I see my cremation. I feel my body. I see my leaving this world and I am comfortable with it. And I ask everyday: What in my life should die today that is not serving me anymore? Maybe an addiction, or a toxic habit, or a toxic behaviour, or a reactive behaviour or emotion like anger or resentment.

I think it is important to let something die every day. If we do, that is the true meaning of resurrection; that is being born again. Death is what makes our lives possible. If we succeeded in conquering death, we would be living mummies in a fossilised universe. This would be a museum. Death is beautiful because it is impermanent. Would you rather have this rose or a plastic rug? The only valuable things in life are those that are impermanent. You can't eat gold, but you can eat an apple. So pay attention to impermanence. Don't cling to it because then you are clinging to a mirage. If you don't cling to it and you enjoy it in the moment, in its birth and death, then you are in the flow of the universe; otherwise you are resisting. All illnesses and diseases are the result of resistance.

But the person is dying. How do you give comfort at that stage of life?

I think the most important thing at that stage is to make the person feel safe. The only thing that can make the person feel safe is intense love. It is remarkable how safe people feel when they experience intense love.

Intense love from family members and friends?

Yes. Surround a dying person with all the love you can.

Do you consider yourself a Hindu at this stage of your life?

No. I think if spirituality has to survive, it has to become secular. That means it also has to be a spirituality that is consistent and comfortable with whatever we know about the universe in terms of modern cosmology, in terms of evolution and in terms of biology. So if you apply those criteria, then no religion satisfies those criteria. Religion is more about moral precepts as enunciated by the founders of those religions. It is not about religious experience. If you want to be truly religious, you must have that first time religious experience yourself... as long you don't become a literalist.

What does a literalist do?

A literalist confuses mythology with reality. Everything that is we call religion, whether it is Christianity or Hinduism or Islam, is mythology. They get so upset when the archaeological society (Archaeological Survey of India) says that there is no evidence for the bridge (connecting India with Sri Lanka in the times of Lord Ram). Or this was not a temple (in Ayodhya).

The fact is, having said that all religion is mythology, doesn't matter, because mythology is the highest aspiration of the human imagination. But imagination cannot give you the full experience of religion. Only transcendence can. Even worship, as it came about, is invoking the presence of the divine in your own life.

I would say that, over the last 20 years, I cannot call myself as belonging to any organised religion. Yet, I consider myself a deeply spiritual person. I don't think Christ was a Christian; I don't think Buddha was a Buddhist; I don't think Mohammed was a Mohammedan; I don't think Krishna was a Hindu.

In fact, the word Hindu is a distortion. It comes from the word 'Indu,' which is the river Indus. Hinduism is more a philosophy that is based on the Vedanta and the Upanishads What happens is, when people are not very sophisticated in their theology, then religion becomes a corruption of theology.

Image: Fashion designer Donna Karan and Chopra speak at the closing night of the Urban Zen Initiative Well-Being forum at the Stephan Weiss studio on May 24, 2007 in New York City.
Photograph: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

Also read: More about The Love Guru

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