Inner Guidance (16 page)

So one evening, I sat on my bed and sang HU. I imagined myself walking with one of the ECK Masters.

As I did this, I felt better inside. Nothing big happened at first, but my inner guidance nudged me to focus on a scene like this each night before bed.
What a good idea
, I thought.

Thus my spiritual experiment with the ECK Masters began.

Each night, as I sang HU, this holy name for God, I pictured myself walking with an ECK Master. At the time I had been reading
ECKANKAR—The Key to Secret
Worlds
by Paul Twitchell, the modern-day founder of Eckankar, so I chose him as my ECK Master to walk with. I asked him inwardly for guidance during the dream state and for insights into the questions I had about the nature of life and why I was here.

Nights passed without any special visitations. But I didn’t give up. My inner guidance said to persist until something happened.

T
here are many ECK Masters written about in the Eckankar teachings. The spiritual leader of Eckankar, Harold Klemp, often appears to students of Eckankar in his inner form, as the Mahanta, the Inner Master. He is known on the inner planes as Wah Z. Anyone can sing Inner Guidance_CH 11-15.p65

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HU or the name Wah Z before sleep (or anytime) to invite the Mahanta. The Mahanta and all the ECK Masters are watching over us much more than we might imagine. And they are all part of an ancient line of spiritual guides or Masters, the Order of the Vairagi.

One of the most beloved distinguishing hallmarks of these Vairagi ECK Masters is their deep observance of the Law of Love. They allow each Soul total freedom to invite their help—or not. Only when invited will they provide specific assistance or guidance.

As Harold Klemp writes, “The ECK Masters never interfere in another person’s state of consciousness without his permission. I hold your personal life sacred and won’t intrude in any way, even in the dream state, without your permission.”19

So each night, I gave permission. I asked sincerely for spiritual assistance in knowing myself better as Soul.

At first, when the different ECK Masters began to appear in my dreams to address my questions, I could recognize them only by the light around them. I knew they must be ECK Masters because of the glowing brilliance and the accompanying sense of love and tran-quillity that their presence radiated. Yet I still believed, as many people do, that these visits were somehow only a product of my imagination.

One night in the dream state, all of this changed.

I could see an ECK Master walking toward me, still quite a distance away from me, and a swirl of questions began to rise within me.

“Are you a figment of my imagination?” I silently asked this being. “I am not sure who you are supposed to be, but I am sure I have somehow created you. Maybe this whole dream is just my imagination and you are just a part of it.”

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Inner Guidance: Our Divine Birthright

The ECK Master continued walking in my direction, not responding. I studied him. I could feel the light and love emanating from him—my signal that he was indeed an ECK Master. But I had not even done a very good job of picturing him. He was bald! Surely ECK

Masters should have hair.

So as he approached slowly, I tried to imagine hair on his head. Long blond locks? No, that wasn’t it. Short-cropped black hair? Somehow that didn’t feel right either.

I made several more attempts to adorn this Master with an imaginary hairstyle, but none worked well at all.

I was wondering what to attempt next, when he drew closer and spoke.

“Anne,” this bald ECK Master declared clearly and firmly, “I’m real.”

“You’re real?” I asked. “But isn’t this a dream? Aren’t you just a character in my dream—in my imagination?”

“This is the dream state,” he said gently, “but I’m as real as you are.”

“You are?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? You’re here, and
you
are real.”

I loved that. Yes, I was real, and I was in this dream too. His explanation was more clever than anything I would have thought of myself. I studied him more closely.

He laughed aloud, not at all rattled by my neophyte behavior. By this time, he was standing right next to me.

“I’m real,
and
I’m bald!” he playfully announced.

We both laughed.

My imagination had not
created
this man any more than it had created me. Imagination is only the genesis of the process of opening the door to greater realities.

This was an actual being, fully formed and real, apparently here to visit with me.

I’d learned this important truth by following my inner Inner Guidance_CH 11-15.p65

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guidance, persisting with my nightly spiritual exercise.

This experience took me another step toward greater acceptance and appreciation of the ECK Masters.

T
his ECK Master and I walked along together.

He talked to me quite easily. He explained how Soul comes into the lower worlds, the worlds of time and space, where duality reigns. Untried and yet fully capable, Souls descend into the worlds below for experience—to gain confidence and discover their true nature.

“What is
true nature
?” I asked.

“Look at this,” he said.

He opened an extremely large pocket on the side of his robe. Taking a quick peek inside, I saw what looked like innumerable twinkling stars. He took some out and held them in the palm of his hand.

“What do you see?” he questioned as I peered at the tiny specks of dazzling light.

I looked closely, yet at first I saw only extremely small stars, radiating a breathtaking luminescence. I described to him what I saw.

“Look more closely,” he urged. “Tell me, what do you see now?” He held up his hand so I could take a better look.

By now, I was completely in this inner experience, which was very real, as real as my everyday life. In Eckankar, the Mahanta teaches Soul to become more and more comfortable with these inner planes, the places where we can each go to learn more about ourselves as spiritual beings.

I examined the ECK Master’s palm, closely inspect-ing the ever-so-tiny stars. But as I peered at them, suddenly I saw that the tiny stars were not stars at all!

“They’re alive!” I exclaimed. “They are little living be-Inner Guidance_CH 11-15.p65

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ings!” They appeared to be illuminated by their own internal flame.

“They’re new Souls—pure, individual sparks of the Light and Sound of God,” he whispered sweetly as he tossed them gently into a dark, vast sky. They tumbled lightly and slowly, like weightless, glowing, downy seeds carried by a soft breeze. “They are love—unique beings of divine love,” he declared with reverence.

Marveling at their beauty, I watched them slowly cascading down. There was no sense of shame or failure as is often associated with the fallen status of human beings in this earth world. This ECK Master spoke of these Souls with the highest regard and tender affection. I came to know this as a common trait among all ECK Masters—this reverence for all life. These Souls were gloriously sailing to their great adventures, ready for the immense world of experience with all its opportunities, tests, and trials.

He explained to me that they would make it, each in Its own way, to full awareness of their unique beauty, gifts, and purpose. Each would become a Co-worker with God, loving and serving all life unconditionally.

I understood that he meant me too.

W
hen I awoke, I could still hear his voice. I had never seen him before, but I distinctly remembered what he looked like and hoped that I might learn who he was.

If he were truly real, as he had told me, could I find out more about him?

He had mentioned his name, but I did not remember it when I awoke. It reminded me of the word
bubble
, but that certainly was not what he said.

There was an Eckankar center near my home, so I went there the next day. I wanted to see if I could find Inner Guidance_CH 11-15.p65

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a picture of this ECK Master. My question was quickly answered by the volunteer at the reception desk.

He showed me some drawings of ECK Masters, and there he was: my ECK Master, bald and magnificent.

His name was Yaubl Sacabi. I had never seen his picture before, but I recognized him instantly. There was no doubt it was the ECK Master who had simply, yet clearly, shared so much wisdom and love in my dream.

After this inner meeting with Yaubl Sacabi, I moved into a new and greater level of trust and acceptance of the reality of the ECK Masters. Despite my previous doubts, my call for guidance had been heard.

When we follow our unique guidance, it leads us to our next step in spiritual growth and ultimately helps us become masters of our own lives.

For me, this experience helped explain the reality of the ECK Masters and dreams. I also learned a little bit about the bigger plan in the evolution of Soul—and my part in it. My sense of abandonment disappeared, and I gained a greater level of confidence and certainty in my everyday life. My heart and mind resonated with this newly found wisdom. I found it remarkable that the ECK Masters care enough to assist us in the smallest aspects of our lives and in the most seemingly insignificant details of our growth and advancement.

It is still a most profound truth that fills me with awe and gratitude.

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14

What Is It That You Wish?

Inner Guidance for the Greatest

Vision of Ourselves

If you want something from life, first of all
you have to earn it. But you also have to be open
to the gifts life is willing to give you, and that
means you have to ask for them.

—Harold Klemp

The Golden Heart
20

I
nner meetings with the Mahanta and other ECK

Masters became more and more frequent. And

the more I practiced my intent to meet nightly with the ECK Masters, the more vivid my dreams became.

One particular night, I was questioning my goals as Soul. What was I really here for? What was my highest and most divine purpose in this life?

As I fell asleep, I soared immediately into a very clear dream. In the dream, two beings approached me from a distance. They were deeply engaged in conversation. As they drew near, I recognized them as ECK

Masters. One was the modern-day founder of Eckankar, 135

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Paul Twitchell, and the other was a Tibetan ECK Master named Rebazar Tarzs.

The dream was replete with fine detail. Paul Twitchell wore a light-blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up slightly. He had piercing blue eyes, he looked fresh and young, and I could hear the lilt of a Southern accent in his voice. The scenery was picturesque beyond words.

There were mountain peaks so high I could barely distinguish their tops. A pristine blue sky was daubed with a few swirling white clouds. In a meadow of brilliant emerald green, dotted with pink and purple flowering trees, I stood in anticipation and waited for these teachers to approach and greet me.

But as they stepped in front of me, they continued with their conversation, not even glancing up. They were about to pass me, when someone else walked up beside me. It was a dear friend from my waking life.

The ECK Masters stopped talking. They looked right at me and both nodded a greeting. Rebazar Tarzs smiled gently and asked, “What is it that you wish?”

I didn’t answer. I was too aware of my friend’s presence. Perhaps he had a much greater need than I did.

Turning to him, I encouraged him to speak up. I hoped he would ask for the healing that I felt he urgently needed.

But he was silent.

Rebazar was studying me. He said clearly, once again,

“You called for us. What is it that you wish?”

Hearing this Master’s request for the second time, I made one last effort. I looked quickly at my friend, still trying to encourage him to speak. He firmly folded his arms over his chest as he looked at Rebazar and me. “I ask for nothing,” he said.

Rebazar then nodded at my friend and said quietly,

“And so it shall be.”

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My dear friend, for his own reasons, was standing before two ECK Masters and declining to ask for help.

I looked at him with compassion. His face appeared distant and alone. This was not his time. He would not ask.

I suddenly understood what is meant by the concept that we must ask in order to receive. Such is the love and detachment of these beings that they will never invade our personal or spiritual space. They will come to our aid only if it is truly our own personal desire and request.

Still wanting desperately to help my friend, I longed to intervene. However, my inner guidance was warning me that I should not ask for anything for another person. Like the ECK Masters, we also must learn to respect the spiritual freedom of others. I was being given a lesson in detachment or noninterference: an individual who wants help must personally request it and be open to it.

T
his dream had begun with a spiritual exercise.

Days earlier, I had read about a technique of placing pictures of ECK Masters near one’s bed and focusing on them before falling asleep. I decided to give this a try. Just recently, I had been given a gift—colorful drawings of four ECK Masters. After framing the pictures, I put them on the wall right by my bed.