Eckankar teaches simple spiritual exercises to experience the Light and Sound of God. These exercises also help us Soul Travel, to move into greater states of consciousness. People of any faith can use Eckankar's spiritual exercises to find answers to their questions about this life and the afterlife.
Spiritual exercises are a "treasure whose value we might overlook because of their simplicity. But they are your lifeline to the Word of God," says Harold Klemp, the spiritual leader of Eckankar.
A spiritual exercise can be as simple as relaxing and singing the word HU, an ancient name for God. As we practice these spiritual exercises, we learn to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We learn that each of us is Soul, a spark of God sent to this world to gain spiritual experience.
Some people never recognize the blessings they receive. Others may look back and realize they've had a gift of healing of some sort. Maybe something has changed at work to make their life better. But it depends upon the individual – how conscious you are.
A spiritual exercise to begin recognizing your gifts is this: Sing HU quietly to yourself or out loud.
Look at the obstacles in your life that you think are stumbling blocks. Imagine them becoming stepping-stones. How are they teaching you about yourself? Open yourself and gain greater awareness of this as you sing HU.
The teaching of ECK are all about God's love for you. HU is an ancient name for God that is the key to your secret worlds. Once you learn this key, you will find a blending of your inner and outer worlds. You'll find yourself filling with love.
Harold Klemp, The Spiritual Exercises of ECK, p. 171
The Sound of HU
HU is woven into the language of life. It is the Sound of all sounds. It is the wind in the leaves, falling rain, thunder of jets, singing of birds, the awful rumble of a tornado. . . . Its sound is heard in laughter, weeping, the din of city traffic, ocean waves, and the quiet rippling of a mountain stream. And yet, the word HU is not God. It is a word people anywhere can use to address the Originator of Life. —Harold Klemp
- Singing the HU Song is a wonderful Spiritual Exercise -
To do the exercise, first get comfortable. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Next, gently put your attention on your inner visual screen, where daydreams and images come to you. With your eyes closed, sing HU (pronounced like the word hue) as a song of love. You may notice a feeling of peace, warmth, and comfort. You may also recognize the presence of the Divine through greater spiritual insights into your daily life. There are many ways to experience the love of God.
When you sing HU and sit in quiet contemplation, you might also perceive the inner Light and Sound. The Light may appear as brightness or colors on your inner visual screen. The Sound may be musical or the sounds of nature, such as the wind or the ocean. However you experience the presence of God, it is bringing you a broader understanding of the life you lead.
Listen to the HU Song (5 minutes):
Watching Your Dreams
The dream world and its people are real. It is only our recall and understanding of it that are incomplete. Our link with the inner worlds is usually through dreams, but illusion can make our memory of inner events faulty.
What about the dream people who appear to be just symbolic parts of ourselves? Lets start with the waking dream. The Mahanta uses it to give someone a spiritual insight from an experience in his daily life. The Master draws on the individual's experience with real people and real events to point out some personal truth.
Apply the principle of the waking dream to your dream world. The people you meet there are Souls, just like you. However, the Mahanta can turn your experience with them into an open window of understanding, to unlock your desires, needs, and goals.
Keep a journal of your dreams and begin to note any parallels between them.
- Harold Klemp, The Spiritual Exercises of ECK, p. 211
Create a Brighter World
If you have an uncomfortable experience or dream - or one you don't understand - take it into contemplation. Begin by singing HU for a few minutes. Then rewind the dream or experience, and run it through your mind. Next, visualize a door that opens into golden sunlight. This is the Light of God.
Now take the uncomfortable experience from the darkness; take it from the silence and solitude though the open doorway where it is dissolved by the Light and Sound of God.
This exercise can get you in the habit of looking for a brighter, more creative world, where you can find more inner satisfaction. With the help of the Inner Master, the Mahanta, you are learning to take charge of your life. You are becoming the aware Soul, the creator of your own worlds.
- Harold Klemp, The Spiritual Exercises of ECK, p. 231
The Temple Door - A Spiritual Exercise
This is a very simple exercise to make contact with the Voice of God.
Close your eyes and relax. You are preparing to enter the inner temple, that sacred place where Soul has communication with God. You may see the Light of God first in your Spiritual Eye. You may see it as a Blue Light or a Blue Star. You may see It as a globe or blob of light.
This means you have contact with the highest state of consciousness that is available. It can uplift you to the very same state, too, but not overnight – the shock would be too great.
After you see the light in your Spiritual Eye or feel It in your heart center, then comes the Sound. The Sound may come first at times.
The Sound may be that of the flute of God which comes from the Soul Plane. Or you may hear the buzzing of bees or any number of different sounds. Later, as you move higher, it may become a very high peeping sound, a single peep so high that it feels as if you can barely reach it.
It is the Voice of God uplifting you.
- Harold Klemp, The Spiritual Exercises of ECK, p. 137
Getting Answers in Dreams
At some level Soul knows everything. If there is something that you would like to bring into consciousness, here is a way to get help.
Before you go to sleep, relax and decide that upon wakening you will have an answer to whatever it is that you desire.
When you awaken it will be in the forefront of your thoughts. At the moment of slipping from or into sleep, you are opened to truth and in direct contact with it. It is at this point that you will perceive your answer.
Immediately make note of it in your dream journal.
We know that there is an answer for every situation that comes up in our life. There is always a way, somehow. What holds us back is our attitudes.
Learn the value of doing a spiritual exercise just before retiring or upon awakening. It works to your advantage during these times of change in conscious awareness.
- Harold Klemp, The Spiritual Exercises of ECK, p. 35
The Easy Way - A Spiritual Exercise
Just before going to bed at night concentrate your attention on the Spiritual Eye, that place between the eyebrows. Chant HU or God inwardly and silently.
Hold your attention on a black screen in the inner vision, and keep it free of any pictures if at all possible. If you need a substitute for mental pictures flashing up unwantedly, put the image of the Living ECK Master in place of them.
After a few minutes of this , you may hear a faint clicking sound in one ear or the sound of a cork popping. You will suddenly find yourself outside the physical body, looking back at it in the room. Now you are ready for a short journey in the other worlds.
There is nothing to fear, for no harm can come to you while outside the body. Although you may not know it, the Mahanta will be standing by to keep watch over your progress. After a while the Soul body will return and slide gently into the physical self with hardly more than a very light jolt.
If this is not successful the first time, try it again, for the technique works. It has worked for others.
- Harold Klemp, The Spiritual Exercises of ECK, p. 235
