How to Know God : The Soul’s Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries

A startling turnaround for Deepak just before his death

This is one of the most stunning books I've ever read. It is a complete 160-degree turnaround from how he had been. In this book he realizes he's no longer angry, it's time to make friends and be happy. And, then, not weeks after the publication, he is gunned down by the East Coast individualists. The feud between the two coasts has been raging for too long. The West Coast spiritualists (led by Deepak) hate the East Coast individualists. No one really knows the cause of the rivalry, but some people think it started when Neal Donald Walsch (an East Coaster) said Deepak looked like Dr. Segal. At any rate, these two groups have hated each other ever since.

And, that hatred was certainly evident in Deepak's works. His 1992 book Perfect Heath: Sumpin the East Coast Know Nothin' 'Bout was a bitter tongue lashing against his rivals. And, nothing stung more than these lines from 1990's Quantum Healing: Deepak 4Ever Y'all — "When the spirit of life swells within you/kick that mofo sucka out/coz the East is the beast/and they got nothin ta pray about".

In 1998, the feud – once constrained to harsh words and some cruel daily affirmations — took a bitter turn when that chick who started the Chicken Soup books was gunned down outside a Jersey City strip club. Locals said she was a regular at the establishment — always telling people that she was there "researching". Police never officially pinned the slaying on anyone in particular (even after the subsequent publication of Chicken Soup for My Murder's Soul; said Police Chief Monohan: "Well, I've got the book — my wife got it. But, I haven't really sat down to read it. She keeps it in the bathroom. I always say I'm going to get to it, but there's always a Popular Mechanics instead.")

But, the rest of the Easters thought they knew who did it. And, spiritualist legend has it that Deepak's slaying was in retaliation for the Chicken Soup lady (who apparently was just about to publish her masterpiece: Chicken Soup for the Vegetarian’s Soul.)

This book is a beautiful apology for that rivalry. It was written just as Deepak was building his Center for Well Being, an institute dedicated to helping Humanity find its Spirit in Inner Space. And, just before Deepak was to star with Jim Belushi in "Gridlocked".

Since his death, the only piece of Deepak we have left is this wonderful book. Cherish it, as you Cherish that 8-pack of Spirit Magnets from his website that you bought for your fridge. And, we can only look forward to the tribute song from Puff Daddy. I heard he's planning on sampling "Clouds in My Coffee".