Ancient Wisdom for Today (3 page)

Now I flew toward it, like a tiny dot of light racing to meet a planet of unspeak-able radiance.”

Harold Klemp recounts this classic

Soul Travel experience in his book
Autobiography of a Modern Prophet
. It occurred while he was in training to become the Living ECK Master. On this visit to the God Worlds accompanied by the ECK

Master Rebazar Tarzs, he would learn

how the ECK helps people with burdens

of the heart. Harold continues:

“It was like flying into the sun, passing through a curtain of light, and coming out on the other side to a world of gorgeous colors. I hung suspended in

space, a splendid light (the glorious Soul body) of seeing, knowing, and being.

“Below me lay the dazzling white sands of a beach, with a multiplicity of blue-and-green ocean waters; the waves

washed mildly upon the sand. Small birds 15

ebbed and flowed with the tide, mirroring the give-and-take of life. The bright blue sky was unclouded by haze of any

kind.
This must be heaven
, I thought.

“In the next instant, I was atop a high cliff overlooking the ocean. How can one describe the perception of Soul, since, despite this great height, it was possible to see and hear as if my feet were walking in the warm sands of the beach below?

“ ‘Look, in the distance!’ commanded a deep baritone voice beside me.

“Startled, I looked around. It was

Rebazar Tarzs, the Tibetan ECK Master, who no doubt was my benefactor in providing this trip to a most beautiful heaven of God. Gripped in his powerful right hand was a stout walking staff of shoulder

height. With his left, he pointed far down along the beach, where two dark figures were walking.

“Suddenly, from our vantage point on

the steep cliff, the distance between us and the two specks collapsed. Time and space had both crumbled. My spiritual

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vision jumped to the two figures in a

twinkling and showed a man and a woman slowly walking the beach toward us. To my surprise, the smallish man was my

friend and Master, Paul Twitchell — the Mahanta. The other person was a young

woman in a flowing white gown that

billowed softly around her in the gentle sea breeze. Slender, with brunet hair, she stood somewhat shorter than Paul. Pain and trouble had drawn her face into a

tight band, and she plodded beside him as if in a daze.

“The two beach walkers passed well

below our observation point on the cliff.

A cloak of light surrounded us, and

Rebazar made the comment, ‘This warm

light that bathes us is from the Ocean of Love and Mercy. It is the Holy Spirit and is a reflection of the light from the atoms of God.’ Rebazar’s ruby red robe was

barely to be seen in this mist of golden light, which seemed to enwrap me too,

although I could not see myself.

“ ‘This sphere of golden light is the

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Soul body,’ he said, ‘the highest of the forms of man.’

“On the beach below, the heavyhearted

woman trudged beside Paul. A shuffling trail in the sand marked their slow pas-sage, meandering footsteps at the edge of lapping wavelets. Paul saw us on the cliff and waved his hand, but an invisible

screen shielded us from the woman. They inched along the beach, slowly shrinking in the distance. A long way off stood a lighthouse, their destination.

“ ‘The sorrows of life have cut sharply into the spirit of that young one,’ Rebazar remarked, compassion modulating his

musical voice. His speech was not in outer tones, yet it came through the electric atmosphere of this remote world of God as clear as a bell. . . .

“. . . The woman had tried to commit

suicide, but the Mahanta stepped in to prevent it. For months thereafter, he took her out of the body at night and brought her to this serene paradise by the sea for spiritual healing.

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“ ‘Her emotional and mental repair will take time,’ concluded Rebazar. ‘Come, let us go.’

“I took a last look at the ocean and the beach, and suddenly understood that the sparkling, celestial waters of this ocean were inexperienced Souls who awaited the right conditions for rebirth into the physical world. Then, in an instant, I was home in my room.”

* * *

helps us live a healthier, more spiritually fulfilling life.

Worry Less, Know More Love,

Feel Energized, Change Bad Habits

What can Soul Travel do for you? The

benefits are both subtle and far-reaching.

When you realize through personal experiences that you live beyond the physical body, you are released from the fear of death. You worry less. When you realize 19

through experience that you are a cre-

ative part of a loving God, you invite more love into your life. You feel less lonely or alienated. When you realize through experience that your life has a spiritual purpose, you will feel energized.

When filled with the excitement and

joy which comes with these spiritual

experiences, you are more able to change the habits of the past. Instead of exerting willpower or fighting deprivation, you may find old habits often just drop away.

Eckankar teaches that Soul is a happy

being. It is not guilty of anything. It is the cause of all Its life circumstances.

This shifts the emphasis from blaming

others to going within to find root causes.

And with this newfound strength it is

often easier to serve others and not be so concerned with your own limitations.

Spiritual Exercises Are Different

from Prayer and Astral Projection

You can Soul Travel by learning the

Spiritual Exercises of ECK. A spiritual 20

exercise is different from prayer because it encourages us to listen to God. In other words, we let the Creator talk to us, in-stead of the other way around. A spiritual exercise differs from meditation in that a spiritual exercise is more active. The ECKist actively joins in a higher state of consciousness rather than passively waiting to receive it. And a spiritual exercise differs from traditional religious rituals because no props or physical movements are required.

Soul Travel also differs from the now-

popularized astral projection. To travel out of the physical realm using your Astral body limits you to the Astral Plane. Recognizing the awareness of Soul goes further. It allows you to explore any of the God Worlds, from the Astral, Causal,

Mental, Etheric, and on to the various planes of Soul. These distinctions will be discussed further in chapter 6, “The God Worlds of ECK.”

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A Spiritual Exercise to Try

The Spiritual Exercises of ECK help

you open your heart to the Light and

Sound of God. Eckankar teaches over one hundred different exercises, all designed to give you a greater understanding of yourself and of God.

One of the basic Spiritual Exercises of Eckankar is to sing HU (pronounced like the word
hue
), the holy name of God. To practice this technique, find a quiet place to sit or lie down. Relax and think about a spiritual quotation or someone you love.

Close your eyes. Sing HU silently or aloud for a few minutes and then listen quietly.

You may experience the divine ECK, the Holy Spirit. Or you may gain a new insight into your life. These experiences are not the privilege of a select few. With self-discipline and commitment, you can build your own foundation of spirituality.

Doing a spiritual exercise is a simple, yet profound practice. Each day upon

arising, or at bedtime, give twenty min-22

utes to this personal appointment with the Holy Spirit. Doing this at the same time each day builds a spiritual momen-tum you can see and feel in your daily life.

Eckankar teaches that our destiny is

to become a Co-worker with God. This

means that we will be a channel for the ECK, Divine Spirit, in our lives, giving joy and spiritual upliftment to those

around us. The individual is never lost in Eckankar. This differentiates Eckankar from Buddhism or Hinduism, which describe their final goal as a dissolution of the individual into God. Eckankar’s respect for the sanctity of the individual shows itself in how Eckankar is taught and honors the rights, privacy, and personal space of others.

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Dreams

Dreams touch every level of our

life. They may let us glimpse the

future, or give suggestions for healing,
or share insights into our relationships.

Above all, they can and will steer us
more directly toward God.

Harold Klemp

The Art of

Spiritual Dreaming

Soul Never Sleeps

Soul never sleeps. It is a unit of awareness. While the body sleeps, the consciousness of Soul is awake. The memory of

this experience is often called a dream.

Dreams are as real and valid as the

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waking state. They simply occur on a

different plane of existence. The reason so many of our dreams are confusing is that our memory becomes distorted. Upon waking, the dream experience is run

through the dream censor, a function of our own mind, and we remember only

pieces of the event. Or the dream is cam-ouflaged with symbols because of our

discomfort or lack of understanding.

The Mahanta Is

the Dream Master

The Mahanta, the inner form of the

Living ECK Master, is the Dream Master.

One way he guides his spiritual students is through their dreams. He uses the

dreams of an individual to help work out karma and to impart spiritual understanding. The goal of an ECKist is to move at will between the outer, or physical, world and the inner spiritual worlds. This can be done via the Spiritual Exercises of ECK and by the conscious use of dreams.

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Dreams Help Us in Daily Life

The following story, taken from Harold Klemp’s book
The Eternal Dreamer
, is a delightful example of how dreams can

help us in our daily lives. Dreams can give us symbols to work with, and they can

give an opportunity for Soul-to-Soul

communication.

Once a couple bought a horse they

named Sid. Their plan was to train the horse, and when it reached a certain age, they would resell it. Of course, it never occurred to them to wonder what Sid

thought of all this.

About a year later, the husband had

an unusual dream in which he found

himself entering a crowded bar. Seeing one unoccupied table, he went over and sat down. A man came over and introduced himself. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Sid, your horse.”

The dreamer thought this was the

funniest thing he’d ever seen. “My horse in a dream, looking like a man,” he said.

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“This is wild.”

The only thing that bothered him about the dream was that this man had a tooth missing, whereas his horse did not.

The dreamer and his horse got to talk-

ing. Sid said, “You know I love you and your wife. I’d like to stay with you. I’ve never had owners like you before who

could Soul Travel and meet with me in the dream state so we could talk things over.”

“Sid,” he asked, “I notice you’ve been limping on one of your hind legs. Is something wrong?”

“I’m having a problem with that foot,”

said Sid. “It’s just a minor thing, but if you can get a farrier to trim my hoof, I could walk better.” And they continued talking.

When the man awoke and told his wife

about the dream, they shared a good laugh over it. She thought the part about the missing tooth was really hilarious.

Later that morning as they walked to

the stable, they saw a crowd around Sid’s stall. The ECKists rushed over, concerned 28

for the welfare of their horse.

The owners saw a little bit of blood on the door of the stall, but Sid seemed to be all right. The husband put a halter on the horse and led him outside. “If you plan to ride him, just don’t put a bit in his mouth,” one of the grooms advised

him. “Your horse somehow got his mouth caught on the door lock, and his tooth broke off.”

Husband and wife looked at each other.

“The missing tooth in your dream,” she said. Without another word, they leaned over to check the horse’s hind foot. Just as Sid had said in the dream, his hoof needed trimming.

The Dream Master, the Mahanta,

sometimes adjusts the dream state so

that one Soul may communicate with

another, whatever Its form. Since the man might have totally discounted a dream

about a talking horse, the Master changed the image to one the dreamer could accept. This is just one of the ways the Dream Master works.

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Dreams Help

Spiritual Unfoldment

Dreams play an important role in spiritual unfoldment. They are a look into the heavenly worlds. In many cases, the dream becomes a teaching tool. An ECKist is always interested in learning, and the dream can be a message about reaching a higher consciousness. In dreams our personalities, with their fears and desires, are exposed for us to look at. We admit things to ourselves in dreams which we would be un-

able to be honest about in our waking state.

Karma Can Be Resolved

in the Dream State

Karma, or past spiritual debts, can be resolved in the dream state. The purpose of karma is to open our consciousness and teach us a spiritual lesson. If we are able to learn a spiritual lesson by having the experience in a dream, we’d have little need to repeat the experience while

awake. The main requirement is that we continue our spiritual growth.

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This can save a great deal of wear and tear on our bodies. For instance, the

Mahanta, the Inner Master, could move

the experience of an automobile accident from the Physical to the Astral Plane, allowing the experience to happen during a dream. It could still be a frightful experience, but much easier to handle