book that takes Jesus's teachings -- and it doesn't matter if you're Christian or not -- and learn from it and make our lives better? You learn lessons about materialism to humility from Jesus," he says, sitting in his cozy office at the Chopra Center and Spa in the theatre district in New York. Incidentally, Dr Chopra, who grew up in New Delhi studying at an Irish missionary school, was raised in a home with Hindu and Sikh heritage.
Considered a pioneer of mind-body alternative medicine, Dr Chopra had famously declared 25 years ago, just as he was learning Ayurveda and meditation from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, that the drug problem in America was not caused by the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels. It is caused by physicians who mindlessly prescribed drugs even for simple ailments, he had said.
Among other things, Dr Chopra is president of the Alliance for a New Humanity that backs leaders who can make a difference in their communities. He has been listed among Time magazine's top 100 icons of the last century. His books have embraced topics that range from aging and sexuality to low calorie vegetarian food to golf to Rumi to Buddha's struggle to be enlightened. For nearly 13 years, he has run the Chopra Center for Wellbeing with Dr David Simon. Dr Chopra, who came to America in 1970 after graduating from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, did his internship in New Jersey, and residency and fellowship at institutions like Tufts and Harvard university. He worked as the chief of staff at Boston Regional Medical Center for two years.
His interest in the spiritual side of Hinduism and traditional Indian medicine evolved while observing a mind-body connection in his research, and an encounter in 1985 with the Maharishi at a DC conference, he has said.
As for his books, including the comic books he creates for Virgin Comics, he says he has always been a storyteller. "That is why I am able to turn the comic book story Sadhu into a screenplay that will star Nicolas Cage." Dr Chopra launched the comic books business over two years ago with his son Gotham and Sir Richard Branson, the British entrepreneur.
Image: Deepak Chopra at a Save the Children function in New York City last year.
Photograph: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
Also read: How Deepak Chopra is changing comic book industry
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