Spirituality guru Deepak Chopra has just checked into his room at Casa Casuarina, Gianni Versace's winter palazzo-turned-hotel/party venue. He has been put up in the Safari room, he tells you when you meet down by the mosaic-bottomed pool, and he's trying to get over the fact that he's going to have to spend the night there.

''There is a big skin of a lion in there,'' says Chopra, looking like a New Age rock star in his crystal-studded glasses, peace sign T-shirt under a Nehru jacket, designer jeans and red satin Nikes. ``It's a little bit distressing. I was a little shocked when I saw this place. It's like a relic of the past.''

Chopra celebrates the notion that South Beach's overindulgent ways may be getting a karmic comeuppance thanks to the throttled economy.

''When you are here, or when you're walking the street outside this place, you have no idea that 20 percent of the world lives on less than $1 a day,'' says Chopra -- who is hardly hurting. His books are mainstays of the bestseller lists, and his Chopra Center for Wellbeing in California, along with his workshops and speaking engagements around the world, have made serious money. ``As long as there is such extreme economic disparity, there will never be peace.''

Chopra, in town to speak at Lingerie Miami -- a glam fashion show at Vizcaya that raised $250,000 for microfinancing programs that help women around the world work their way out of extreme poverty -- rails against the big spenders who drive around the Beach in Ferraris and spend hundreds of dollars on bottles of booze for the privilege of sitting in a nightclub's VIP room.

''That is just obscene now,'' he says. ``It has always been obscene. It's self-perpetuating. After a while, if you are living in that obscenity, you don't realize it until maybe you see something that is a complete contrast. Although, I guess if you are immune to the suffering in the world, you don't really care.''

LESSONS LEARNED

Chopra says he's glad the economy fell apart, because he thinks the crash just might serve as a lesson, at least for those who are paying attention.

``Economists say that of the $2.9 trillion that circulates in the world's financial markets, less than 2 percent provides meaningful goods and services that are useful to society. The rest is just speculation. We live in a casino environment. When you go to business school, you are taught that the purpose of business is to increase shareholder value. That's what got us in trouble. I'm happy about what's happening.''

POVERTY SOLUTIONS

The extreme greed and materialism of a minority holds the whole world back, Chopra says in that Guru-Knows-Best way.

''Microfinancing is something that I am very interested in,'' he says. ``It is one effort in a much larger picture, but it is a very important one. In Mumbai, there is somebody building a billion-dollar home steps from where all these poor orphans live. Conflict, war, terrorism, lack of education, global warming, social injustice -- these are all entangled. The only solution we have for everything afflicting the planet today is to start realizing we are one humanity. Our happiness, welfare and fulfillment depend on the happiness, welfare and fulfillment of all the people around the world. If we don't come to understand this, well, it might become nature's way of saying the human species was an interesting experiment that didn't work.''

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@