Ancient Wisdom for Today (7 page)

out of balance if they knew what was

going to happen to future generations.

Others would try to take the information and use it for their personal financial advantage. A rule of Divine Spirit is that 79

we must never use our knowledge to

control or manipulate others.

Golden-tongued Wisdom

There are two elements of the ECK-

Vidya which play a role in the life of the average person. These are called the

Golden-tongued Wisdom and the waking

dream.

The Golden-tongued Wisdom is a phe-

nomenon which trains people to look for spiritual guidance in the most mundane of events. For instance, you could be

shopping in a store when the clerk suddenly makes a casual remark to you.

Though innocent enough in itself, the comment has some specific spiritual meaning to you.

It’s as if the ECK is speaking to you

through the unwitting channel of the

store clerk. Or perhaps you turn on the radio and begin listening to the lyrics of a popular song. The message inspires you, and you see the solution to a current problem. With an open heart, you can hear

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Divine Spirit speaking to you through the Golden-tongued Wisdom.

The Waking Dream

A variation on the principle of the

Golden-tongued Wisdom is the waking

dream. The waking dream is another

vehicle through which Divine Spirit communicates to you. But these experiences are more couched in symbols, similar to dream experiences.

Say a man is shown a picture of a

butterfly, but in his mind it looks like a bee. A few hours later, he hears his wife mention the letter
B.
A week later, a friend asks if he is getting enough B vitamins.

Now the connection between all three

events becomes clear to him. He starts taking extra B vitamins, and a health

problem he’d asked for help with improves.

Soul, the higher self, made sense of

the symbolic events, and the message

made its way to the conscious mind. This is an example of the waking dream.

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To learn more about the theory and

practice of the ECK-Vidya, you can read
The ECK-Vidya, Ancient Science of

Prophecy
by Paul Twitchell. More specific information on the Golden-tongued Wisdom and the waking dream can be

found in Harold Klemp’s books
The Art
of Spiritual Dreaming
,
The Eternal
Dreamer
,
and
The Dream Master
.

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9

Solving Problems

he spiritual life is not meant to

Tfinally end the succession of problems, for they are given as opportunities
for Soul’s unfoldment. What the spiritual
student does develop, however, is the inner link with the ECK, the Holy Spirit.

Thus he taps into the Supreme Creative
Force that guides him around all the
blocks in his path that once defeated him.

One’s ability to take charge of his own
life increases. This is a solid step toward
self-mastery and that state of consciousness called the kingdom of heaven.

Harold Klemp

A Modern Prophet Answers Your

Key Questions about Life

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In any subject you take in school,

whether it’s science, math, history, or art, the secret to success is problem solving. Generally, the solution is contained within the problem. The more experienced you become, the more problems you solve, the more you grow in mastery and confidence, especially with problem solving on a mental level.

The same is true in the school of life.

Sometimes, however, the problems we face seem beyond our abilities. Here is our opportunity to grow spiritually. Knowing how to work with the ECK, Divine Spirit, helps us overcome the fear of facing something that seems beyond our ability. We live a much more joyful, fulfilling life.

Knowing how to strike a balance between doing everything within our power to

address a problem and handing it over to the ECK is the secret of problem solving from a spiritual perspective.

Whether the problems we face are

financial or health related or spring from a lack of self-discipline, there are spiri-84

tual exercises to help us address

them. The following are a couple of

examples.

The Fine Art of

Knowing When to Give Up

A short while ago, an ECKist found

himself in a discouraging financial position. He looked at the stack of bills on his desk for mortgage, car payment, utilities, and credit cards. Then he looked again at his checkbook balance and projected his income for the month. He felt numb when he discovered he would be short several hundred dollars at least. Even if he paid some of the bills late, it wouldn’t solve the problem. It seemed impossible.

To complicate matters, he soon found

that his position with a large corporation was to be eliminated in several months because of downsizing. The company

had just undergone a merger and was

eliminating duplication. He’d been

working diligently to seek out new opportunities for the survival of his family.

85

They loved their little home in the country and the quaint community in which

they lived. But it seemed nothing was

working out.

Finally, he reached a point of surren-

der. “Mahanta,” he said, “I’ve done all I can. I surrender this situation into your hands.” Then he let go of his attachment to all of the problems he faced. He put his trust totally in the ECK and the Inner Master.

When he received his next paycheck,

he discovered to his amazement that it included an extra two weeks’ salary. A note accompanying the check explained

that this was money that had been held out at the beginning of his employ by the old company he worked for before the

merger. To help simplify bookkeeping, em-ployees of that company were being reim-bursed. The check contained enough

money to cover the deficit he faced, with enough left over to get a jump on the

following month.

In addition, he found a new perma-

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nent position with another company that turned out to be the best job he’d ever had. It meant leaving the large corporation, giving up his cherished home, and moving halfway across the country. But it also meant a more secure and spiritually fulfilling future for his whole family.

HU Will Help You

There is little more frightening for a parent than the thought of a child getting lost or disappearing. A family of four was visiting Minnesota for the first time. They were from a small New England town

and were unaccustomed to large, crowded shopping malls. One day during their

visit, they decided to visit one of the huge malls the area had to offer. The two

children, both boys, love to ride escalators. The boys spotted a long one, all silver and glass with black handrails.

Steps rose out of the floor, moving grace-fully and invitingly, one by one, up to the second floor. The boys begged to ride the escalator.

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After they rode the escalator up, the

boys took another back down. Then, amid the confusion of the crowds, the youngest boy got separated from his family. He

disappeared. Dad, Mom, and the older

brother scoured the mall for over a half hour with no success. It seemed an

eternity. Finally, Mom did a spiritual exercise. She sang HU. She took two steps then heard a tearful little voice behind her cry, “Mommy!” Her little boy stood with a security guard in exactly the same spot where she had sung HU.

Use the Shariyat Technique

for Well-Being and Happiness

If you have a problem you’re having

trouble solving using other techniques, this one has proved to be helpful to many ECKists. It’s especially helpful if you are down-to-earth by nature. Called the

Shariyat technique, this is given

in Harold Klemp’s book
Unlocking the
Puzzle Box.

First, simply look at your problem. What 88

is its nature? Is it a spiritual matter, or does it involve physical health, finances, or a broken heart?

Second, open Book One or Two of
The
Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad
at random and read a paragraph.

The third step is to chant HU and

contemplate upon what you have just read in
The Shariyat.
Don’t contemplate on your problem or try to make some kind

of a bridge between your paragraph and your problem. This is very important. Just contemplate upon the paragraph from

The Shariyat
while chanting HU.

After you have completed the contem-

plation, the fourth step is to open
The
Shariyat
, again at random, and read another paragraph. At this point, you can try to see how the first and second paragraphs relate to your problem. The entire exercise shouldn’t go much longer than fifteen or twenty minutes.

The following day, if you still don’t

have an answer, do this spiritual exercise again. If you do get an answer, then you 89

can use the same technique on another

problem bothering you.

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10

Initiations

At the time of initiation the chela

[spiritual student]
is imparted vital secrets, which facilitate his growth and
speed up his karma. The highest, perfect
directions for the Spiritual Exercises of
ECK are given. These help him to unfold
his inner hearing and inner sight, and with
them he begins his ever growing inward
and upward pilgrimage to the Sugmad.

The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad

wondering what her First Initiation would be like. When she was ready for it, a

Higher Initiate in ECK came to her in

the dream state and said, “Come, let us go see the Master.” Together the new

ECKist and the Higher Initiate journeyed 91

to one of the worlds of the Astral Plane, chatting as they walked along. Soon the Master appeared in the Light body, and the First Initiation was given.

The individual went on to complete

her second year of study, at which time she was ready for the Second Initiation.

This one is both an outer and inner initiation. This is where the full linkup with the Holy Spirit occurs.

As she sat with the ECK Initiator in

contemplation, she became aware that the Initiator was leading her down a beach.

The setting was very familiar; she had been there in dreams many times since childhood.
Is this real or am I imagining it?

she wondered.

All of a sudden her consciousness was

fully on the inner plane. She and the

Initiator were met by the ECK Master

Rebazar Tarzs, who joined them in their walk along the beach.

Ahead of them on the sand was a

blanket spread with fruit. The Inner

Master, the Mahanta, was waiting for

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them. In his hands he held a goblet made of precious jewels. “This is the water of life,” he said to her. “Take it, and drink.”

This water of life is actually the ECK, which is the Light and Sound of God.

Once a person drinks of it, he will never be the same. This is the sort of thing that occurs during the ECK initiation. You

become aware that ECK is the path of

love. When this connection between Soul and the Holy Spirit is made, it is simply to give the person the best opportunity to live his life in the most fruitful way possible.

Initiation Links Soul

to the Audible Life Stream

The ECK is the essence of Sugmad, or

God. It flows from the Creator down into the lower worlds and then returns again to the Source. It supports and sustains all life. Over the centuries It has been given many names. The Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, Logos, the Word, Divine Spirit, 93

the Bani, and the Vadan are a few of

these names. Many religious traditions refer to the ECK in some way.

Divine Spirit is also called the Au-

dible Life Stream, because It can be experienced audibly, as Sound. It is

awareness of this Sound that distin-

guishes Eckankar from many other reli-

gions. When Soul is ready, the Mahanta links It with this Sound. This allows Soul to travel at Its own pace back to God.

As individuals progress spiritually,

they become eligible for further initiations. Each initiation strengthens the bond of love between the individual and God.

How Many

Initiations Are There?

The inability of the mind to compre-

hend those areas beyond the Soul Plane limits us in our understanding of the

various heavens and their corresponding initiations. From the physical perspec-94

tive, we can identify fourteen levels of initiation. Yet there is always a plus factor in Eckankar. There is no end to the spiritual universe. The God Worlds are not

finite areas surrounded by borders.

Each of Us Enters

Eckankar with a Different

State of Consciousness

Harold Klemp says in
How to Survive
Spiritually in Our Times
,“Your ECK initiation can open the window of heaven.

Your state of consciousness means nothing more than your state of acceptance.”

Each of us enters the path of Eckankar with a different state of consciousness.

Our own level of unfoldment depends on our experience in this life and in previous incarnations. Some have studied the ECK teachings in past lives and therefore take to the path quite easily. For others it may be their first contact with the teachings of Light and Sound, and

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they may feel more comfortable proceeding slowly.