How to Know God is the comparative-mysticism book by Deepak Chopra, published by Harmony Books in 2000. Chopra proposes a seven-stage model of religious experience — from the protective 'fight-or-flight God' through the immanent and reactive Gods of conventional theism to a final non-dual 'God of Being' — and argues that the stages correspond to identifiable phases of neurological and psychological development. He draws explicitly on the Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankara, on contemporary neurotheology (Andrew Newberg), and on the contemplative-Christian sources he had been reading at the time (Bede Griffiths, John of the Cross) to argue that the destination is the same across traditions even when the stations are described differently.
First lines
God has managed the amazing feat of being worshiped and invisible at the same time. Millions of people would describe him as a white-bearded father figure sitting on a throne in the sky, but none could claim to be an eyewitness. Although it doesn't seem possible to offer a single fact about the Almighty that would hold up in a court of law, somehow the vast majority of people believe in God — as many as 96 percent, according to some polls. This reveals a huge gap between belief and what we call everyday reality. We need to heal this gap.
Reception
How to Know God reached number one on the New York Times Religion list, has sold reportedly more than a million copies across editions, and is generally treated as the book in which Chopra moved decisively from mind-body-medicine framing into explicit perennialism. Specialists in religious studies (Wouter Hanegraaff, Catherine Albanese) have read the book as a paradigmatic late-20th-century 'spiritual but not religious' text that recasts contemplative traditions through a developmental-psychology lens. Critics within both Vedantic (Frank Morales / Dharma Pravartaka Acharya) and academic-Christian (Tom Wright, R. R. Reno) frames have argued that the seven-stage model imposes a teleological hierarchy where the source traditions present the stages as non-linear or non-exclusive. The book has nonetheless remained one of the most-cited entry points for English-speaking readers approaching mysticism through a neuroscience-friendly vocabulary.
Frequently asked
What is How to Know God about?
Deepak Chopra proposes a seven-stage model of religious experience, from a protective 'fight-or-flight God' to a final non-dual 'God of Pure Being.' Each stage, he argues, corresponds to an identifiable phase of neurological and psychological development. He draws on Advaita Vedanta, neurotheology, and contemplative-Christian sources to argue that different traditions reach the same destination by different paths.
How does the book use neuroscience?
Chopra draws on the work of neurotheologist Andrew Newberg to argue that the brain has identifiable responses that correspond to each of his seven stages of experiencing God. Critics in religious studies have noted that this framing maps diverse theological traditions onto a single developmental hierarchy, which the source traditions themselves do not endorse. Chopra presents the neuroscience as explanatory rather than reductive.
Is this book representative of Advaita Vedanta?
Chopra draws explicitly on the Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankara, particularly in the later stages of his model. Critics within the Vedantic tradition (Frank Morales / Dharma Pravartaka Acharya) have argued that the seven-stage teleology does not accurately represent classical Advaita, which does not posit a linear progression through stages. Chopra's use of the tradition is broadly perennialist rather than doctrinally precise.