ECKANKAR: African Time

E C K A N K A R, Religia Światła i Dźwięku Boga

African Time

A Nigerian Man Finds His Spiritual Rhythm

N. U.

Although I was doing my spiritual exercises regularly, as suggested in the teachings of ECK, I didn’t seem to be having any experiences in the inner worlds. This worried me. Why couldn’t I remember my spiritual experiences? Was I doing something wrong?
I decided to take my dilemma to my inner teacher, the Mahanta.
One night at bedtime I asked him, “Mahanta, why am I not aware of my experiences in the Light and Sound of God?”
I fell fast asleep and awoke in the dream world at the Katsupari Monastery, one of the Temples of Golden Wisdom in the inner worlds.
The great ECK Master Rebazar Tarzs planted a long stick firmly in the ground before me. Taking a knife from the folds of his maroon robe, he cut a long groove from the middle of the stick to the top.
“You have been sent to this life in Africa to cut this very long stick from the lower to the upper part. But instead you are only cutting from the middle up, leaving the lower part untouched.”
When I awoke, I somehow knew Rebazar was telling me I was missing a step in my spiritual unfoldment. I was trying to have the higher experiences, the upward part of the stick, without giving attention to my physical life, the lower part of the stick.
But how was I to remedy the situation?
The next night I awoke in the Soul body in the Temple of ECK in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Sri Harold Klemp, my spiritual teacher, brought out a large book, which he opened in front of me.
“Look carefully at the details,” he advised as he began to read from its pages.
“African times—nine to. . . . These are your African times,” he read. But my mind could not hold his words. All I could recall was “nine to a.m. morning time and ninety-four evening time.” It seemed like nonsense.
He then disappeared, leaving the big book in my hands. It was a puzzle. But as I looked deeper, the interpretation came to me.
“African times” are the best times in my daily life for my spiritual exercises—the times when I can honor my African life in the physical world. I realized my African times were between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. and between midnight and 2:00 a.m. Aha! Turning back to the book, ready to read the remaining instructions for my African times, I woke up. I had my answer.
Now, when I do the Spiritual Exercises of ECK at any time during my African times, I am fully and comfortably aware of my inner experiences in the Light and Sound of God. I also learned that I must honor and love every aspect of my life, from the lowest to the highest in order to become aware of the rhythms of my spiritual life.
And this experience taught me something more. When I have a spiritual need, the Mahanta is always ready to help.
I only need to ask.

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