₦airaland Forum

. WHO Is YOUR MASTER

. There is a great interest, and a natural one, about what is the Mahanta, and who is the Living ECK Master?
. An ECKist who obtained a clear inner insight wrote in a letter: "The changeover in Masters was very difficult for me until I realized how wonderful it was! I am not following a man. I am living a way of life and following a 'Teaching'- not just one man.
. The Spiritual Notebook points out that every Living ECK Master must go through the initiation of accepting the Rod of ECK Power. It is then that the ECK descends and enters into him, giving him the power of the Word of God. It has always been the ECK that is responsible for the presence of the Living Master upon this planet and in all the universes. Only the form of the ECK is changed as the ECK power is handed down from one Master to his successor.
. ECK Masters generally run two missions at the same time - the main one headed by the Living ECK Master; and a microcosmic mission of personal interest that nevertheless ties in with the universal one and never interferes or detracts from it. All missions of Masters in all galaxies interlock with that of the Living ECK Master, like the cogs in the wheel of the ECK-Vidya.





Wisdom of the Heart Book 1
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

Nice one Ben. May the blessings be.

. THE LAW OF UNITY

. The seventh law of the physical universe; thinking in the whole instead of parts.


. It is a simple way of knowing the solution to the problem the instant it presents itself. In a way this is called liberation from the bondage of the world, which men have always cried to their God to give them.
. This law simply means that one must be wholly within the ECK in order to enjoy himself as the whole man and be able to select consciously what he wants in life and work at it.


. Some of the ancient Greek philosophers used to think from the whole. They would consider the overview. Western man usually thinks in terms of the parts. Most people think only in fragments; and because they do, they can't step back and take a look at the whole situation, so a problem defeats them before they've taken even one step.





The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

We don't learn and grow if everything is always smooth and pretty and nice. Sometimes you have to get the other experiences in life. It's necessary, like salt and pepper on your food. It adds spice to life.
. If we have the capacity for love - which is all that this life is about - life gives us more experience.
. It doesn't matter what religion you're in, some people have healings and others don't. Some people in ECK have healings, others don't. Sometimes it's not the fault of the particular Soul, the individual. It can be a necessary life experience.


The Secret of Love
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. . THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH

. Truth has to be continually rediscovered, reformed, and transformed; the same truth has to be experienced in ever-new forms.

. Spiritual law governs when and how a seeker makes the leap from his immature beliefs to those of a higher nature that are very clear about an individual's right and responsibilities as a spiritual being.

. The Law of Growth in the lower worlds demands that everything must go slow and slower as it ages. Finally one settles into a rut, becomes less mobile, until death is the final state. Only the Spiritual Exercises of ECK can renew consciousness and insure Soul an escape from rebirth and death.

. Truth cannot be taken as one's own discovery, but it has to be continually rediscovered. It has to be reformed and transformed if its meaning, its living value and spiritual nourishment are to be preserved. This is known as the Law of Spiritual Growth, which results in the necessity to experience the same truth in ever-new forms,and to cultivate and propagate not so much the results, but the methods through which Soul obtains knowledge, experience, and reality.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

Soul Travel is a means of hearing the Sound and seeing the Light of God,in a way which cannot be done in the human body.The Sound and Light are the wave upon which Soul rides back into the kingdom of heaven;they are the twin aspects of ECK(holy spirit).When an individual has gone through the phases of visions,dreams,Soul Travel,and the ECKshar consciousness,and is an experienced traveler in all the regions of God,then he receives the enlightenment of God.This is God consciousness,and nothing more can be said about it here because words fail.

The Call of Soul
Sri Harold Klemp

. . THE LAW OF REVERSED EFFORT

. The functioning of the imagination by negation which draws into the external that which one is trying to avoid.

. For example, the Law of Reversed Effort is simply that the harder a person struggles to archive some goal, the more difficulty he will have to overcome; difficulty caused, at least in part, by the strain of his effort. "You try too hard; relax, take it easy, and try again," is an expression we hear so much in the western world. We must make the mind one-pointed, as the Eastern adepts say, but nothing mental should be strained. We should never try to force results. We should stick to our task and finish out the race, but never knock ourselves out doing it.


. This is known in ECK as the Law of Reversed Effort! This law is a practical law of nature concerned only with man, for man is the only animal on earth that can make use of his imaginative powers! This law is concerned with the imagination.
. Take, for example, when one is trying to ride a bicycle through rocks on a road, trying to avoid hitting the large ones, he is so conscious of hitting the rocks he'll probably do so. Or if a man tries to walk across a small plank from one building to another at the tenth floor, his mind would be on falling and not on the walking. You see this law is concerned with imagination and feeling! What you image must have feeling - therefore the negative imaging is more likely to be effective than the positive imaging because the negative has feeling with it!


. The problem with surrender is that the more one tries to give something up, the harder it is to do. It is the Law of Reversed Effort.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

. How The Mahanta Works

. For the members of ECK there are discourses to help you to another stage of understanding yourself spiritually. But the greatest unfoldment comes not through the books, discourses, or talks that happen on the outer side, in the physical world. The greatest unfoldment happens on the inner planes, in your dream worlds, through your intuition, through nudges, and sometimes more directly through visions and Soul Travel.
. These are Divine Spirit's way of helping you. This is how the Mahanta works.
. The Mahanta works to help you, to lift you, so you can understand why you're even in this life and why it pays to go on, because some days it seems almost impossible. You wonder, Why bother? Well, bother.



HOW To SURVIVE SPIRITUALLY IN OUR TIMES
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. . THE LAW OF PROTECTION

. Follows the principle of "Speak not; harm not those who are the bearers of Light, for harm will come to him who does." The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master offers spiritual protection to all followers of ECK.

. The old Law of protection is this: "Nothing can hurt us unless we ourselves allow it!"

. A person always have free will. Even the Mahanta cannot give anyone protection unless that person allows him to do so, because that is the spiritual law.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

. Wake - Up Calls

. Gradually, over a number of years, people slowly wake from their spiritual sleep. As they do, they get a yearning. A yearning for something they can't quite put their finger on. They have a desire for knowledge first. Behind that they find there is a yearning for understanding, then a yearning for truth.
. If they take it far enough, they'll realize that behind all their yearning is the yearning for God's love. They have been yearning for love all this time, and these other things were just bringing them closer and closer to God's love.



HOW To SURVIVE SPIRITUALLY IN OUR TIMES
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. The LAW of PROGRESSION (Unfoldment)

. Soul is inevitably bound to become a Co-worker with God. It means going through all the steps that lead to this. To teach Soul how to give and receive divine love.

. Spiritual unfoldment never stops; it goes on and on. No matter how far you have come today, you can go further tomorrow. And no matter how far you come in this lifetime, of necessity you must go much further in your next lifetime. Spiritual law requires that you go either forward or backward.

. The Law of Progression is linked to another grand law at the top of the lower planes: The Law of Economy.

. The Law of Unfoldment, then, is to teach Soul how to give and receive divine love.

. Since Soul entered this earthly theatre, It has been both the perpetrator and victim of an endless array of horrors. Each person who is alive today has been in either of the two roles times without number, testing the limits of the hidden spiritual laws that prohibit one individual from imposing upon another any limits to Soul's right to unfold in consciousness.

. The law of the universe is that each person has the right to choose his own course of progress on earth.



The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

The Law of Silence

. The Law of Silence is one of the laws we're familiar with in ECK. It's simply this: If there's a certain truth that is very, very important for you spiritually, keep it to yourself.
. This doesn't mean that you don't help people, that you don't talk to them about one thing or another. But if there is something that has come to you specially, a spiritual lesson that has come to your way to teach you something about truth, as soon as you realize this, say nothing about it. Let the Holy Spirit play the scene out for you. Because then you'll get the benefit of the lesson. Otherwise, you waste it. It goes into the air just like empty words.



HOW To SURVIVE SPIRITUALLY IN OUR TIMES
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. . THE LAW OF POLARITY

. The Law of Opposites. The third law of the physical universe; the state of opposition between any two related factors; yin and yang ( negative and positive) , feminine and masculine; the negative, or reactive, side and the positive, or active, side; the third part is the passive, or middle, path; each thing within this universe is supported, animated, maintained by, and in opposition to its opposite.

. This law states that every phenomenon, on whatever scale and in whatever world it may take place, from molecular to cosmic phenomena, is the result of combining the meeting of the two, plus the third, which is the passive middle. This is not the passive element that you find in negation, but a balancing of the two. It is the path which Buddha called the "Middle Path" . . . . Scientific thought today realizes the existence of positive and negative forces. . . . But science has never raised the question of a third force. According to exact divine science, one force, or two forces, can never produce phenomena. The presence of the third is always necessary to produce any phenomenon. This neutral force is not easily accessible to direct observation and understanding.
. The idea of the unity of the three in Absolute ECK forms the basis of the three worlds and of the ancient teachings.

. Within this material universe the Law of polarity, or Law of Opposites, operates. Nothing exists except in relation to its opposite. This is also true within the psychic worlds: Astral, Causal, and Mental. However, within the heavenly worlds this is not true; for here it is true that there are no opposites, although the sacred scriptures of the worlds say so.
. These scriptures claim that the good go into some heavenly paradise while the evil will be punished forever in some fiery region. This is the Law of the Opposites, or Polarity. Those who are good attract the good, and those who are evil will attract the evil. Therefore, in the heavenly states, it's found that polarity or chemistry within two objects no longer exists, and that Soul is free to do whatever It desires as long as it falls within a general pattern of the heavenly law. This law is: Love is all, and do as thou wilt.

. One of these laws is: "Nothing can exist except in relation to its opposite." This is an age-old principle of the positive and negative. The positive is the outgoing, the God force; and the negative is the inert, receptive force.
. For example, laughter must have its opposite, tears; and neither can the universe have complete joy without sorrow. Therefore, this universe is not static, but is a constant dynamic state. There is nothing eternal on this plane but change itself. This is where God arrives in our lives, for behind the change lies the eternal, the unchanging which the outer eye cannot see. As long as anything exists on the mental and physical plane, it is due to be in constant change.
. Now, the second principle is, "That the positive is forever transforming into the negative and correspondingly, the negative is forever in the process of becoming the positive.". . .
. Each power needs the other in this world. Without one the other could not exist. . . . The teachings need to be revitalized and reformed to show the world how to take advantage of the two forces, not to put a strain upon the individual aspirant to hold to one constantly, when it is almost an impossibility unless he is trained by the ECK Master. Therefore, do not despair if the cycle strikes in a low depression at one time, and then later turns to the higher, and vice versa.

. Beyond the Soul Plane in those worlds of Spirit, we begin to work in the whole. There are no regions or planes that we know of; it is simply one world of Light. In the lower regions where we exist now, something can be known only by its counterpart - truth by untruth, light by darkness. At the Soul Plane as this ECK Stream, or Spirit of God, comes down from the God center, It splits into two parts: The positive and negative. We have manifestations of this spilt, and though we take it for granted, it shows up all around us. If you want to iron, you first put the plug into the wall outlet, and this uses alternating currents - the positive and the negative. We see the height of the mountains and the depths of the valleys, because the only way anything can be known in these lower worlds is in comparison to its opposite. We're always thinking in parts.

. When Soul enters into the regions of immortality, the worlds of true Spirit above the psychic worlds, It finds no opposites. Light is Light and there is no opposite to it and the sounds of ECK, only the polarity of the highest qualities. Therefore, the ECKist is a realist, for he knows how to use the Law of Polarity. When he has to use his consciousness in the psychic world, he is able to take advantage of the Law of Opposites. But when he is in the world of the true Kingdom of God, then he is able to use the Law of Polarity for his own benefit through conscious state.





The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

One must have the faith of the mustard seed. The seed of faith must be in action. Have you wondered what Jesus meant when he said that we need faith "as a grain of mustard seed"? It doesn't mean smallest, for a speck of dust is small, but he meant that faith should be alive. The mustard seed has the potentialities of the mustard tree within it - true faith is a living seed that holds within itself the fulfillment of desire; the Spirit of God is within it as in all living things. By faith, one contacts the eternal, unchanging goodness of Spirit.



The Flute of God
Sri Paul Twitchell

. THE LAW OF NATURE

. The laws of the negative power; the laws of the physical universe; the natural laws.

. While on Earth man is subject to the laws of the negative power, or what are often termed "The laws of Nature."

. To understand ourselves and our place in the world, we might pay more attention to the natural laws, to the life cycle of animals and plants.

. If we wish to understand what is to be and what is right, we simply study the laws of nature. Nature shows how truth has manifested itself in the past.

Usually the laws of nature can be bent when there is a need for protection or for a spiritual lesson. Usually the experience is given as a way for an individual to learn something that could not be learned any other way. He is raised to a higher state of consciousness much in the same way as when he travels to a Temple of Golden Wisdom.

. The law of nature usually sees change occur gradually.

. Nature reflects the laws of ECK. Therefore, observe its workings in the habits of birds, the cycles of plants, and the instincts of reptiles and mammals. All sing the glory of ECK; all teach the secrets of life. Watch the coming and going of clouds, the waxing and waning of the moon, and the rising and setting of the sun. They reveal the natural order of creation. Everything is right when there is neither too much nor too little for the time and place. So is it also with your spiritual life.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

. Survival Skills

. People who are very set in their state of consciousness - they have their mind made up about a lot of things - are the least likely to hear when God speaks.





HOW To SURVIVE SPIRITUALLY IN OUR TIMES
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. . Continuation of the LAW of KARMA

. People who do psychic healings are often plagued by karmic overload. They don't know how to be detached about it. They get so emotional about the health of their patients that they find themselves constantly ill.
. It happens simply because they do not recognize or understand the Law of Karma. They don't realize that the people who come to them for a healing have earned those illnesses through violation of some spiritual law.

. Things move very rapidly once an individual comes into Eckankar. Sometimes it seems as if the Law of Karma speeds up. But rather than a speeding up of karma, the experiences is more a by product of expanded awareness.

. The Law of Karma works in a certain way for most people who are not in ECK. A curtain stands between cause and effect. In ECK, very soon after you do something that hinders you or someone else spiritually, the curtain is pulled up and the deed comes right back at you. It happens quickly enough to be within reach of your memory so that you can learn from it. Sometimes the act comes back so fast that the only way to miss the lesson would be to develop total amnesia.
. In other teachings, where the Light and Sound of God is not as direct, the curtain between cause and effect stays down much longer.

. Life will always teach you better. This is the basis of the Law of Karma: What you sow, you reap. And in the reaping of what we've sown, we gain spiritual wisdom.

. An ECKist who is aware of the exact nature of the Law of Karma can sidestep the shadow of envy that often engulfs those who do not understand the sudden good fortune of others. All is in its rightful place. Everything is at the exact station it deserves in life, so he can get on with his own unfoldment and keep a cheerful spirit.

. Everyone thinks of karma as bad stuff that happens to you for the bad stuff you did. But karma is the good and the bad. In other words it's cause and effect, anything that occurs.
. If you want something from life, you must first earn it.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

. A True Spiritual Guide

. Sometimes people don't understand the role or the place of a spiritual guide - whether it's Christ, the Mahanta, Buddha, or a church leader who has a very definite connection with the Holy Spirit.
. Over all creation is the Creator, God. We know It as Sugmad. The Voice of God is the active force that goes out and is responsible for the actual creation of all the universes. This Voice of God is what is known as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the creative force. But it's a neutral force. It simply obeys or does, the will of the Creator.
. A true spiritual master is in tune with the Voice of God. As a human manifestation that people can see and understand, his will is that of Divine Spirit. And that's all.
. In Eckankar this divine force works both in the Outer Master and through the Inner Master. That means the ECKist have the additional benefit of a Master who can come in the dream state and teach them, sometimes by Soul Travel, sometimes in contemplation. The inner Master is working when the individual sleeps, prays, meditates, or contemplate. The Outer Master is out here to provide the books and discourses and give talks. They are not two separate things - they're just two different aspects of one being serving the Holy Spirit.



HOW To SURVIVE SPIRITUALLY IN OUR TIMES
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta the Living ECK Master

. . THE LAW OF KARMA

. The Law of Cause and Effect, action and reaction, justice, retribution, and reward, which applies to the lower or psychic worlds: The Physical, Astral, Causal, Mental, and Etheric Planes; a facet of the Law of Love, purifies people by holding them responsible for their thoughts and deeds, both to themselves and others; the Law of Universal Compensation which is under the Law of Vibration; inflow and outflow; a matter of vibrations; one of the twelve laws by which the universes are sustained.

. There is simply no such thing as righteous anger. The ECK doesn't recognize any distinction between anger for a cause and anger for no cause. Through the Law of Karma, the ECK impartially doles out justice whenever there is any imbalance of emotions.

. People who practice psychic healing may get away with it for years, because the Law of Karma is in no hurry. Spirit has plenty of time; It's in no hurry to collect the debt that a man has created. A psychic healer may be very good for ten, twenty, even forty years; but then his health all of a sudden may go bad. The karma has come home; it must be paid. He doesn't know what happened, only that he can heal others but not himself. Furthermore, he doesn't know why it happened. He has absolutely no understanding that he violated the laws of Spirit.

. When one has not attained the high states of spiritual consciousness, this Law of Karma does not come back immediately. The higher you go in your awareness, the quicker the law comes back. That's good in one way and bad in another. I'd say overall it's good because as soon as you cheat someone, for instance, the law strikes and you get the karma over with sooner. The higher you go, the narrower becomes the path - some call it the razor's edge.
. People who do not really have any regard for the spiritual law may just be learning life, taking it as they find. The law does not demand its payment sometimes for two, ten , twenty, or thirty years, or maybe not until the next lifetime. When the payment doesn't come due as soon as the violation of the spiritual law is committed, the person thinks he's getting away scot-free. But there must be full payment in the true coin for every action.

. One of the benefits of the path of ECK is that much of our karma can be worked off on the inner planes so that we don't have to go through it here. If we've created debts, they must be repaid to God. But on the path of ECK we have this advantage: They do not always have to be worked out here on the physical; they can be worked off on the inner planes in the dream state.

. We have been spoon-fed with ideas of a God who will heal us no matter what we do wrong. Some people think all they have to do is ask. They feel they can give advice to others that might destroy their lives, and by saying, God, please forgive me, it will be all be forgotten. Unfortunately, these people are ignorant of the spiritual law. St. Paul said "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," and it means just that. You can kid yourself. A person can eat wrong until it affects his health and then reason that he can always find a doctor who will take care of him. Or he may ask God for a healing. And if it doesn't work he thinks, God didn't heal me; therefore, the God of this faith must not be right. In truth he has incurred a debt to Spirit; he himself must pay it back. No one can help him except himself.

. The Law of Karma is exact in its measure. To cure a health problem several years in the making often takes a like amount of time for healing. There is no magic way to get an instant, long-term cure without our taking a part in the rebuilding.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

. We find that truth tells us that the Spirit of God flows into and through us all, that if we cut ourselves off from one another, we cut ourselves off from the free flowing of Itself. Now there are found various types of people - the unresponsive, the difficult-to-convince, the independent who will not accept a free gift when offered lovingly, and those who find life rather hard. The responsive ones are the ones who make contact easily with God.




Sri Paul Twitchell
The Flute of God

. . The INVISIBLE LAWS

. The seven principles of consciousness. . . are as follows: 1. Appreciation, 2. Sincerity, 3. Unselfishness, 4. Idealism, 5. Devotion, 6. Personal effort, and 7. Attainment

. These are the invisible laws. . . . For example
. 1. Appreciation is - appreciation of the teacher;
. 2. Sincerity is - to inspire the seeker to seek higher levels of consciousness;
. 3. Unselfishness - the willingness to sacrifice the individual self to the universe;
. 4. Idealism - the faculty of perceiving spiritual values through a perfect pattern;
. 5. Devotion - to fill the mind and Soul with love, aspiration and giving of the self to universal consciousness;
. 6. Personal effort - spiritual motivational force of intelligence which is within all men;
. 7. Attainment - the reward for spirit action.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

. When a man thinks of himself as separate from the ECK, an obvious impossibility, since he lives in God and in It has his being, he moves and falls out of the secret place of safety and harmony. His wrong thoughts, words, and action build a record of themselves into the atmosphere surrounding him. This atmosphere is magnetic, so it attracts like to itself. Therefore, if a man has created an atmosphere of chaos, he will be attracted to a spot where chaos will come, e.g., accidents and disasters. This is what is meant by "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." This is the law of our universe. Cause and effect is what it is.



Sri Paul Twitchell
The Flute of God

. . The LAW of FACSIMILES

. The sixth law of the physical universe, that all effects in life are brought about by the thoughts and pictures in the mind of the individual.

. Facsimiles deal with those pictures you took in the mind. These pictures have been with you since you came into the world. They are filed away by Soul, like cards in a little niche in the Soul's body. . . Generally, facsimiles are either borrowed or they are one's own. One can have either or both through a compulsive basis or on an unknowing basis. They will influence him in one way or another. . . .

. Secondary sources, to us, refer to people who claim someone else's experiences as their truth. They live by facsimile. This type of experience is secondhand and breeds faith.
. The difference between a primary and secondary source is the difference between knowing and faith. In ECK, we want to know what life is all about via our own personal experience here on the physical plane, as well as in the inner worlds.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

Soon it will be seen that much of the knowledge that philosophers teach is purely mental knowledge effective primarily on the mental plane. Spiritual knowledge is properly concerned with Soul and Its unseen force. Such knowledge has to be realized and the meaning understood within the depth of one's own being. We are really little children learning the meaning of things that we already know and do not understand.



Sri Paul Twitchell
The Flute of God

. The LAW of ECONOMY

. Using our resources to the fullest; no matter what thought we have or what action we take, it results in the most productive deed we can do as Soul learning to become a Co-worker with God.

. We can kid ourselves all we want, but the spiritual law is that we have to pay, in some way, for everything we get. This comes under the Law of Economy, which operates in the lower worlds up to the Mental Plane. Higher laws, such as the Law of Love, prevail in the spiritual worlds, but down here we are in the worlds of dichotomies - lack of plenty, high and lows, riches and poverty.
. Karma and reincarnation come under the Law of Economy. If you direct your spiritual energies in the most straightforward way, always keeping in mind where you are going, you will get through these rebirths faster than if you get sidetracked.
. You pick a goal, such as God-Realization. Then you open yourself to the Holy Spirit, the ECK, and make your way directly through life to accomplish the goal. There will be help along the way. You take it as it comes, even though it may not seem to fit into your beliefs up to that time.
. The Law of Economy starts down here in the physical.



The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

Although I have found many saints are metaphysically reticent, most of them are not. However, it's mostly a problem of communication. They have discovered, they claim, a unique something for which there is no word or name. It does not belong to the world in which language is born, for the universe is its by-product and nothing exists without it.
. Whatever they have discovered is their own particular individual understanding of the Divine Spirit and Its modus operandi. Their usual pattern of telling about it is to use a sign or a name of their own designation, yet having the same meaning after all - that of the divine power, or Spirit. Because of this, many holy men seem to differ in their opinions of the power; however, it is only a matter of terminology. The theory being that if one starts toward communication with Spirit, he should follow that path to the end. I personally disagree with this for each individual is different from the other. Each individual must find his own path, his own belief. If not, he will likely spend excessive effort and time practicing a system which is not suited for him.



Sri Paul Twitchell
The Flute of God

. THE LAW OF DISCRIMINATION

. Discrimination. Viveka, one of the five virtues, is the ability to make right judgments; the recognition that there is no good nor evil, no beauty nor ugliness, no sin, and that these are concepts of the mind, the dual forces in the matter worlds; to distinguish between those actions which contribute to spiritual growth and those which are a waste of time. The remedy for self-indulgence, kama.

. Viveka. The first step in Eckankar; right discrimination; being able to discriminate between what will be good for spiritual advancement or would be wasting time; one of the five virtues; the opposite of and remedy for kama, lust.

. It requires a high level of discrimination to avoid breaking the spiritual law.

. In order to know when to speak and when to remain silent, you must apply the Law of Discrimination.

. Discrimination just means making the right choices. Some people have an uncanny knack for making the wrong choices, and that's why they have the problems they do. They'll get into one unhappy marriage after another. Two, three, four times the mate turns out to be an alcoholic. You say, "What bad luck!" But it's not bad luck. Soul, who is making the choice, has poor discrimination and makes poor choices.
. How do you change this? First you have to look at your own weakness. Then you have to also know how to grow and develop spiritually. Generally it's through singing the ancient name of God, HU. This or one of the other spiritual exercises helps.

. God speaks through dreams, intuition, and sometimes the voices of other people who have more experience than we do. But unless we have opened our heart through singing HU, we won't have the discrimination to know wisdom when we hear it.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

. Sudar Singh said to me once, "To enter the realm of God, one must be spiritually bold and adventuresome!"
. The timid never find true love and happiness, but the bold do. The more unreal anything seems, the more unreal it will become; conversely, the more real it is, the more real it becomes.



Sri Paul Twitchell
The Flute of God

. THE LAW OF DETACHMENT

. Vairag, one of the five virtues and remedy for moha, attachment. Giving up strong affection for the environment and possession, but not ceasing to identify with them; becoming independent of them; mentally free from love of the world and all worldly desires.

. 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.

. The word detachment is too cold. What is meant in spiritual terms is this - we, as one with all, will have a certain amount of pleasure and pain, but will not let it affect our emotional balance too greatly to throw our minds into the extreme poles of joy or sorrow. The real control is detachment from fear. Once you have gained this important attribute of God, then you can enjoy greater life. Yes, you can have a joy mixed with pain and not be affected to the same extent as previously. Only when fear is in control of those two poles is your life attached to its physical, mental, and spiritual possessions. Give up fear and you need never give up another thing in your life. Great joys physically, mentally, and spiritually can become yours, balanced by what sorrows there need be in your life!

. The vairag is the detached state of consciousness. This goes along with God-Realization. Detached does not mean without compassion, uncaring, without love. It means simply that you can have compassion, you can enjoy life, but if sorrow comes into your life, it does not burden you until the end of your days. You are able to see the hand of God in it.

. Detached does not mean unemotional; it means that no matter what we have in life, we will not be crushed if it is taken from us. It means we have the attitude of total trust in life to give us what is for our own spiritual benefit.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master

. (3). Wrong thinking is usually born along with feelings of inferiority. This becomes apparent when the person tries to maintain an attitude of intellectual superiority. He rationalizes away the facts of his failure to change his unwanted circumstances in life. He attempts to substitute intellectual argument for actual practice of the truth. He will use illness, or his failure, to fasten the sheltering, ministering attentions of someone else on himself and attempt to make that person feel guilty at the thought of abandoning him to his own devices.


. . (4). Wrong thinking makes a person feel uncomfortable and out of place when right-thinking people are around. It will result in a person feeling depressed, feeling self-pity, feeling envious, resentful, or antagonistic toward those who succeed in any degree in truth.


Sri Paul Twitchell
The Flute of God

. The phases of growth, from misdirected thinking to right thinking, falls into these main groups. They have numerous other description, however, so an exact description of one's own may not be here. It will be close enough for you to recognize your own, in detail, from these broad outlines if you want to recognize it. By this time you ought to know that it is the only way to change circumstances you do not wish to be present in your life. Briefly, we'll list them, again:


. . (1). Wrong thinking, causing as it does, physical, nervous, and mental handicaps, provides a way of escape from normal living. It allows a person to withdraw from normal activities and responsibilities. He thinks, deep in his heart, he is as capable as others. Deep down, he does not want to understand any teaching which would abolish his way of escape.


. . (2). Wrong thinking which appears to offer benefits of some kind is not going to be given up. The person is likely to resist teachings which lead to the giving up of an error-producing thought process and to feel antagonistic to the teacher. He may try to win the sympathy or indulgence of the teacher. He may seek to discredit the motives of the teacher. He may attempt to put the responsibility for making decisions in everyday life on the teacher instead of changing his thinking process and dealing personally with the problem.



Sri Paul Twitchell
The Flute of God

. The LAW of DESTINY

. Soul comes into the world to accomplish an assortment of tasks; these assignments taken as a whole make up Its destiny.
. Soul enters this world to accomplish a collection of tasks. Taken as a whole, these assignments make up Its destiny. To set the tone for Its mission, Soul may come into either a healthy body or a sickly one; into comfortable means or poverty; with great intellect or a simple mind; with the favored color of skin for that era or not; once a male, again a female.
. Destiny, as a concept, is waning in popularity in Western society today. People want to run their own lives. They want to shape their own tomorrows.

. The primal seed for each incarnation is under the umbrella of destiny, known to us also as past life karma. On a practical level, genetic, cultural, and social elements combine to determine Soul's position in this world. For people on the lower end of the survival scale, the Lord of Karma alone chooses the time and place of rebirth. By definition, the survival scale is a yardstick of one's can-do instincts. But karma placement does allow some people a voice in their place of birth. These are the individual near the top of the scale, who are always creative in some way - usually cheerful, upbeat people. Because of gains made in past-life unfoldment, they have won a say in choosing their present incarnation.
. Destiny can be thought of as the equipment, talents, or gifts which a person brings to this life. It remains for each to use them wisely.




The Spiritual Laws of Life
Sri Harold Klemp
The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master