Life is like a tree and its root is consciousness. Therefore, once we tend the root, the tree as a whole will be healthy.

Using an organic metaphor, Chopra frames human life as an outward expression of an inward cause. The “tree” represents the visible domains of experience—health, relationships, work, emotions—while the “root” stands for consciousness: awareness, attention, and the underlying beliefs that shape perception. The claim is that lasting change comes less from pruning surface symptoms than from cultivating the source—through practices like meditation, self-inquiry, and mindful living. In this view, tending consciousness aligns thought, feeling, and action, and the rest of life reorganizes accordingly. The quote encapsulates Chopra’s broader mind–body and spiritual-psychological emphasis on inner transformation as the basis for well-being.