Bad Karma: New Age Guru Under Epstein Saga Shadow

New-age spiritual guru and ‘consciousness expander’ Deepak Chopra’s name figures in the Epstein files (the three million or so pages and photos released so far) over 3000 times. Being mentioned in the files doesn’t imply wrongdoing, but it does show that Chopra stayed in touch—and was pretty pally—with the sex offender long after Epstein was convicted for procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008 and served a 13-month jail sentence.

A nugget of wisdom Chopra doled out to us mortals after he shot to global fame in the early 90’s comes to mind at this point. “You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers,” he revealed. “In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices.” And yet, despite this infinity of available choices, Chopra chose to continue to socialise with Epstein, exchanging locker-room jokes and messages—some of them explicit—about women and young girls, raising no questions about ‘the girls’ Epstein kept bringing up in conversation, accepting Epstein’s overtures to help him connect with members of the global power elite, and thanking Epstein for his friendship.

Chopra has millions of followers worldwide. People have gravitated towards him in search of spiritual guidance, trusting his homilies about compassion, conscious living, collective evolution, personal transformation and healing. Those who lost loved ones, those who were daunted by rejection and heartbreak, strugglers, seekers, doubters; people at their most vulnerable, many of them women, placed their trust in him. His words mean the world to them. Several shared their shock and disillusionment online after the latest tranche of Epstein files flooded the internet. Some questioned the very foundations of their spiritual practice. They demanded complete transparency from Chopra, asking him to step out of the ‘guru fog’ and hold himself accountable for making repeated contact with Epstein.

In early February, artist and entrepreneur Sevda Rubens came forward to allege that Chopra had behaved inappropriately towards her at a meditation event in Europe when she was 16. Her claim gained traction on social media, sparking an animated conversation about young women’s safety in spiritual wellness spaces, and the inordinate influence of celebrities and famous male gurus.

Chopra’s response to all this so far has been a statement he put out on X (comments disabled), denying his involvement or participation in any abusive activity, and expressing deep sadness for the ordeals of Epstein’s victims. He had come to realise that some of the emails in the Epstein files circulating in the public realm now show “poor judgement in tone” on his part. His statement shared his regret about the language used. He has not addressed Rubens’ allegations.

The Science and Nonduality (SAND) community at whose conferences Chopra has been a featured speaker more than once, called the correspondence between the two men “deeply concerning”. On its online platform, SAND urged the world at large to have the difficult but necessary conversation about the power imbalance that “hides behind the language of light”, calling attention to the many instances of spiritual teachers using their power to manipulate or abuse followers. “It is time to stop outsourcing our discernment to the stage-lit image of the enlightened one,” declared a recent post.

So, should we abandon our search for enlightened spiritual guides? No gurus, no letdowns? The quest in itself is not the problem. Spiritual teachers—disciplined, reflective, renunciatory individuals—have set high benchmarks for society across the ages, showing others how to lead a good life, sharing valuable lessons about collective living. People looked up to them for wise counsel. They commanded respect and worship. “But many of the new-age gurus, especially the globe-trotting ones like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sadhguru and Chopra, are spiritual entrepreneurs,” says sociologist Santosh K. Singh, author of The Deras: Culture, Diversity and Politics. “They use the sacred as cultural capital and their ventures are largely entrepreneurial.” Chopra has been a guest on every American talk show worth its name. After Oprah interviewed Chopra on her show in 1993, his book sales soared. He was promoting his book Ageless Body, Timeless Mind at the time. Many TV appearances followed, and Oprah has remained a fan over the years. (No word from her so far on the Epstein files and Chopra’s presence in them).

Currently worth tens of millions of dollars, Chopra has written over 90 books and earns a significant sum from royalties. A popular public speaker, he charges a steep fee for speaking engagements. His online courses and seminars and his retreats don’t come cheap, and his digital twin which dispenses advice on everything from meditation to holistic health, DigitalDeepak.ai, is subscription-based. Also on offer, Chopra’s $350 Dream Weaver meditation glasses, which promise inner peace to wearers via blinking lights and soothing sound pulses.

In our time of extreme mobility, with migration in full flow at both the global and local levels, people and their familial world have become “deterritorialised”. Losing touch with their roots makes people desperate to cling to something. “This created a market which was run by modern gurus for their personal aggrandisement,” says Singh, noting how Chopra attracted a large following abroad because his name sounds “homely”, he speaks in an easily digestible language, and offers a tailored, client-specific menu to his followers.

His language of spiritual evolution may be accessible to one and all, but physicists and scientists have been calling him out for misusing terms from quantum mechanics to explain healing and consciousness. British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins dismisses Chopra’s ‘tehcnobabble’ as ‘quantum woo’. In some of the public debates he’s had with Dawkins over the years, Chopra has lashed out at Dawkins, losing his carefully cultivated air of calm and gurudom. Many doctors also have a hard time swallowing Chopra’s claim that chronic diseases, including cancer, can be treated using his alternative medicine practices. Chopra himself is a licensed physician who trained at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi and in the US. He is certified in endocrinology and internal medicine.

Will Chopra testify before the US Congress if he is asked to explain his connections to Epstein? Recent reports say he has expressed his willingness to do so, but no official summons has been sent to him yet. Whether his testimony materialises or not, the time is right to dissect the dynamics of the multi-billion-dollar spiritual wellness industry and shine the light of accountability on the powerful figures who drive it.

Vineetha Mokkil is senior associate editor, Outlook. She is the author of the book A Happy Place and Other Stories

This article appeared in Outlook's March 01 issue titled Horror Island which focuses on how the rich and powerful are a law unto themselves and whether we the public are desensitised to the suffering of women. It asks the question whether we are really seeking justice or feeding a system that turns suffering into spectacle?