I'd been hearing of Deepak Chopra for years but had never read one of his books, so when I saw this at a used book sale a while back, it seemed it might be a good introductory piece of his work. I read through the first 80 pages and got very little from it and had pretty much decided to give it away, but I held on to it and several weeks later started over from the beginning, and with a better appreciation. Still, I think the book suffers from the author wandering too far from the ostensible subject matter. Although he could easily argue that all of the things he discusses are inter-connected, I think it would've been better had he confined himself to tackling only a few of the concepts presented. The subtitle is also somewhat misleading, as we don't get to the "burden of proof" bit until the final 50 pages. Lastly, I think the book depends a little too heavily on anecdotal "evidence," which can often be discounted. Still, there are a lot of interesting concepts introduced here, and I expect to give the whole thing a re-read one of these days.

I'll admit, I was profoundly disappointed by this book. After listening to some talks by Chopra and especially after reading his introduction to the book, I was excited for an invigorating investigation of death through the Vedanta lens; bolstered by Chopra's scientific background, but not inhibited by it. The way he talked about 'mystery' made me think I'd be treated to a wonderful no rules ride around the afterlife, a la Alan Watts but with the added bonus of Chopra getting to shelve his objectivity and indulge in the wild metaphysical speculation that makes this sort of content interesting in the first place. What I received, however, was a sprawling self-help manual on how to believe in 'the right things'; a ridiculous embrace of pseudoscience to reinforce his own spiritual doctrine, and a dialectic of death just as fragile as any other established religious doctrine. Science and spirituality cannot mix without disastrous results; Chopra wields his scientific prowess with all of the intention and restraint of an aggressive six-year-old given access to fireworks, ineffectively trying to communicate to the reader that 'Vedanta is real! Look- let me prove it to you!". The resulting book is a farce; one that I believe gravely mischaracterizes Vedanta. I'm sure it would make Watts roll over in his grave. It's a good thing that he can't, because he's fucking dead, but I'm not even sure Chopra and I would be in agreement here.

Mooie parabel over de dood. Wetenschappelijke uitleg is moeilijker verteerbaar.

I have always believed in reincarnation and this book explores the possibilities of what happens after we die. I was also fascinated by the topic of Karma. This book reaffirms that we are pure consciousness and the soul lives for ever. Excellent book.

Tiêu đề thực sự gây thu hút và ngay lập tức sẽ khiến người ta muốn cầm lên và đọc liền. Vấn đề tâm linh đằng sau cái chết luôn là một bí ẩn và lôi cuốn nhiều người. Deepak Chopra đã đem đến một cái nhìn tổng thể về sự sống đằng sau mỗi cái chết, cái gì sẽ xảy ra sau khi chết, có thực sự có nơi gọi là thiên đường hay địa ngục, con người có thể tái sinh hay không? Thực sự thì mình cực kì bị cuốn hút vào những vấn đề liên quan đến tâm linh nên không ngần ngại mua quyển sách này ngay lần đầu tiên nhìn thấy nó nhưng đọc nó mình không hiểu được nhiều, những vấn đề về lượng tử, trường điểm không, Akasha,… vượt xa ngoài tầm hiểu biết của mình (tự nhủ lẽ ra trước đây nên học vật lí giỏi hơn). Với những ai vốn chỉ thích những câu chuyện kể tâm linh gây tò mò thì cuốn sách này không phải sự lựa chọn khôn ngoan vì nó không kể cho người ta cái mà người ta muốn mà là chứng minh thực sự một bản đồ liên kết thật sự giữa sự sống và cái chết. Mình cực thích những câu chuyện được kể đầu mỗi chương giữa Ramana và nàng Savitri vì nó triết lí mà không nhàm chán (tuy mình không hiểu hết)

Có lẽ cần phải đọc nhiều hơn để có thể thâm nhập nhiều hơn vào thế giới của linh hồn chúng ta sau khi chết.

“Đêm hôn ngày dần nhạt
Với một tiếng thì thầm
Ta – m��� ngươi – sự chết
Từ ta ngươi sẽ tái sinh”
-Aiko-

Maybe it's the prospect of "til death do you part" or maybe it's my looming 40 birthday, but I've lately been a little preoccupied with the afterlife, or I guess with my dark fears in the middle of the night that there IS no afterlife. When I bring it up, people usually confess visions of fluffy cloud heaven or insist that they're content to turn into dirt. "Hey, you'll be dead," they say, "You won't know!" Not terribly consoling.

So, someone recommended this book to me -- okay, okay, it was my therapist. She had not actually read it (trustworthy recommendation?) but thought it might help me explore these fears instead of just ignoring them. At first I was slightly bored, as I am when I read about things that seem too large to comprehend. I WANT to know, just don't have the capacity. But the book interweaves an long Indian parable with commentary and explorations of afterlife stories, religious beliefs, and physics, and it does gather steam after a while. The story of Savitri trying to fend of Yama, the Lord of Death, is a beautiful one. Her guide asks her if she remembers a time before her birth, which of course she can't. He reassures her that perhaps she can't remember not being alive because she has always been.

Chopra's style is straightforward, and although he sounds fairly convinced that he knows what's what with our souls, he does throw in a suitable amount of shoulder-shrugging at the mysteries of the universe. I finished the book feeling slightly consoled but really wishing I had taken physics my senior year of high school.

Apparently Deepak Chopra has written like 50 books, so I guess you're set if you love this one. Me, I'm ready for some fiction.

The first 200 pages of this book compare Indian and christan spiritual teachings with near death expiriences and point out lots of similarities. His language is so calming and warm that I enjoyed reading it a bit like a meditation and allowing it to send my mind off in tangents wondering about where in my body my memeries are stored and whether the soul that is me now is the same soul that was me as a child. After 200 pages I was satisfied and ready to put it down and then it kicked into drive when he started talking about physics and how consciousness affects matter. And about what is in the space between particles and rungs of dna. And how the brain works and how a culture holds memories. He writes in that clever way that makes you think of things a page before he says them which is especially satisfying when he is talking about interspecies telepathy and memes. I didn't agree with every idea in this book but i deeply enjoyed every page.

Always love to hear his thoughts, very deep interesting book but I am not convinced.

This is a very interesting book. Think I will have to read a few more times with my "western mind" to grasp the concepts..

A close relative just passed away last week, so I sought solace in Deepak Chopra's book "Life after Death".

Deepak talked about the mind, the brain, the soul, consciousness, reincarnation, mental telepathy... plenty of absorb.

A good read to help process death...

I read this book seeking comfort after recently losing my dad. For me, this book did not provide that. Although I found it fascinating and thought provoking, the idea that when we pass our soul moves on but our personality, memories and essence do not was sad for me. Furthermore, much of the text regarding quantum physics was a bit over my head however interesting it may be.