At the very heart of the awakened Soul is a desire for freedom. It is the wish for a better life, here and now as well as in the hereafter.

Much of one’s pursuit of freedom is in chase of shadows, the idea that freedom offers happiness through a material or emotional good. There is little thought about cost. What sacrifice will make it ours, to have and to hold?

A woman came to ECKANKAR the easy way: by birth. Struggle for the precious truths others labored to find was not her experience and, so, beyond her understanding. The ECK discourses stayed sealed in their mailing envelopes, to gather dust on a shelf in the living room. And when she did open them to tidy the room and catch up on her reading, it was only to give them a quick once-over.

Long ago someone said, “How can we appreciate freedom unless we’ve first lost it?”

Life will supply the spiritually wayward with all kinds of diversions to keep them too occupied to find time for the study and practice of the ECK ways. Life’s too busy.

There are kids to chauffeur to games and events, shopping, work, relaxation, and going online to surf the internet.

Yes, all these activities do have their place in today’s society. But to what end? Without a spiritual purpose to connect the elements, it is an existence that races around a circular track. What is the point?

You’ll meet this sort of individual in your own ECK community. He reflects a state of consciousness without a solid foundation of values. And all you can do is work within the capacity of such a person.

If one is any kind of leader or teacher at all, he will give encouragement to those in his care, to help them rise above the limitations of the day. So, an ECK leader does that. Yet in doing so he keeps in mind the admonition of ECK Master Rebazar Tarzs to the seeker and the girl in Stranger by the River.

“Nothing can be taught thee, my friends, which is not already concealed as potential knowledge in the unfolding of thy Souls,” he says. “All perfection of the outer self is but the realization of the eternal perfection of Spirit within thyselves.”

This realization brings freedom.

To be sure, it is with a sense of sadness that we watch another ECKist waste his spiritual opportunities. Yet a good teacher continues to give encouragement. He understands the want of inner discipline of the other Soul, but divine love sees and understands.

A thankless heart does come to regrets.

The twentieth-century American historian Charles A. Beard observed, “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”

So what should you do? Be like the ECK Masters. They know of the self-deception of the human consciousness. And like the good teachers they are, they teach first-grade things to first-grade students, and so on. They love all people because of the divine potential that lies asleep within them.

Love, compassion, and understanding. (Even for the woman above who’s lost her way.)

These three are the qualities of a superior leader in the ECK community.

—Sri Harold Klemp

Simply putting your God attention on helping others “rise above the limitations of the day” will align you as the Mᴀʜᴀɴᴛᴀ’s Coworker. As you respond to opportunities for giving love and compassion, your spiritual freedom expands.

Contemplate this connection. What does the Inner Master show you?

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