Ancient Wisdom for Today Read Online Free PDF Page A

to be free of kar-
    ma. They would like to balance their
    karmic account by the end of their present lifetime. The Mahanta helps them do this.
    By practicing the Spiritual Exercises of ECK, they drop the attitudes and habits binding them to the past. They can fulfill their spiritual destiny without having to be reborn. Thus they are freed from end-less rounds on the Wheel of the Eighty-Four. The ECKist calls this spiritual
    liberation.
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    Karma Metes Out Perfect Justice
    The Law of Karma metes out perfect
    justice. This is reassuring in a world which can appear to be unjust. One duty of the ECKist is to show compassion and kindness to all, regardless of their position on the spiritual ladder. We are all on a spiritual journey together.
    Our suffering is not always punish-
    ment for past actions. There are many
    subtle processes at work. If you experienced fear and persecution in a past life, you may still carry these feelings in your psychic memory. You may experience
    unwarranted fear and anxiety in your
    current life. These fears may persist until you remember the eternal nature of Soul and surrender your concerns to the Holy Spirit.
    We Are Responsible
    Eckankar teaches us to be responsible.
    On a physical level, this means we make every effort to support ourselves. On a 41
    spiritual level, this means we earn our own state of consciousness.
    This seems illogical if we view only
    one life at a time. In a single life we suffer or are blessed for no apparent
    reason. God seems arbitrary and random.
    The ECK principle of spiritual responsibility makes more sense as we accept the principles of karma and reincarnation.
    Reincarnation teaches that we are born again and again until we learn the spiritual lessons of life. The Law of Karma ensures that we link our behavior with its inevitable results. We reap in one life what we have sown in another.
    If we impede the development of an-
    other human being, we will incur a karmic debt. By our actions, it’s clear we haven’t yet learned the Law of Love. The debt
    will have to be paid, and a lesson will have to be learned. The suffering which may follow is not the act of a vengeful God. We are just reaping what we have
    sown. It is the loving God which helps each Soul develop Its highest spiritual 42
    potential through experience.
    Perhaps the most serious of karmic
    infractions is to misuse spiritual power for personal gain. History brims with
    examples of those who used psychic in-
    sight for personal advancement. False
    teachers have incurred a debt to their followers and at some point, that debt must be paid.
    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.
    Spiritual Maturity Comes
    When We Realize We Are
    the Creator of Our Own Life
    We cannot purchase God Conscious-
    ness in a marketplace, nor can it be
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    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 real-
    ize 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.
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    5
    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 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.
    Harold Klemp
    What Is Spiritual Freedom?
    Another scientific principle is the con-servation