A Saint who had a way of taking any situation and using it to teach spiritual principles, was going through the marketplace of a town with his disciples.

He saw a man dragging his cow by a rope, and the Saint said “Wait” to the man, and told his disciples “Surround this man and the cow. I am going to teach you something.”

The man stopped – the Saint was a famous mystic – and he was also interested in what he was going to teach these disciples and how he was going to use him and the cow.

And the Saint asked his disciples “I ask you one thing: who is bound to whom? Is the cow bound to this man or is this man bound to this cow?” Of course, the disciples said, “The cow is bound to the man. The man is the master, he is holding the rope, the cow has to follow him wherever he goes. He is the master and the cow is the slave.”

And the Saint said “Now, see.” He took out his scissors and cut the rope – and the cow escaped.

The man ran after the cow, and the Saint said “Now look what is happening! Now you see who the master is; the cow is not interested at all in this man – in fact, she is escaping.” And the man was very angry, he said “What kind of experiment is this?” The Saint turned to his disciples and said, “… and this is the case with your mind.”

“All the nonsense that you are carrying inside is not interested in you. You are interested in it, you are keeping it together somehow – you are becoming mad in keeping it together somehow. But you are interested in it. The moment you lose interest, the moment you understand the futility of it, it will start disappearing; like the cow, it will escape.”

Identify the Spiritual Laws in action.

Janice stepped out of the museum, her curiosity about the wonders of the natural world satiated for the time being. The afternoon of exploration had however left her a little hungry. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted an ice cream truck parked right by the main road. Images of swirls of soft creamy ice cream on a crisp cone teased her mind. She couldn’t wait to get to it!

On a nudge, she looked at her watch and realised she would be late for her dinner appointment if she didn’t make a run for the Metro train. She was torn now. Should she give in to her craving or heed the divinely guided nudge to do what was right and head straightaway to the train station?

The ice cream cone won. She convinced herself she would have enough time. She walked quickly to the truck. Excitedly, she ordered a blue raspberry dipped cone. Whilst waiting, she drifted into a daydream of sharing with her friend a picture of this pretty blue ice cream delight. The colour blue has a special significance to them.

She was startled out of her happy thoughts by the movement of the truck. Her first thought was the ice cream man was re-parking his truck. But when the truck started speeding away, she realised with a sinking feeling that on his tail was a police car. There goes her dream cone….

She had not noticed but by the side of the road stood a lady observing with amusement the whole scenario. She walked up to her and she told Janice it was a regular happening. The ice-cream truck would make a quick getaway and return when the coast was clear. He’d be back in about half an hour. She didn’t have the luxury of time so she decided to take her leave.

Just then, Janice caught sight of the word ‘compliance’ on her lanyard. She laughed to herself or rather at herself. A waking dream? Yes, and its message loud and clear; you can’t escape from the spiritual laws. More specifically, in choosing to indulge in her craving for ice cream at the expense of being on time, she was breaking the spiritual law of discrimination.

One aspect of the law of discrimination is making the right choices, one that leads to spiritual advancement instead of wasting time. You can bet Janice wasted no time in making her way to her agreed destination for the evening.

In the ECK Satsang Discourses, Fourth Series, Sri Harold writes, “It requires a high level of discrimination to avoid breaking the spiritual law.”

♥

Have you ever wondered if spiritual guides or guardian angels that are often spoken about truly exist?

Many people have the blessed experience of having true spiritual masters appearing to them and guiding them in times of need. The ECK Masters or the Adepts of the Vairagi are teachers who had gone on the journey and are here to help Souls on the path to greater love, truth, wisdom and freedom.

Kata Daki  – A female ECK Master whose true age is beyond belief, she appears to be in her mid twenties to early thirties. Her pet project is to help people get back on their feet during hardship.

Lai Tsi – A Chinese ECK Master who is the guardian of the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad on the Saguna Lok, the Etheric plane, at the Temple of Golden Wisdom in the city of Arhirit.

Rebazar Tarz – Said to be over five hundred years old, Rebazar Tarz, a Tibetan ECK Master, lives in a hut in the Hindu Kush mountains and appears to many to help them in their daily lives.

Wah Z – The spiritual name of Sri Harold Klemp, the Living ECK Master who was given the Rod of ECK Power of the Mahanta at midnight, October 22, 1981, in the Valley of Shangta at the Oracle of Tirmer.

Read more about how these spiritual teachers have given divine love and inner guidance through the many stories in this blog.

 

 

A saint was travelling from one place to another and stopped near a big tree to meditate. While he was meditating, a cow herder came with his cows. The cow herder wanted someone to look after the cows so he can go somewhere to finish what he had wanted to do. The cow herder asked the saint if he would look after his cows for a few hours. The Saint was in deep meditation, and did not reply to the cow herder. However, the cow herder went away thinking that the saint had heard him.

In a few hours, the cow herder returned and found that his cows were missing. He asked the saint, “Where are my cows? What did you do with them?” The saint was still in meditation and did not reply. He started wondering. “Where could they be?” Since the saint did not reply, the cow herder searched for them everywhere in the valley but could not find them.

He came back to where the saint was and to his amazement, his cows were there standing near the saint. The saint was still meditating. The cow herder got very angry at the saint because he thought that the saint was hiding the cows. So the cow herder got out his rope and was about to whip the saint with it. Just then a Wiseman who happened to be there held the rope.

“Can’t you see that the saint is in deep meditation”, said the Wiseman.

“But he tricked me!” said the cow herder. The Wiseman replied, “He is a spark of God. He does not care for your cows. He was in meditation and did not hear you. He did not do anything to your cows. You would have gotten bad karmas for thinking of hurting him.”

There was no response by the cow herder. He realized that he had made a mistake. The cow herder apologized to the saint and went away silently. The Wiseman went on his way. The Wiseman was happy that he could stop the saint from suffering. The saint didn’t have any adverse feelings towards the cow herder because he held no anger towards anyone.

We should not make hasty decisions because our opinions can be wrong. We should, also, not hurt anyone, and should observe forgiveness instead of anger. This way we can stop new karma from coming into our journey of life.

Can you perceive the Spiritual Laws in operation here?

Recently, Rob had a dream which involved a friend who had translated some time ago. They were good friends and had worked well together on a personal level as well as on Eckankar projects. In the dream, he did not actually see the friend, but had felt his strong presence. They were gathering all their old clothes and walking towards the rubbish dump to dispose of them there. He recalls standing by the dump looking at his clothes falling into an abyss as the darkness swallowed them. Then the dream ended abruptly.

The next morning as Rob sat in contemplation, he asked God what that dream meant. As he melted into the silence, he was surrounded by a blissful connection with the creator. Suddenly, as if a light had gone on in his head, the true message of that dream was divinely given to him.

The old clothes symbolize old habits and whatever karma was attached to them. Also, since Rob and his friend were doing the same thing (throwing away old clothes) together, it meant that they were shedding old habits that had held them captive. For Rob, this profound dream held great significance. It liberated him from being a trapped victim, emboldening him on the physical level to embrace the limitless possibilities of working as a Co-Worker with God.

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“Karma accounts for those webs and ropes that keep us tied to very old relationships that have been going for centuries. We are so tied to others by karma before we come into ECK that we cannot make a move without leaning on someone else.

Once we come into ECK, these bands of karma begin to dissolve, and eventually they drop away. Only then can we stand on our own, with love. Our relationships and associations with other people are no longer based on the Law of Karma which says you are thrown together because you have to resolve this or that. Now we have the freedom to choose the people we want around us.” – Harold Klemp, Spiritual Laws of Life, p. 113-114

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Rob was now ready to move out of his comfort zone, working with familiar people, into a wider circle where he could begin to work with new chelas in his ECK community to serve life. He felt a profound shift within himself from looking at life from the limited perspective of the little self to embracing the universal being that he is. This feeling of expansiveness completely bathed him in a sweet and gentle joy and his perception of himself and the world around him has deeply changed.

Dreams like this allow us to tap the richest jewels from the treasure house of Soul if we are in tune with Divine Spirit through our dedication to the Spiritual Exercises of ECK.

 

Jamie was at ECK Master Gopal Das’ class on Wednesday night. When the class started she found she couldn’t focus on what Gopal Das was saying. Instead, (and she thought she was imagining), she saw herself at a shopping mall, walking out of the restroom. A big pot-bellied man with a little white girl was walking towards her. He was holding her hand and leading that sobbing girl to the toilet. The pot-bellied man and the girl looked so mismatched that Jamie felt suspicious.

Obeying an inner nudge, she approached the man and asked if he was related to the girl, and where he was taking her. Turning to the girl, Jamie asked if she knew that man. Jamie fired question after question at him in rapid succession, giving the man no chance to talk. A crowd began to gather around the three of them. Finally, Jamie stopped her interrogation and waited for him to answer. He mumbled some weak answer and then tried to run from the scene.

From then on, the inner experience became violent. The men in the crowd descended on the ‘child predator’ and beat him up violently. Blood was splattered everywhere. The man was screaming and begging for mercy. Jamie hugged the little girl close to her as if to shield her from the magnitude of the appalling attack and bloodshed.

At that point, her mind kicked in. It screamed, “Get out of this experience, why on earth did you imagine such an awful thing. Stop it!” Jamie tried to switch off but couldn’t. Something made her turn to her right. Wah Z was standing beside her. He said, “His injury is equal to the force of his evil intention. He is paying for the karma of his dark intention and the karma his young victims are carrying from his evil deeds. He violated them and destroyed their lives.”

The experience ended here. Jamie ran the horrifying experience in her head over and over trying to understand the whys and the wherefores of it. Then she fell asleep and when woke up at close to 6am the next morning, the experience was still running in her head! She got out of bed and settled down on the sofa and sang HU, while still actively looking through the experience.

Suddenly, as if the wind had swept the psychic haze aside, Jamie became aware of the golden gems that lay embedded in that seemingly brutal and painful encounter.

One gem that crystallized from that intensely sombre inner experience was that Wah Z was completely unfazed by the violence of the scene. He was there fully conscious of the ugliness and darkness of the beating and yet he was not in it.

Another gem Jamie collected was that Wah Z was neither cold nor unfeeling. He did not encourage the beating like those who were watching. Neither did he squirm as Jamie and some others did at the violence that was portrayed. His space was clear and clean. As quickly as Jamie realized this, Wah Z imparted the most precious gem of all. He said, “To be detached, you need to have a true understanding of the spiritual laws of life.”

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“Detachment is something we know about in the spiritual life. It doesn’t mean not to get involved; it means to not let outer circumstances throw off your inner balance.” – Harold Klemp, Spiritual Laws of Life, p. 83

“With a discrimination given by the Inner Master, which is part of the Law of Economy, you learn to put aside the unnecessary and deal only with the tasks worthy of your time and energy.” – Harold Klemp, Spiritual Laws of Life, p. 96-97

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It also dawned on Jamie that the inner satsang is not always delivered in a classroom setting. It is delivered in ways where the essence of truth can be best tapped by Soul for Its liberation.

“Events are like diamonds. Invisible lines connect them, a part of a divine plan. The God lover learns to see and follow these lines, for they smooth his way. They lead over holy ground. It is there that the Holy Spirit does the wonders that help an individual do what he cannot do alone. It shields him. It’s love and mercy are the grace that put joy and goodness into everyday life.”
                             

– A Cosmic Sea of Words: The ECKANKAR Lexicon

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A few weeks ago, Lea had made a dinner appointment with Rose, a close friend. Rose was advanced in years and at eighty-two had a phobia of travelling alone. The day Rose had chosen for the dinner date happened to fall on the same Saturday as Lea’s Satsang class. Lea told Rose that she would pick her up in a taxi after her class and together they would head for their dinner destination.

That Saturday at the satsang class, one of the chelas, Eloise, came dressed in ‘sarong kebaya’, a traditional Malay attire. She was going to attend an event in a hotel in Marine Parade. Lea’s eyes widened. “What a coincidence! I’ll be meeting a friend there for dinner”, she quipped. “Can I get a ride to Marine Parade?’. When Eloise nodded, Lea smiled in gratitude. This would make the commute to Rose’s place a lot easier! Lea thanked Divine Spirit for this perfect little gift.

In the car, Eloise’s husband played the tape of Sri Harold singing HU! It was like the spiritually uplifting session at the satsang class had dovetailed to this ethereal atmosphere in the car. A blessing indeed!

During the ride, Lea learnt that Eloise’s event was at a building next to Parkway Parade which was her dinner destination! Immediately Lea texted Rose about her unexpected ride to the building next to Parkway Parade. Rose then replied that she would meet her there. Lea’s heart which had already opened to the earlier unexpected gifts, blossomed even more. She closed her eyes and silently offered thanks for the joy in her heart.

While waiting for Rose’s arrival, Lea noticed that it being a Saturday, most of the eateries were packed to capacity. “How silly of me! I should have made a reservation”, she chided herself. Just then, Rose arrived. They had hardly exchanged greetings when Lea noticed a group of patrons leaving the diner to their right. She hurriedly led Rose to that quaint little place and before long they were seated. Another gift from Divine Spirit?

They had a wonderful time chatting and eating. After dinner, Lea insisted on sending Rose home in a taxi. She figured she could use the same taxi to go home if the taxi driver was agreeable. Otherwise, she would have him drop her off at the nearest train station. Surprisingly, he was very friendly and open to her request. Is this a chance happening? Hardly. The presence of that driver at the right place and precise time was definitely a special delivery from the Divine.

Had Lea taken the train home that night, she would have been caught in the disruption to the train service on the North-South line caused by flooding in the tunnel. Then she would have reached home way past mid-night!

When Lea reflected on the inexplicable connectedness of the events of the day and how seamlessly they were woven into each other, she realized they were not just random coincidences but a trail of diamonds left for her by the hand of the Divine. Being in tune with the ECK, she was able to recognize the diamonds and harness the power of connecting these diamonds (events) to bring a measure of happiness and heaven into her life!

Divine Spirit has many wonderful ways of showing us how we can live life gracefully on our journey home to God and connecting the diamonds is one of them.

Sri Harold Klemp in his book, Living Word, Book 2, writes:

“Every event in our life is part of a divine plan that accounts for each so-called mistake or happening of chance. Most people don’t know that life connects. they don’t realize that the events in their lives are diamonds and invisible lines run between them in every possible direction and combination of points. To be happy, we must take the initiative to connect those points that bring love and goodness to us.”

♥

Caleb loves his monthly book discussion classes on the Spiritual Laws of Life. To get a fuller grasp of the laws, he and the members in his group meet weekly at a designated place and time in the Inner Worlds for Satsang with the ECK Masters.

At these inner Satsang sessions, Caleb does not ask for inner experiences that he could share in class at the monthly discussions. He asks instead for the essence of the law that would give him a smoother passage in life. Smoother, not as in the absence of problems but in being able to deal with them without much tension or resistance to the flow of ECK. In a nutshell, what he seeks is the bridge of understanding between the inner world experiences and their relevance to daily life.

His burning desire to distill the essence of the inner Satsangs was so intense that he busied himself with arranging and rearranging his inner and outer flow of living. Caleb struggled in vain for months without success with his inner Satsangs. He certainly felt a lack of connection with Divine Spirit. Was it because he was trying too hard? Was that why he was out of the flow? These questions gnawed at him for a while.

Suddenly, as if jolted by a sublime force, he grew still. The thoughts that had consumed him drew to a staggering halt. Then he heard the still small voice. It had been there all the time but his thoughts had drowned it. ‘Surrender your plans and expectations. Allow that burning desire to engulf your entire being and just be!’

Slowly, this sweet surrender, aligned him with the divine flow, giving him unlimited access to the bounty and riches of this holy terrain.

Caleb’s first gift was a profound experience with ECK Master Kata Daki at the Golden Wisdom Temple of Chanhassen. That same week, he received more gifts from two other ECK Masters – Gopal Das’ class on The Law of Detachment and from Rebazar Tarzs’ class on the Law of Economy.

Together with his successful breakthrough in tapping priceless gems to help him navigate life, he was nudged to do a few more tasks to cement this sacred connection with Divine Spirit and to keep the divine gifts flowing.

The tasks are:
1) Recite Lai Tsi’s prayer every night as he drifts slowly into sleep
2) Do the Spiritual Exercises every morning from the spiritual exercises book and
3) Read from the book, The ECK Vidya, Ancient Science of Prophecy by Paul Twitchell

His dedication to these practices help him develop a more intimate relationship with God. And Caleb now enjoys boundless freedom to travel the inner realms to mine nuggets that help him live life with ease, grace and peace.

♥

Dalia had a busy Tuesday. Despite the flurry of activities, the nudge to attend Kata Daki’s class at the Temple of ECK in Chanhassen at 11pm, fleeted in and out of her mind. Looking at her schedule, Dalia did not feel confident about making it to this inner Satsang on the Law of Destiny.  Incredibly, her evening schedule was changed. Dinner with a friend from out of town was cancelled. So by 9pm Dalia was as free as a bird in the sky.  Propping her pillow against the headboard of her bed, she settled in and began to re-read the excerpts in the Law of Destiny in the book, The Spiritual Laws of Life.

Dalia had read up on this spiritual law the previous night, but as she was very tired, nothing much registered. Her attention was dismally in short supply.  But that Tuesday night was different. Unusually energetic and alert, her attention was as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel. She understood much of what she had read. But something felt sorely missing. It was the essence that would unclip her wings to let her soar. She re-read the excerpts several more times with the hope that she could tap the nectar of truth.

By 10.45pm she gave up hope and made preparations to attend the inner class. Sitting in tailor-fashion with her legs comfortably tucked in, Dalia began to sing HU.  In no time she found herself in the Chanhassen Temple lobby. It was quiet and peaceful and there was no one in sight. She was nudged to go downstairs. Very mindfully, she walked down the stairs and just as she took the last step, Wah Z zipped by a passageway on the left of the stairs.  He was very upbeat and all smiles and greeted Dalia cheerily. Together, they walked to class.

At class, Kata Daki had already taken her seat on the floor, while the 20 chelas were settling down to sit on the plush, warm carpet that was laid from wall to wall. Kata Daki and Wah Z sat facing the chelas who were seated in two semi-circular rows.

Kata Daki opened the class with a question. She asked, “What is destiny?”  There was silence.  Seated at the left end of the second row, Dalia ventured an answer. “Destiny is a journey of experiences.”  Right away she knew she didn’t get it right. For there was no feeling of epiphany in her being.

But something else happened.  Kata Daki’s question brought out the bull dog in her.  Her question was like a bone that Dalia had bit on and refused to let go.  Her whole attention was wrapped so intensely around it that nothing else could get in. At that point she fell asleep and had no recollection of what went on in class. After sometime, she began to stir in her physical consciousness. Just before waking up, Dalia was aware that the inner satsang was drawing to a close. As she gently returned to her physical body, she heard very clearly Kata Daki’s parting words to the class. She said, “Destiny is a journey. It ends when Soul meets The Mahanta, The Living ECK Master.”

Fully back in her physical body, her eyes shot wide open.  She checked the bedside clock which then read 11.35pm. She repeated Kata Daki’s words over and over again, afraid that she would forget.  She felt incredibly happy. Her heart was dancing and singing and it felt like shimmering and glittering silver confetti was raining down on her to celebrate the unclipping of her wings. Dalia felt rejuvenated in spirit and emboldened to continue her dance into the heart of Sugmad.

The joy in her heart did not permit her to sleep. So she got out of bed to capture the experience in words. By the time she had finished writing and contemplating, it was three in the morning. Reviewing the experience, she wondered what had triggered her to want to attend this class so much. Suddenly, it dawned on her that it was the last excerpt in the Law of Destiny in which the ECK Master, Paul Twitchell, said:

“Once an individual make a commitment to hold true to the teachings of ECK and follow the words of the Living ECK Master, it is a sure thing he will see his outer life run in new directions. The Law of Destiny, which has dictated the direction of his life to this point, is dismantled. The power is taken from the mechanism. A whole new chapter is begun when the Master turns the page in the Book of Life. Whatever is expected when one begins an earnest study in ECK,  it is certain that the love of the Sound Current is smoldering in the center of the spirit.”

                                   – The ECK Satsang Discourses, Third Series, lesson 6