Growing Up with the Guidance of the ECK Masters
By CY

My experiences with ECK Masters began many years before I first discovered the teachings of Eckankar.

I was a sickly child.

While my parents made sure I got good medical care, my greatest experiences with healing came from nightly visits from a short white man with bright blue eyes.

Shortly after I'd go to bed, he'd come to see me. Together we would travel through a long, dark tunnel to a beautiful place. There we'd sit on soft grass under a tree, surrounded by birds and colorful flowers, and he'd tell me stories. I always awoke happy and strong after these meetings.

I tried to tell my father about these visits. He said they were bad, but I knew he was wrong. In time, I stopped speaking of them.

I had other visitors too.

One of them helped me with my childhood fear of heights. In our dream journeys, he would take me out riding on a flying carpet or sometimes on a winged horse. With his help, eventually I was even able to climb stairs—a simple activity that had always frozen me with fear.

Later on, after I was grown and married, someone else came to help me.

Very much pregnant and long overdue, I was in so much pain that I had gone to my room, locked the door and windows, and lain down in bed. I pleaded with God for help.

Suddenly there was a light in the room.

"Clara," said a voice nearby.

I turned to see a beautiful lady bathed in light sitting in a chair.

"I'm here to help you," she said. "Don't be afraid."

I sat up and listened carefully to her instructions. Soon after this experience, I safely gave birth to a baby daughter.

Many years later, my brother-in-law came to visit. He brought with him two books from Eckankar.

In the back cover of both books I recognized the white man from my childhood dreams! He was Paul Twitchell, modern-day founder of Eckankar.

Soon my husband and I began singing HU, the love song to God. It brought such joy and peace.

Several years later, I came across other portraits of the ECK Masters and learned the identities of my other helpers.

My flying companion who helped me overcome my fears was Shamus-i-Tabriz. And the lady who helped me with my baby was the ECK Master Kata Daki.

I learned that even in the most trying moments of my life, I had never been alone! The ECK Masters had always been there, ready to help and guide me on my journey home to God.

Excerpted from the 2007 Eckankar Journal, copyright © 2006 ECKANKAR. All rights reserved.

A Meeting at Dawn

A Childhood Spiritual Experience Prepares the Way for ECK
By BA

As a child, I would attend prayers with my father. During a holiday from primary school, we once went together for prayer at dawn at our local house of worship.

After the prayer session was over, I stayed behind as everyone filed out. I wanted to sit longer in communion with God. Our home was just a five-minute walk, and my father knew I'd get there safely on my own.

As I sat, quietly contemplating, I felt a light breeze. I looked up and saw a man standing at the arched doorway near me.

The man wore a white robe with a hood. I could see his white hair peeking from beneath his hood. He just stood there gazing at me.

This must be God, I thought. I stood up to approach him.

Suddenly the man disappeared.

I walked back home and never told anyone about this experience.

Twelve years later, I discovered the teachings of Eckankar. One day I saw a picture of the ECK Master Fubbi Quantz. He wore a white robe, and his white hair peeked from beneath his hood.

I was amazed. This was the being I had seen after the prayer at dawn when I was a child! The recognition filled me with a warm, loving presence.

In my years of studying Eckankar, I have met Fubbi Quantz in many different settings. He has become a real presence in my life, teaching me that the pains of life are dissolved in a compassionate heart.

Excerpted from the 2006 Eckankar Journal, copyright © 2005 ECKANKAR. All rights reserved.

A Meeting with an ECK Master (Rebazar Tarzs)[size=9pt][/size]
By DF

One evening while a friend and I stowed away in her bedroom to confide in one another away from her children, our light conversation turned to serious philosophical matters. We opened our hearts and divulged many secret thoughts and goals. One of mine, I told her, was to experience grace—whatever that truly meant.

She smiled and leaned across her bed to pull a book from the shelf. As she handed it to me, I remember feeling as if the exchange was taking place in slow motion.

The words on the cover sank into my heart: The Flute of God by Paul Twitchell.

She didn't say much except that the book was written by the man who founded a teaching called Eckankar. He was a spiritual master she had met once in a dream. She also said she had read the book no less than twenty times over the years, and each time she read it, its words ran deeper and more profound.

As soon as I got home, I opened the book. Each paragraph was so meaningful and so right; I would reread them two, three, and four times. It was less that I was learning something and more that the book confirmed what I'd always thought, felt, and known to be true. I must have exclaimed, "Yes!" out loud a hundred times in the first few days of poring over that little book.

During my twelve-hour workdays not much else was on my mind except The Flute of God. In the third week after receiving this spiritual gift, something extraordinary happened.

It was 7:00 a.m., and I was standing on a New York subway platform. I hoped to get a seat on the train so I could read in comfort all the way to Wall Street. I jumped on the subway and saw one seat. But I decided to relinquish it to another person who was competing for it and opted instead to lean against the dirty end-door of the car.

Once under way, I wedged my briefcase between my feet and pulled out my treasured Flute of God.

Several minutes later, I looked up for no particular reason. I found myself staring directly into the eyes of a man standing two feet in front of me. At that moment time ceased to exist.

Gazing into his eyes, I was engulfed by all-consuming love. I cannot describe the feeling. It was actually far more than a feeling. It was a knowing, deep and complete. I felt as if I'd come home. Perceptions were passed to me, all truths of some kind, but I couldn't articulate them to another person because they could not be separated into thoughts. There was a wholeness about this knowing.

The next moment was overwhelming. I became aware that we shared a bond in an all-consuming love that was unspeakably deep.

That scared me, and instantly I was back on the subway—staring at a stranger. I must be out of my mind for staring back at this guy, I thought. He's probably some kind of weirdo. I tore my gaze away, noticing that I was physically very warm. But I had an overwhelming urge to return to his eyes, so I glanced back up.

Again, perceptions flowed quickly before I tore myself away. I settled for looking at his hand instead, which rested on the handrail overhead. He had grasped the handrail of the subway car to steady himself.

When I felt I could take no more, I said so. Bending my head low, staring into The Flute of God, I said inside myself, "Look, I can't take this anymore, please go. And please don't go suddenly, because if I look up and you aren't there and the subway hasn't even stopped to let you off like a normal person, I'll really freak out. So I'll wait until the next stop, and when the subway doors have opened giving you time to leave, I'll look up."

So I waited. And when the subway doors had opened and began to close again I looked up. He was gone.

Later that evening I met my friend who'd given me the book and her daughter. The first thing I said to them was, "You guys! I met someone today. I mean I really met someone today."

They looked at me curiously and somehow grasped what I meant. (They'd been members of Eckankar for years, though I didn't know it at the time.) The first question the daughter asked me was, "What did he look like?"

Look like? I hadn't thought about it. Stumbling, I told her he looked Indian. Not American Indian but like someone from India. His skin was a deep tan color. And as I thought about it, his presence had been almost too vivid, like in a dream. He had a dark black beard, but it was cropped really close to his face, giving a clean-cut impression.

The daughter got all excited and impatiently asked me what he was wearing. Again, I had to think. "Well, you know it's strange; he wore a three-piece suit. It had a vest (an outdated style), and the color was odd too. It was a dark red or maroon and seemed to be made of a heavy wool."

At this, both of my friends became highly excited. The daughter was yelling, "You met Rebazar Tarzs!" Rebazar who? I had no idea who they were talking about. (Even though I'd seen the name in The Flute of God, I had mispronounced it.) But I knew I'd met a spiritual teacher of some kind.

When she said, "Rebazar Tarzs" aloud, my whole being was shaken to the core.

They asked if there was anything else about him, and I said that the most important feature was his eyes. They were a deep chocolate brown, and his gaze was so intense it was indescribable.

At that, the daughter said I had to go to their house that night, to look at some pictures she had of the ECK Masters.

It would be two hours before we could leave for their house due to a meeting we were hosting. I felt elated and scared. I was sad that I hadn't shown this being more respect somehow, and I walked around thanking him inwardly a hundred times for taking the time to visit me. I knew that it was the most real thing that had ever happened to me.

Later that evening I stood in my friend's house looking through her pictures of ECK Masters. We came across a black-and-white sketch of a man I instantly identified as the person I'd met on the subway.

She smiled and said, "Yes, that is Rebazar Tarzs."

Excerpted from the 1997 Eckankar Journal, copyright © 1996 ECKANKAR. All rights reserved.

My Life-after-Death Experience with Lai Tsi
By JH

The ECK Masters of the Ancient Order of the Vairagi have been with mankind since time immemorial, always ready to aid the spiritual seeker in his quest for God Consciousness. As many of us know through our inner experiences, we have been under the tutelage of these timeless sages in past lives and continue to be helped by the Vairagi Adepts even today. Over ten years ago I received my proof of life-after-death from the ECK Master Lai Tsi, guardian of the sacred teachings of the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad at the Temple of Golden Wisdom in the spiritual city of Arhirit. The following events occurred in 1976, while I was a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and stationed at Camp Pendleton, California.

April 1, 1976: Tonight the first of the dreams began. I should have realized the significance of today's date, since April Fools' Day is a traditional day of playing practical jokes on people. Little did I know that the joke would soon be on me. It's hard to believe, but even ten years after those dreams I still remember each one in vivid detail.

Tonight I was chased by evil men who tied me to a stake and killed me. As my body died on the ground, I was suddenly released from that physical shell. Aren't you supposed to really be dead if you die in your dreams, I remember asking myself?

A moment later, Lai Tsi appeared at my side. I recall the warmth emanating from this great being and the perfect knowledge that we had been together before. He taught me a valuable lesson on the art of dying that night, and I knew that he was merely reminding me of what Soul already knows: Death is the greatest illusion of all.

This first lesson was more real than the waking reality that I knew as a sergeant in the Marine Corps, and I recall the great disorientation I felt upon emerging from the dream state. I can still hear myself asking out loud, upon awakening, "Was that a dream or real?"

April 30, 1976: It has now been thirty days since the first dream. Every night since April 1, I have died a sometimes peaceful, sometimes violent, death; but always a death in full color and stereo. In these dreams I would find myself looking down at my lifeless physical body and feeling absolutely wonderful at the release of Soul.

In tonight's episode, I was thrown out of an airplane. As soon as my body landed on the ground, Lai Tsi appeared. He continued my education on the true meaning of life and the unlimited options we possess as Soul in reaching the Sugmad (God). I remember slowly waking up on the morning of May 1, feeling both joy and sorrow. I knew within myself that this was the last lesson with this beloved ECK Master. It was time to put my training into practice, although I had no idea how to apply this newfound knowledge.

May 1, 1976: Today I have exactly forty-six days left until I get out of the Marine Corps. Thank God! It seemed I would never get out. I have been having trouble with my wisdom teeth, so I checked into the dental clinic and had all four removed.

May 2, 1976: Something is not quite right. I am not sure what, but—oh well, I'll find out soon enough.

May 10, 1976: Now I am sure what is wrong: the dentist botched my minor surgery. The left side of my face has a swollen lump the size of a tennis ball, and I have a green streak of color running from my neck down to my collarbone. I go to sick bay but am told there is nothing to worry about. My inner voice gently urges me to get other help, but I ignore it. After all, a military doctor wouldn't lie to me, would he?

May 12, 1976: Today is my birthday. Happy birthday to me. My sternum has now turned dangerously gangrenous. I have systemic blood poisoning but don't know it yet. I do know the doctors are giving me the runaround. This is something serious.

Previous to this experience, I would have accepted no responsibility for my illness and "let the ECK take care of it." However, this time I listened to my inner voice, which instructed me to march into the colonel's office and lift up my shirt. Now this is something I would not normally do, since it could lead to a court-martial, but I did it anyway, and my colonel almost passed out when he saw my green sternum. He personally took me down to sick bay to see a real doctor. The cyst on my face was drained, I was given an antibiotic and sent home.

1:00 p.m.: I took the antibiotics ten minutes ago but still feel terrible. I lie down on my couch to rest, and just as I am about to pass out, I hear the voice of another ECK Master, Paul Twitchell, as clear as a bell. He is saying, "If you do not listen to what I say, you will die!"

3:00 p.m.: I wake up. I am dripping with sweat and get sick several times. Paul Twitchell's voice echoes in my apartment once again. "You have five minutes to get an ambulance!" he says in no uncertain terms. I laugh and sarcastically reply to the ethers about me, "Yeah, right!" I get sick again. "You now have four minutes!" This time I listened to his warning.

The rest is a blur of action: walking next door to the gas station; calling the paramedics; passing out in the driveway; regaining consciousness in the ambulance; the paramedic trying to be funny by asking, "Having a good birthday?"; being taken into the emergency room. It is now 7:00 p.m. Just as the doctor is about to see me, a man is wheeled in who has been kicked in the head by a horse. Since I am no longer considered at risk, I am taken into a side room while the doctor treats the injured man. I look up at the clock; it is 7:10 p.m. Two more minutes and I will be twenty-two years old.

7:12 p.m.: A cold numbness starts crawling up my feet. Uh-oh, I've experienced this before in my dreams. As soon as the coldness reaches my chest, I find my consciousness has shifted to the inside of my crown chakra, located at the top of my head. It is a strange sensation to look down at the interior of my body. An instant later, I find myself being pulled right out through the top of my head! The title of Paul Twitchell's biography, In My Soul I Am Free, takes on new meaning. I later found out I was clinically dead at that moment. Happy birthday!

Throughout his literature, Paul Twitchell describes the Soul experience in very vivid terms. All I can say is that no words do justice to the experience, as he also points out in his various books. As Soul, I was a 360-degree viewpoint, traveling through a tunnel of light. It was incredible! I arrived at a grassy knoll, overlooking a yellow sea and felt a tremendous presence of love surround me. I remembered being taught to send out love as soon as someone crosses over the threshold of death, and as soon as I did this myself, I was surrounded by hundreds of beings, all of whom I had known in previous incarnations.

Lai Tsi emerged from this circle of great love and communicated to me, "As you know, your physical body no longer functions in your previous world. But you have a choice. You can remain here with us and continue your experiences, or you can go back to your physical body and live out the life you planned. The choice is yours."

Before I continue with this story, I must confirm that, as it is said in the Eckankar teachings, thoughts manifest instantly in the higher worlds.

As Lai Tsi and the others hovered over the grassy knoll, I clearly remember thinking, Well, I only have five weeks left in the Marine Corps.

Instantaneously, I was transported back into my physical body. The heaviness of my physical shell was immense after experiencing life as Soul, and I cursed myself thoroughly for what I had done—weighing the five more weeks in the Marines against a blissful life in heaven. After I was through cursing, however, I opened my eyes to pitch darkness, and Lai Tsi's voice said to me, "Did you think we would let you die when you had decided to live?" As his merry laughter trailed off into the ethers, I regained my vision to see a worried nurse standing over me, giving an injection. You should have seen the strange way she looked at me when I opened my eyes and started laughing!

Lai Tsi gave me an invaluable lesson about life and death, and to this day I try to live life as fully as possible. I have my proof of life after death, as taught to me by the great spiritual ECK Master Lai Tsi, and that's something no one can ever take away.

Excerpted from Earth to God, Come In Please . . . , Book 1, copyright © 1991 ECKANKAR. All rights reserved.

delishpot:
I see whites, I see asian I see no black. Is it that no coloured entity has achieved gtreat spiritual knowledge?

chieveboy:


@ delishpot, a simple answer to this is no, their are enough God-realized Souls AKA ECK Masters from virtually all races especially the black race. The most 'physically documented' one is Towart Managi. He was the Mahanta in Abyssinia an old kingdom--the present day Ethiopia. Most work silently among people every day. If you put an incline to it, you may chance a meeting from one of these people, which am sure will give you an uplift or whatever is important to you.

Factoring the fact that Souls in its different incarnations adopts bodies that is suitable for the experiences and missions it has on earth...that includes alternating between negroid,caucasian,indian, hispanic, you find out that being black or white etc is just one of the illusion the physical ings cast on us all...whereas man's true identity is Soul-created in the image and likeness of God! Souls tend to alternate between the female and male genders...thanks to its compiled Causes or actions or karma which stipulates the next kind of life it will have. Thanks.

[b]How Michael Became a Seeker[b][/b]
By Sri Harold Klemp

Michael, a young African of twenty-two, is another example of someone meeting an ECK Master years before finally coming into Eckankar.

He'd suffered all kinds of financial setbacks. In addition, he also grappled with a serious health problem: his eyesight was failing. His relatives thought him a handsome and a clever young man, albeit poor. His father was ill, and the family was poor like Michael. He'd developed a deep concern. He did not wish to be a burden on others, so he offered up a prayer to God.

He pleaded, "God, please take me from this vale of tears. I have had as much as I can take of this physical world." He repeated this prayer nightly.

Then one night he was lifted from his body, perhaps in a similar way as Paul, the apostle, who said he had known a man caught up even unto the third heaven. Michael's own Soul Travel experience began like this: He'd fallen asleep on his bed and in the next moment awakened in a whole different world. It was such a beautiful realm! The temperature felt just right, and an enormous amount of light illuminated the entire landscape. Everything shone with a refreshing goodness, alive with love and compassion.

"I like this place," he decided. "I'd like to stay."

Two men stepped from a nearby hut. One wore a thick black beard and would do all the talking for both of them. Much later, long after this experience, Michael would come to recognize him as the great ECK Master Rebazar Tarzs. But for the moment, he had no inkling of this man's identity or even of the location of this enchanted land.

The black-bearded one said, "Why are you here?"

Michael replied, "I'm here because I'm sick of earth and this is a nice place. I think I'd like to stay here with you." He explained his prayer to God and added, "I've been praying to God to get me away from earth, and it looks as if it's worked. I think I'd like to stay."

Michael looked around at the sparkling blue sky. Then he noticed a light shining from the little hut, a blue light. It appeared to originate from no identifiable source. It rather seemed to flow from everywhere at once. Quite unknown to him, it was the Light of God, often seen as the Blue Light of the Mahanta.

Now the black-bearded one said, "You can't stay. You have to go back."

Michael balked. "No, I won't go back. I shall stay." He repeated all the reasons for his unquenchable desire to remain in this heavenly world of love and beauty.

However, the other said, "It's impossible. You haven't finished your mission on earth."

"That may be, but I'm not going back."

Rebazar Tarzs came over and kindly took his hand. The next thing Michael knew he was in his room again and awakening. He sat up in bed and exclaimed, "What was that?"

It's a curious thing about people who enjoy an easy life, a good living with everything handed to them without effort, sweat, or trouble. They often have no longing for God or truth.

The blue light, which Michael reported, issues from the Mental Plane, St. Paul's third heaven. The Spiritual Travelers of ECK know of different levels in heaven. However, St. Paul's statement about that fact is the lone biblical reference to it. This mention, of course, presupposed heavens one and two. Who was to say there weren't four, five, or more?

Michael was puzzled by his out-of-body experience, so he approached the parish priest with a swarm of questions like, What did his Soul-shaking experience mean? Where was this splendid land of warmth and beauty?

While in that higher world, Rebazar Tarzs had asked him, "Do you know where you are?"

The question suggested that the place did have a name to identify it. His curiosity wished for an answer. The priest would surely know.

But the priest had no idea where the place was or even what Michael's experience meant. Yet Michael gained hope from it, and he no longer asked God to remove him from this world. Whatever his purpose might be here, Michael realized it was not finished.

And so, he joined a company that for ages before him had engaged in the self-same pursuit of God. In time he would find ECK books and begin to satisfy that eternal longing.

In one such ECK book he would much later find a picture of Rebazar Tarzs. And Michael would recognize him as the very man who'd met him outside the little hut in those upper reaches of heaven.

It was then that Michael would begin to satisfy his long-standing desire to learn who and what he was.

Excerpted from Those Wonderful ECK Masters by Harold Klemp, copyright © 2005 ECKANKAR. All rights reserved.