The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success are powerful principles that will enable you to attain self-mastery. If you put your attention on these laws, you will see that you can manifest anything you want — all the affluence, money, and success that you desire. You will also see that your life becomes more joyful and abundant in every way, for these laws are also the spiritual laws of life that make living worthwhile. – Deepak Chopra
How can you tell you’ve entered the spiritual path? “Deepak Chopra.” Coming across that name is a sure telltale sign that your journey has begun. Hah!
Like I had sometime around 2008-2009 when I’ve gone the alternate route to curing hyperthyroidism. My search for “the cure” has brought me to the teachings of Deepak on his ayurvedic approach to health and wellness, and then later on to his other works.
Not to mention that he appeared on almost every documentary that I’ve watched. He is omnipresent!
But did you know? Though he’s more prominent in the field of alternative health, he became well-known the most for this book.
Yep, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success is what made Deepak Chopra, “Deepak Chopra.”
Take note that, as Deepak mentions in the introduction, despite the book being titled as such, it could also be called The Seven Spiritual Laws of Life since the same principles also apply to all the other areas of our lives.
Here are the 7 laws at a glance:
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- The Law of Pure Potentiality
- The Law of Giving
- The Law of Karma
- The Law of Least Effort
- The Law of Intention and Desire
- The Law of Detachment
- The Law of Dharma
Let’s get spiritual!
True Success
True success is therefore the experience of the miraculous. It is the unfolding of the divinity within us. It is the perception of divinity wherever we go, in whatever we perceive – in the eyes of a child, in the beauty of a flower, in the flight of a bird. When we begin to experience our life as the miraculous expression of divinity – not occasionally, but all the time then we will know the true meaning of success.
At first impression, success only seems to relate to material wealth, how much we have. But true success is more than that, Deepak points out.
He says we need a more spiritual approach to success and to affluence, or the abundant flow of all good things to you. And it flows to you with ease, the opposite of hard work, which we’ve been often told.
Deepak invites us to view success as a journey, not a destination. He writes:
Success in life could be defined as the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals.
Material wealth just happens to be one of the aspects of the journey that makes our experience more enjoyable. But it also includes good health, fulfilling relationships, creative freedom, a sense of well-being, and peace of mind.
True success is experiencing the unfoldment of our divinity in all of life.
It’s not only about how much we have, or what we do, but more importantly about who we are becoming.
Pure Potential
Our essential nature is one of pure potentiality. When you discover your essential nature and know who you really are, in that knowing itself is the ability to fulfill any dream you have, because you are the eternal possibility, the immeasurable potential of all that was, is, and will be.
There is no separation between you and this field of energy. The field of pure potentiality is your own Self. And the more you experience your true nature, the closer you are to the field of pure potentiality.
Whenever I hear the word potential, the works of Dr. Joe Dispenza immediately come to mind. In Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, he refers to this “self” as the Quantum You, which exists in the field of pure potentiality — that is the quantum field, hence the term.
Watch this:
There’s no separation between you and this field. In The Golden Key, Brandon Beachum says seeing this oneness is the fundamental key to unlocking abundance. “Oneness,” because this field is you.
Deepak calls this state “self-referral,” meaning your internal reference is your own spirit (a.k.a. Source), not the object of your experience. In Abraham Hicks channeling, you’ll often hear this as “tapping into Source.”
Its opposite state is “object-referral,” in which your point of reference is external, or your outer experiences. It’s based on the ego, your fear-based self that thinks it is separate from everything.
To be in the self-referral state and apply The Law of Pure Potentiality, Deepak recommends the practice of stillness. This includes practicing silence, meditation, and spending time in nature.
Give and Receive
The flow of life is nothing other than the harmonious interaction of all the elements and forces that structure the field of existence. This harmonious interaction of elements and forces in your life operates as the Law of Giving. Because your body and your mind and the universe are in constant and dynamic exchange, stopping the circulation of energy is like stopping the flow of blood. Whenever blood stops flowing, it begins to clot, to coagulate, to stagnate. That is why you must give and receive in order to keep wealth and affluence or anything you want in life circulating in your life.
The 2nd Law may be stated as The Law of Giving and Receiving. But in the essence of oneness, giving and receiving are essentially the same. They are both essential to the flow of life.
Deepak teaches us that the word affluence comes from the root word “affluere,” which means “to flow to.” Affluence, therefore, means “to flow in abundance.”
He says money is that currency reflecting the flow of energy. It’s a symbol for exchange. Currency comes from the Latin word “currere,” which means “to run,” or to flow.
It reminds me of the AWE-HA moment I had when Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money, described money like the current of water in a river. It has to keep flowing, otherwise, it will stagnate and becomes polluted.
How do we keep it flowing? We have to be a “Source-rer,” becoming the source of what we want to receive and to give out of pure intention. Give and it shall be given unto you.
Deepak simply puts it this way:
if you want joy, give joy to others; if you want love, learn to give love; if you want attention and appreciation, learn to give attention and appreciation; if you want material affluence, help others to become materially affluent.
He tells us that the easiest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want.
Conscious Choice
You must become consciously aware that your future is generated by the choices you are making in every moment of your life. The more you bring your choices into the level of your conscious awareness, the more you will make those choices which are spontaneously correct – both for you and those around you.
Deepak says we are making a choice every moment and those choices have led to the experience we’re having now. It’s just that we’re making them either consciously or unconsciously.
So first, we must expand our awareness (which points us back to the practice of stillness). Because our choice-making ability (“response-ability”) largely depends on the level of our awareness.
If it’s only at the level of the ego, regardless of the number of choices we have, they will all be fear-based.
To level up our awareness, Deepak advises that we ask ourselves before making a choice: “What are the consequences of this choice that I’m making?”
Secondly, “Will this choice that I’m making now bring happiness to me and to those around me?”
That choice will lead you to what Deepak calls spontaneous right action — the action to take at each moment that will benefit you and everyone else involved — the fruits of which will be happiness and success.
Most Love, Least Effort
When your actions are motivated by love, there is no waste of energy. When your actions are motivated by love, your energy multiplies and accumulates and the surplus energy you gather and enjoy can be channeled to create anything that you want, including unlimited wealth.
This has got to be my favorite law: The Law of Least Effort. Hah!
It’s not “the work” per se, but the energy behind the work that counts here. And the least effort is when it’s carried out from love.
How can it not be when it’s “the energy that creates worlds,” as Abraham Hicks calls it. You simply become a channel for that energy. It should come naturally to us because our very nature is love.
Deepak says we can learn from nature how it works. Flowers don’t try to bloom, they just bloom. Birds don’t try to fly, they just fly. And they don’t try to become a fish!
Imagine how much energy is expended when we try to become something else we’re not, when we’re trying to do what we’re not supposed to do. That’s hard work!
Maybe the right question is not what work brings the most money, but instead, what brings the most love.
The answer is easy because you’re a natural at it.
Do what you love. Do “you.”
ARD Work
In this joyful, simple freedom, you will know without any doubt in your heart that what you want is available to you whenever you want it, because your want will be from the level of happiness, not from the level of anxiety or fear. You do not need to justify; simply declare your intent to yourself, and you will experience fulfillment, delight, joy, freedom, and autonomy in every moment of your life.
There goes another reason for leveling up your awareness again — so your wants are also from the level of happiness, love, or peace, and not just some fleeting satisfaction that comes and goes with the desires at the level of the ego.
What you truly want is lasting fulfillment.
And you don’t have to work hard for it. Deepak says there are only 3 components to effortless living:
- Acceptance – knowing this moment is exactly as it should be. You don’t struggle against it. As Eckhart Tolle says in The Power of Now, you accept this moment as if you had chosen it.
- Responsibility – you don’t blame anyone or anything for your situation, including yourself. As the word implies, you know you have the ability to respond to any situation. This awareness allows you to transform it into an opportunity.
- Defenselessness – you no longer need to convince or persuade others of your point of view. You have nothing to defend and nothing to prove.
When you do this ARD work, life becomes easy. You become lighthearted, joyful, and free — what a successful person truly is.
Intention and Desire
At the level of the quantum field, there is nothing other than energy and information. The quantum field is just another label for the field of pure consciousness or pure potentiality. And this quantum field is influenced by intention and desire.
You can consciously change the energy and informational content or your own quantum mechanical body, and therefore influence the energy and informational content of your extended body – your environment, your world – and cause things to manifest in it.
The 5th spiritual law of success — The Law of Intention and Desire — is based on the Universal truth that everything is energy and information.
Deepak says what’s awesome about being human is we’re capable of becoming conscious of that energy and information, hence we’re capable of influencing it.
This dovetails perfectly with our insights from Joe Dispenza’s works. The energy and informational content relate to our electromagnetic signature. While the alignment of intention and desire, known as heart coherence, is what leads to manifestation.
Apart from intention, Deepak emphasizes one more factor in creating conscious change: attention.
He tells us that attention is what energizes the creation process. Whatever you put your attention on will grow stronger in your life. Energy flows where attention goes. In quantum physics, it’s called the observer effect.
So along with applying the other laws, the formula is: set your intention, align your desires, and keep your attention on it.
5 Steps to Manifestation
You are able to maintain an unshakable serenity while being committed to your goal with intense passion. This is the power of detached awareness and one-pointed, focused intention simultaneously.
Learn to harness the power of intention, and you can create anything you desire.
Deepak shares with us the 5 steps on how we can harness the power of intention in organizing the building blocks, or what Abraham Hicks calls “the cooperative components” of your creation:
- Slip into the gap – go into silence; center yourself in the silent space between your thoughts
- Release your intentions and desires – setting an intention is like planting a seed; you don’t dig the seed right away; once planted in the fertile ground of potentiality, let it do the work
- Remain in the state of self-referral – remain in the awareness of your true self – your spirit; never let the opinions of others bother you; if you want, you can keep the desires to yourself so it won’t get influenced by the outside world
- Relinquish your attachment to the outcome – detach from the outcome or how it will unfold; just enjoy your life by living in the present moment
- Let the universe handle the details – trust the infinite organizing power of intention to orchestrate all the details for you
Remember, just because you can’t see the seed breaking the soil doesn’t mean nothing’s happening underground.
Creation is silent.
Let It Go
The Law of Detachment says that in order to acquire anything in the physical universe, you have to relinquish your attachment to it. This doesnt mean you give up the intention to create your desire. You dont give up the intention, and you dont give up the desire. You give up your attachment to the result.
Easier said than done, I know! This is perhaps the most important part of the equation, also the most difficult to do.
The 6th spiritual law of success is the 13th Law of Awesomeness: Don’t Expect. You don’t give up what you want, you only give up your expectations.
I’ve just read a passage from Anita Moorjani’s beautiful book, Dying to Be Me (a must-read), that echoes this wisdom. She writes, “When I was willing to let go of what I wanted, I received what was truly mine.” Ooooh!
Deepak says that anything you want can be acquired through detachment because it’s based on the knowing of the power of your true self.
In other words, it’s knowing that you’re connected (in spirit) to whatever it is your wanting. Wanting it simply means it has come to your awareness.
The source of wealth, of abundance, or of anything in the physical world is the Self; it is the consciousness that knows how to fulfill every need.
Abraham Hicks puts it this way: if the Universe has summoned that desire within you, then it also knows how to fulfill it.
Life won’t give you what you want. It will give you better.
Dharma, not Drama
Everyone has a purpose in life … a unique gift or special talent to give to others.
And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.
You are you. There’s no one else like you in the entire Universe across all lifetimes. Your present incarnation is a unique expression of the infinite one self (“God”).
With your uniqueness comes a unique talent — something only you can do in your own unique way — that fulfills unique needs. Deepak says that when those align, it sparks the creation of affluence.
It’s the spark that creates unlimited wealth and abundance in your life.
Put another way, what brings success into your life is being in service to others. This is The Law of Dharma, your purpose in life.
True lasting fulfillment doesn’t come from the manifestation of your desires. It comes from the manifestation of your purpose.
Your desires are for yourself. Your purpose is for others.
There are 3 components to its manifestation according to Deepak. We can sum it up like this: (1) discover who you really are, (2) share your talents, and (3) use them in service to the world.
I’d like to rephrase the question that Deepak asks in the book. Instead of “if you had all the time and money in the world,” I’d ask:
If you were the most successful person in the world, what would you do?
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEEPAK CHOPRA is a world-renowned leader in the field of mind-body medicine and human potential. He is the author of over 90 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”
