Ancient Wisdom for Today (5 page)

You might find Saint Peter and the pearly gates, or the happy hunting grounds, or even visit the palace of Zeus or Jupiter.

On the Astral Plane you find what you

expect, what you hope for, or what you fear.

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Reincarnation Helps Explain

Aspects of Our Personalities

Reincarnation provides an explanation

for various elements of our personality.

Why does a young child show great

musical talent when his parents have

none? The reason could be that these

talents were developed in a previous life and a subtle memory persists.

If the awareness of Soul is maintained, living in the physical world can be joyous.

However, members of Eckankar aspire to spiritual freedom. This means they may choose to reincarnate but are not compelled to do so. The Mahanta can guide Soul out of the worlds of illusion and help It rise above the Laws of Karma and

Reincarnation.

Reincarnation Is

a Widely Held Belief

Reincarnation is a widely held belief.

Hundreds of millions of people, including 49

most Hindus and Buddhists, believe that Soul inhabits many bodies over the course of time. ECKists believe that Soul enters the body at or around the time of birth.

Without the entrance of Soul, the body could not survive.

Soul Is Always

Moving Forward

Soul is always moving forward. It is

never punished. It must simply obey the Law of Karma and will eventually learn from Its experience. It is rare for an individual who has attained the human

state of consciousness to be reborn as an animal. This would slow the ability to learn, to unfold, and to graduate from the school of life.

We’ve Been Here Before

Most of us have lived before. Soul

reincarnates on the physical plane again and again until It graduates from the

school of physical life.

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By choosing different bodies and dif-

ferent life experiences, Soul learns to view life from all sides. Living as male or female, as black or white, as rich or poor, for example, Soul tests and purifies Itself.

There Is a Reason for the Veil

Separating Us from the Past

If we could remember all of our previ-

ous lives, the confusion would be overwhelming. To survive on this earth, we must be able to focus on our current

identity and deal with day-to-day events.

Divine Spirit protects us from confusion by pulling the veil over our memory when we are reborn.

We Often Return to Be with

Family and Friends from Before

The patterns of karma often bring us

into contact with those we have known

before. This is a thread which runs between family and friends, neighbors and business associates. Your sister from

ancient Egypt may be your father-in-law 51

today. Your adversary from the Civil War may be your friend in this life.

Past-Life Memory Is Accessible

Through the Spiritual Exercises of

ECK, you can remember past lives. You

would remember those which have a

bearing on this life, the ones which give you insight into your current spiritual problems. These records are stored on

the Causal Plane. They can be viewed as easily as you would visit a library on the Physical Plane, as long as you are detached enough to handle the information.

The Physical Plane

Is a School of Life

We often return to the school of life on earth, or some other physical arena, to continue our spiritual education. Soul, in harmony with the Law of Karma, chooses Its next incarnation. We choose our parents and our circumstances because they 52

suit our spiritual needs. From this perspective, Soul is not concerned with pain or pleasure, riches or power. It simply is looking for Its next spiritual experience and is compelled to balance Its karmic account.

Similarly, those of us who find our-

selves on a spiritual quest have probably pursued these interests before. Many on the path of Eckankar have studied with previous ECK Masters. We find a glint of recognition in this life. Others have led lives committed to spiritual unfoldment and now find themselves ready to continue with the next step.

ECKists are not frantic to escape this world or avoid rebirth. As a Co-worker with God, Soul is never finished with Its work. But at a certain point It may no longer need to inhabit a physical body.

Reincarnation will only continue for those who need or choose it. The Mahanta can guide Soul out of the worlds of illusion and help It rise above the laws of karma and reincarnation.

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It is through these worlds that you take the journey to Self- and God-Realization.

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6

The God Worlds of ECK

he best hotels and the most luxu-

Trious accommodations on earth

seem like dark huts compared to the things
you see on the inner planes. The worlds
of God are light and spacious, and the joy
that Soul experiences there is beyond
human understanding. This is what Soul
is trying to get to, and it comes through
the spiritual exercises.

Harold Klemp

Cloak of Consciousness

Years ago, a lone ECKist stood on a

bridge over a river in Wisconsin. His story is a dramatic example of the ultimate

experience of the Light and Sound, God-Realization. “From out of the night,” he 55

recounts, “as if from a distant lighthouse, came a searing bolt of blue-white light that pierced my heart. . . .

“A heavy roll of thunder shook the

bridge, as if a locomotive were sweeping past a railroad crossing at high speed. I trembled at the power of the sound. . . .

“All became still. The sound of thunder ceased, but the Light of God poured end-lessly into my heart as It swept down from the God planes, from the very center of all creation. . . .

“Then it came, barely a breath of sound gliding over the water. . . . The soft ripple of sound washed in again. Without a doubt, it was ocean waves upon a peaceful shore. . . .

“The sound of waves grew still.

A pause, then again the ocean swell, but this time more compelling. . . .

“The tide must be coming in
, I thought.

Faster, louder came the surging. Thunder-ous, booming, crashing. . . .

. . . With each tide fall I reeled. The full Ocean of Love and Mercy was crushing me, cleansing, scouring, blessing. . . .

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“The Sound was All. It filled my every atom. The sweet and holy Current of God cradled me with Its fierce love. There was no part of me where It was not. This was ECK, the ancient, ageless Voice of God, giving new life to Its creation.”

That ECKist who stood on the bridge

is Harold Klemp. This experience, ex-

cerpted from his book
Autobiography of
a Modern Prophet
, occurred while he was in training to become the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master. His experience was

dramatic and unique. Yet it shows what is possible for the seeker who loves God with all his or her heart.

Soul Travel Makes It Possible

to Achieve God-Realization

in This Lifetime

Learning to recognize, understand, and work with the Light and Sound of God is one of the most unique and exciting

aspects of Eckankar. Becoming attuned

to the sounds, visual characteristics, and 57

vibrational rates of the God Worlds via Soul Travel makes it possible for the seeker to achieve Self-Realization and even God-Realization in this lifetime.

The God Worlds can best be described

as planes of reality. Each plane corresponds to a certain state of consciousness and vibration. God, or the Sugmad, is the source of all the planes. From out of the Sugmad flows the ECK. It is the ECK, Divine Spirit, which supports and sustains all life in all planes.

Harold Klemp experienced the Ocean of

Love and Mercy in the pure spiritual worlds of God while physically on that bridge in Wisconsin. Sugmad exists at the heart of the spiritual worlds, in the Ocean of Love and Mercy, beyond matter, energy, space, or time. It is in these worlds that you take the journey from Self- to God-Realization.

The Soul Plane

Self-Realization is achieved on the Soul Plane, just across the division between 58

the lower (psychic) and higher (spiritual) worlds. The Soul Plane is the only plane in the higher worlds where Soul is still cloaked with a form or body. Each plane, whether psychic or spiritual, can be recognized by its own particular sound. The sound of the Soul Plane is the single note of the flute.

The ECK continues to flow outward

from the heart of God, even to the

far reaches of the lower worlds. They are the worlds of matter, energy, space, and time. The coarsest material level, operating at the lowest frequency of vibration, is the Physical Plane.

Life is short here, and the understanding of the spiritual laws is usually limited to a very few. As an ECKist, however, you learn that your experience is no longer limited to this plane. You also reach a point where, at the end of this lifetime, you may have a choice whether or not you wish to return.

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Gain Spiritual

Understanding from

the Temples of Golden Wisdom

Often we gain wisdom and spiritual

understanding by visiting Temples of

Golden Wisdom. There are Temples on

each plane, each with an ECK Master

serving as guardian of the Shariyat-

Ki-Sugmad, the holy scriptures of ECK.

Most notable on the Physical Plane are the Katsupari Monastery in Tibet

(Fubbi Quantz, guardian); the Gare-Hira Temple at Agam Des in the Hindu Kush

mountains (Yaubl Sacabi, guardian); the Faqiti Monastery in the Gobi Desert,

(Banjani, guardian); and the Temple of ECK, in Chanhassen, Minnesota (Harold

Klemp, guardian). The sound of the

Physical Plane is often heard as thunder.

The Astral Plane

As you dream, you may spend a great

deal of time in a more refined state of consciousness called the Astral Plane. Your Astral body is lighter and functions at a 60

higher vibration. The Astral Plane is the source of human emotion, psychic phenomena, ghosts, and UFOs. The Astral Plane is also home for most humans upon the death of their physical body.

The Astral Plane is much larger and

more beautiful than the Physical Plane and often mistaken for man’s final rest-ing place, or heaven. The spiritual beings who reside there seem angelic by earth’s standards, and the rulers of the Astral Plane appear as gods to those unfamiliar with the planes above the Astral.

This is the highest plane reached by

those practicing astral projection and most occult sciences. Askleposis, the Temple of Golden Wisdom on this plane, is located in Sahasra-dal-Kanwal (Gopal Das, guardian).

You can often recognize the Astral Plane by the sound of the roaring sea.

The Causal Plane

Memories of past lives are stored on

the next higher plane of existence, the 61

Causal Plane. If you are looking for the seeds of your current life, you could visit the Causal Plane and read the Akashic

records. The Causal Plane contains more spiritual matter than does the Physical, but it is still governed by the laws of duality. The Sakapori Temple of Golden Wisdom is located here in the city of Honu, and the guardian of the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad there is Shamus-i-Tabriz. You

can recognize the Causal Plane by the

sound of tinkling bells.

As you travel into a higher state of consciousness, the magnificence of what

you behold can be overwhelming. This in itself can be a trap, because the tempta-tion to linger is strong. The impression is always that you have reached the highest state. This is why the Mahanta, the Inner Master, is so important. He will always be near to give you a little nudge, to remind you to continue on your spiritual journey.

The Mental Plane

The source of the mind and its con-

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structs — philosophy, ethics, and moral teachings — is the Mental Plane. It is a grand place populated by advanced

spiritual beings. The word
Aum
, chanted by those in many religious groups, origi-nates from the Mental Plane. Although

this is a very spiritual plane, resi-

dents of this plane are still subject to reincarnation. This is because the

Mental Plane is still part of the lower worlds.

To pass into the true spiritual planes, we must drop the mind. Soul uses the

mind as a tool but cannot be guided by it. The mind cannot understand the true nature of God. God can only be experienced, and descriptions of God are most often inaccurate because they depend on the power of the mind.

The Temple of Namayatan, the Temple