The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

 

With an effortless power and simplicity, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success is a supreme example of contemporary self-help writing. You could throw away all other self-help books and live by this one alone. The emphasis on success and prosperity may not seem “spiritual” enough for some, but this is the very point of the book. Unless you are a self-sufficient hermit, you are an economic actor who must be able to reconcile wealth generation with the spirit. In being both a devotional tract and a prosperity manual, The Seven Spiritual Laws acknowledges this and is therefore an emblematic work of our times. Identifying immutable laws of success is the great challenge of the self-help literature. Karma (cause and effect) and dharma (purpose in life) have been with us for eons, and they form two of Chopra’s seven laws. Here we look briefly at his other five.

 

The field of pure potentiality is the silent realm from which all things flow, from which “the unmanifest is made manifest.” In this state of pure consciousness, we have pure knowledge, perfect balance, invincibility, and bliss. When accessing the field, we experience our higher, pure selves, and are able to see the futility and waste of living through the ego. While the ego is based in fear, the higher self exists in loving security:

 

“It is immune to criticism, it is unfearful of any challenge, and it feels beneath no one. And yet, it is also humble and feels superior to no one, because it recognizes that everyone else is the same Self, the same spirit in different guises.”

 

When the veil of the ego drops, knowledge is revealed and great insights are normal. Chopra refers to Carlos Castaneda’s remark that if we could stop trying to uphold our own importance, we would start to see the grandeur of the universe. We can access the field of pure potentiality primarily through meditation and silence, but also through the practice of non-judgment and appreciation of nature. Once you know the field, you can always retreat to it and be independent of situations, feelings, people, and things. All affluence and creativity flow out of the field.

 

Have you ever noticed that the more you give, the more you receive? Why does this seem infallible? Chopra says it happens because our minds and bodies are in a constant state of giving and receiving with the universe. To create, to love, to grow keeps the flow going; not to give stops the flow and, like blood, it clots. The more we give, the more we are involved in the circulation of the universe’s energy, and the more of it we will receive back, in the form of love, material things, serendipitous experiences. Money does makes the world go around, but only if it is given as much as it is received. If you give, give joyfully. If you want to be blessed, silently bless people by sending them a bundle of positive thoughts. If you have no money, provide a service. We are never limited in what we can give because the true nature of humankind is affluence and abundance. Nature provides everything we need, and the field of pure potentiality provides the intelligence and creativity to produce even more.

 

Just as it is the nature of fish to swim and the sun to shine, it is human nature to turn our dreams into reality, with ease. The Vedic principle of economy of effort says “do less and accomplish more.” Is such a concept revolutionary—or crazy? Are hard work, planning, and striving a waste of time? Chopra suggests that when our actions are motivated by love, not by the desires of the ego, we generate excess energy that can be used to create anything we want. In contrast, seeking power over others or trying to get their approval consumes a great deal of energy. We are trying to prove something, whereas if we are acting from the higher self, we simply make choices about how and where we will affect evolution and bring abundance.

 

The first step is to practice acceptance. We cannot hope to channel the universe’s effortless power if we are fighting against it. Say to yourself, even in very difficult situations, “This moment is as it should be.” Secondly, practice defenselessness. If we are continually defending our point of view or blaming others, we can’t really be open to the perfect alternative that waits in the wings.

 

This is the most complex law, and of course the most alluring. Chopra notes that while a tree is locked into a single purpose (to put down roots, grow, photosynthesize),the intelligence of the human nervous system allows us actually to shape the mind and the laws of nature to bring about the achievement of a freely imagined desire. This occurs through the process of attention and intention.

While attention on something will energize it and make it expand, intention triggers energy and information and “organizes its own fulfillment.” How does this happen? The author uses the analogy of a still pond. If our mind is still, we can toss into it a pebble of intention, creating ripples that move through space and time. If the mind is like a turbulent sea, we could throw a skyscraper into it and there would be no effect. Once the intention is introduced, in this receptive stillness we can depend on the infinite organizing power of the universe to make it manifest. We “let the universe handle the details.”

 

Though you may have an intention, you must give up your attachment to its realization before it can manifest itself. We can have a one-pointed focus on something, but if we are attached to a specific outcome it will produce fear and insecurity at the possibility of its not happening. A person who is attuned to their higher self will have intentions and desires, but their sense of self is not riding on the outcome; there is a part of them that cannot be affected.

In Chopra’s words:

 

 

Without detachment we feel we must force solutions on problems; with detachment, we are free to witness the perfect solutions that spontaneously emerge from chaos. Don’t let this outline suffice. For the detail and rich prose that makes Chopra a delight to read, buy the book. It may take a while to get on to his wavelength and understand his terms, but persevere—the laws can have a real effect. On subsequent readings you may find your- self discovering new meanings in the text, the familiar mark of a classic.

 

The genius, intended or not, of the last century’s self-help writing is that spiritual messages have been delivered through instructions of a more material kind. We buy a book about prosperity and find it telling us about the universe’s benign and perfect intelligence; we find another that promises the laws of success and are surprised to see that the answer involves maintaining good karma in our actions and detaching ourselves from the fruits of success. Chopra is often accused of promoting spiritual values as the means to becoming wealthier. That is true, but it is nothing to be ashamed of: When the nature of the universe itself is abundant, a life lived in poverty consciousness is a wasted life.

The motif of the book is the unity of everything in the universe.

Though it is overtly concerned with “success,” perhaps the real theme is power. By becoming more open to that unity and perfection we assume more of its power, while the illusion of separateness pits us against the world, making us weaker in the process. The best personal development writing, exemplified by The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, is transforming the genre’s idea of success from being “master of the universe” to achieving oneness with it.

 

Born in 1947 in New Delhi, the son of a prominent cardiologist, Chopra studied medicine before moving to the US in 1970. In Boston he established himself as an endocrinologist, then taught at Boston University and Tufts medical schools. He was Chief of Staff at the New England Memorial Hospital.

The transformation from specialist to guru was assisted by meeting the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a holy man who came to America in the 1y60s to popularize meditation. Chopra’s subsequent involvement in the transcendental meditation movement was matched by a renewed interest in the Hindu healing philosophy Ayurveda, and he founded the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine.

In 1999, Time magazine included Chopra as one of the “Top 100 Icons and Heroes of the Century,” a “poet-prophet of alternative medicine.” He has spoken at the UN, the World Health Organisation, and the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and his 25-plus books—including Quantum Healing (1986),Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (1993),Creating Affluence (1993),and How to Know God (2000)—have been translated into over 35 languages. He has edited a collection of Rabindranath Tagore poetry and written a novel, The Lords of Light. The author is based in La Jolla, California, where the Chopra Center for Well Being runs courses and events.