. Experience Teaches Us

. Experience teaches us. When a lesson is learned, particularly a spiritual lesson, we no longer need the experience. The karma is finished. We can move on to the next step. This is not absolution or forgiveness. It is spiritual growth.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Spiritual Maturity Comes When We Are
. The Creator of Our Own Life

. We cannot purchase God Consciousness in a marketplace, nor can it be granted to us by another. Our mistakes or sins of the past cannot be absolved at the last minute simply by request. We earn spiritual wisdom by taking responsibility for our actions and by learning how the ECK, the Holy Spirit, works. Spiritual maturity comes when we realize we are the creator of our own life. We learn to be a Co-worker with God by understanding how to create what is highest and most beneficial for the whole.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. . Reincarnation

. You're like a hamster going around and around in a wheel. This wheel is called the wheel of reincarnation. Life after life you can come back trying to solve the mystery, wondering how to love God, then how to love yourself.
. The answer to that mystery is called spiritual freedom. And the way to spiritual freedom is simply to sing HU with love. That is where you begin.
. That's the doorway to a new life, a life of love.


Sri Harold Klemp
What Is Spiritual Freedom

. Another scientific principle is the conservation of matter and energy. This natural law states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another.
. French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier discovered this principle in the late eighteenth century shortly before losing his head in the French Revolution. Since then, several scientists, including John Dalton and Albert Einstein, refined and expanded on the principle. They found that the total amount of matter and energy in the universe always remains the same. The parts are just reassembled into new combinations.
. Every aspect of the universe is part of a phenomenal recycling effort. We, as Soul, are divine sparks of God. That which can never be created nor destroyed. This doesn't mean that the human population on earth remains the same. Not all Souls incarnate as humans at the same time.
. We evolve in consciousness through many different forms of life, even in the plant and animal kingdoms, before we take human form. Our goals are to learn how to survive, how to archive self-mastery, and how to find our way home to God.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Near-Death and out-of-Body Experiences
. Have Helped People Live Life More Fully

. Some people have had near-death experiences. They were able to view their injured body from above and had a glimpse of the higher worlds. Most have extremely happy and uplifting experiences.
. Soul never dies. It does not grieve for Its physical body. Many tell of meeting old friends or relatives who have passed on or of encounters with great majestic beings who greet them but say the time for their death has not yet arrived. Those who return to their physical body often feel totally different about their lives. They are now free of the fear of death and are able to live life more fully.
. And there are those who've had out-of-body experiences. These experiences are similar to the near-death experiences but can occur under more ordinary circumstances. The person is able to shift his spiritual attention away from the physical realm and travel in the Soul body. After such experiences it is hard to be afraid of death because the continuity of life becomes so apparent.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Heaven Exists On Other Planes

. When the physical body dies, Soul continues to exist on the other planes of God. Soul may stay on these other planes for a day, a thousand years, or more. This is dependent on Soul's mission, Its karmic obligation, and Its level of spiritual unfoldment. For many, this in-between time is heaven. The Astral Plane, for example, has sections which resemble all of the heavens described in the major religious traditions. 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.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. 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.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Reincarnation is a Widely Held Belief

. Reincarnation is a widely held belief. Hundreds of millions of people, including most Hindus and Buddhist, 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.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. We've Been Here Before

. Most of us lived before. Soul reincarnates on the physical plane again and again until It graduates from the school of physical life.
. By choosing different bodies and different 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.


. 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.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

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




ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Soul Travel Makes It Possible to Archive 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 vibrational rates of the God Worlds via Soul Travel makes it possible for the seeker to archive Self-Realization and even God-Realization in this lifetime.
. The God worlds can be best 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 physical 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.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. . The Soul Plane

. Self-Realization is archived on the Soul Plane, just across the division between 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 ECKists, however, you learn that your experiences 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.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Gain Spiritual Understanding From the
. Temples of Golden Wisdom

. Often we can gain wisdom and spiritual understanding by visiting Temples of Golden Wisdom. There are Temples on each plane, each with an ECK Master serving as the 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 (Yaul 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 higher vibration. The Astral 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 resting place, or heaven. The spiritual beings who reside there seem angelic by earth's standards, and the rules 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.


ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. The Causal Plane

. Memories of past lives are stored on the next higher plane of existence, the 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 temptation 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.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

A Seed for Contemplation

The reason for spiritual enlightenment is not to escape life, but to learn how to live it richly, to enjoy it.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

. The Mental Plane

. The source of the mind and its constructs-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, originates from the Mental Plane. Although this is a very spiritual plane, residents of this plane are still subjected 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, the descriptions of God are most often inaccurate because they depend on the power of the mind.
. The Temple of Namayatan, the Temple of Golden Wisdom on this plane, is located in the city of Mer Kailash, and the guardian is the Koji Chanda. You can recognize the Mental Plane by the sound of running water.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. The Etheric Plane

. Marking the border between the low and higher worlds of Divine Spirit is the Etheric Plane. This is the source of our primitive thoughts and the subconscious. The Dayaka Temple of Golden Wisdom is located here in the city of Arhirit, and the guardian of the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad is Lai Tsi. You can recognize the Etheric Plane by the sound of buzzing bees.
. As you unfold spiritually, you'll travel through the various God Worlds of ECK. This journey will be a unique experience because we are all individuals, each at a different point in our unfoldment.


ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. . Love

. The very heart of the doctrine of ECK is love. This love is that divine essence which unites all Souls. The higher Soul goes into the other worlds the greater this becomes. Love is the bond which holds the worlds together. . The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad.
. . Book One

. Love Is Simple

. In Cloak of consciousness, Harold Klemp says, "It is no secret that the power of love is stronger than the power of the mind. The mind enjoys little games and psychic adventures, such as the use of crystal power. Someone who wants the God Consciousness no longer cares for these things. We care about the Light and Sound of God. For this one must have the Golden Heart, which means a heart filled with love.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Know Greater Love Through the Golden
. Heart

. The key to love is the Golden Heart. If you have it, it is very easy to Soul Travel. Let's take a moment to look within and experience the radiant love of the Golden Heart.
. Begin to visualize a growing, golden light surrounding you. It may be very subtle at first. It embraces you, flows with you.
. Soon you are riding currents of light into the vastness of the cosmic sea. A place you've long forgotten. It's a place deep within your inner being, the dwelling place of Soul.
. Now your consciousness settles on the surface of the sea. Now the sea of love and light begins to emanate from you, expanding. It's deeper than the mind can conceive. You've moved beyond the regions of space and time.
. Ever so lightly, you sense a breeze. You hear the sound of a wind from deep within. It creates tiny ripples on the surface of the sea. Suddenly you realize you're experiencing the Light and Sound of God. You can stay here for a while if you choose, basking in the radiant, soothing ocean of Light and love.
. When you're ready, slowly come back. It should be easy enough to speak of this kind of experience, but words often fail us. We can try to share our experience, but it's up to each of us to open up that awareness within ourselves.
. Truth is not gained through observation, it's gained through experience. The path of ECKankar offers each of us the opportunity to open our consciousness and our hearts to greater awareness, to become the Golden Heart. We can each feel the love that passes on from one world to the next, into the higher planes of reality. But the awakening has to start within your heart.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

A Seed for Contemplation


Happiness is not a matter of how your outer life
appears to someone else. Happiness is a state
of consciousness.


—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

. The ECK-Vidya

. If you are open to the Holy Spirit, you will find truth coming to you through the actions and words of other people. This is a facet of the ECK-Vidya, the ancient science of prophecy. I call it the Golden-tongue Wisdom.
. When God speaks to you through others, the words may even come via the electronic media.... Suddenly a sentence pops out that is precisely for you. It may mean nothing to anyone else, but for you it has a significant meaning.


Sri Harold Klemp
The Drumbeat of Time

. All Life Is Cyclical

. The ECK-Vidya teaches us that all of life can be divided into cycles. These cyclical patterns have their origins in the ECK, or Holy Spirit. Daily cycles are contained within monthly cycles, monthly within yearly, and so on. Because we understand earthly, physical cycles, we can predict when the moon will again be full. This would seem like a miracle to someone unfamiliar with the movement of the earth around the sun and the moon around the earth.
. It is the same with spiritual cycles. All life is governed by spiritual cycles, and the ECK-Vidya adept comes to understand them. Prophecy becomes a natural talent. The cycles governing ideas, nations, and individuals become more clear.


ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. ECK-Vidya looks into Soul Records-Past, Present, and Future.

. Those trained in the ECK-Vidya are able to delve into the past and future. These adepts can look into the Soul records to understand what has happened and why. They can also look into the future and see what is likely to happen. They can do this because they have come to understand the cycles of life.
. This goes beyond astrology, which is the study of planetary influences only. Planetary influences are often overwhelmed by other spiritual forces at work. Knowledge gained from astrology originates from the Astral Plane, only one plane above the physical. The same can be said for other psychic procedures, like numerology or channeling.


ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

A Seed for Contemplation

Whatever you are going through today is training for tomorrow. You need today to reach tomorrow.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

This Is a Warring Planet but That's Ok

. What does the future hold? Unfortunately for those utopians who believe we can have heaven on earth, our planet is a warring planet. Any period of peace will be followed by one of conflict. It is the nature of the lower worlds to have life and death, joy and suffering. The only way we can have heaven on earth is if our consciousness resides on the Soul Plane. Though we are in a physical body, our attention is on the love of God. Thus we are in this world, but not of it



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Never Use Knowledge to Manipulate Others

. The ECK-Vidya has identified the various cycles which govern man's life here on earth. The responsibility of working with the ECK-Vidya is great, because the information gained can be so easily misused. Many people would be knocked 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 we must never use our knowledge to control or manipulate others.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Golden Tongue 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-tongue Wisdom and the waking dream.
. The Golden-tongue Wisdom is a phenomenon 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 Divine Spirit speaking to you through the Golden-tongue Wisdom.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. The Waking Dream

. A variation on the principle of the Golden-tongue 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 become clear to him. He starts taking extra B vitamins, and a health problem 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.
. 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-tongue 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.



ECKANKAR Ancient Wisdom for Today
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. Solving Problems

. The spiritual life is not meant to finally 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.


Sri Harold Klemp
A Modern Prophet Answers Your Key Questions about Life

Uncle Ben, thanks for the good work you started here.

May I ask what Eckanker teaches about the subject Sex, marriage and celibacy?
What should be the attitude of a spiritual striving person in these matters?
Thanks and remain blessed.

. 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
Book One