Welcome everyone to the Soul Adventure Podcast from ECKANKAR. I'm Doug Kunin, and I'll be your host today. Wherever you're listening, there's also a worldwide audience listening along with you in some 2300 cities around the world. And what do all people have in common? Well, each person is Soul; unique, creative, eternal, divine, equally loved by the Creator of all life. Of course, this life can sometimes feel like a race; whether it's finishing our daily to-do list, chasing career goals, or just surviving the day. So the question comes up, what happens when we get to the finish line of this life? What happens at the time of death? Here's a revealing insight from Sri Harold Klemp, the spiritual leader of ECKANKAR. He writes,"When we leave the physical body permanently, if we advanced to any degree at all, there need be no concern for this life on Earth. For we have moved into a far greater expression of it. Our divine evolution is a wonderful thing. In most cases, as we make the transition into the heavenly worlds, we are totally unconcerned about it. As bright as the sunlight appears to our eyes, this physical world is a dark, small, mean place compared to the other worlds. You will see settings similar to those on earth, but larger and with a lot more light. There will be a lightness and spaciousness about the body that you wear there. Soul is once again wearing a body. But it is on a higher plane. It is so natural that generally you don't give it a second thought. And you are always greeted by someone you know and love. For people who love truth and love God, it's a smooth change. The key really is love." That's from the book, ECK Wisdom on Life After Death. You can find a link to a free PDF of it in our show notes. On today's show, we have a story filled with experiences and so-called coincidences that shows that love is the key to life and to life beyond this life. And one key to this love is the HU song, a sacred song and ancient mantra. The story was told by Sue Keck at the Temple of ECK here in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Here's Sue.
Sue Keck:Good morning. So, we've been talking about Soul all morning, this true self that each of us is. This divine, eternal, You and Me. And everybody comes to that realization in their own way, in their own time. And I had an experience that for me this lifetime showed me that. And that's the story I'd like to share with you this morning. Now, Soul is eternal. It's the true self. And it has the ability inwardly to see, to know, and to perceive. And that's because each of us is a spark of God. And we exist because God loves us. Those were all sort of big ideas to me when I first heard them. And then something happened. I have an older brother, five years older than I am. And I'm the next one in age. This story happened a number of years ago. He collapsed one day, and he was young, 40 -- I find that young anyhow -- and went to the hospital. And they did tests for a few days. He was in Florida at the time. I lived in New York. And I was in my office when I got a phone call from my younger brother. And he said, "Sue, John," the brother in the hospital, he said, "They've come back with a diagnosis and it's terminal." And so he explained a few details. And I'm sitting in a cubicle in an office and I get off the phone and I'm shaken and heartbroken. And I do the thing that I know to do, which is to sing HU. And so I did, in that office, in my desk. And as I did, I closed my eyes. And inwardly I saw myself and my older brother. And I was holding his hand. And I was taking him to meet the Inner Master my Spiritual Guide, the Mahanta. I realized though, upon looking closer, that while I was holding his hand, I was actually dragging him to meet the Mahanta. And that is something that is not allowed at all. Each Soul is sacred, a spark of God, and they have the God-given right to lead their own existence throughout eternity. And no one, not even a loving sister, has the right to drag you anywhere. So I stopped, and I opened my eyes at my desk, took a few breaths, HUed a little bit with my eyes open. And then I closed my eyes, and I went back inwardly. And I said to my brother, "I only wanted to help you if I could." And in a nanosecond, it wasn't so much a thought as an awareness of two things that he loved. He loved playing guitar. And he loved NASCAR racing. And I didn't say anything about NASCAR racing, but all of a sudden, a racetrack appeared in my inner vision. And my brother's standing on the racetrack. And I said, "Would you like to meet the driver of the pace car for this new track where you're going?" And apparently, he said yes, because a white car appeared on that track inwardly. And the car drove around the track. Now I'm having this perception from way up in the stands, here somewhere, way up above. But I see him on this track. The white car comes around. He opens the passenger door and gets into the passenger seat and closes the door. And the driver of that vehicle is the Inner Master, the Mahanta. And they proceed to drive around this track. And as they're coming around for a second time, all of a sudden, out comes a checkered flag from nowhere. And if you know anything about NASCAR racing, a checkered flag means you've won the race. This is the end of this race, and you have won it. And so here comes the checkered flag, and the white pace car, and it leaves the ground. And it goes into this immense white wave of light and love that was so huge and so immense. I tried to follow with my vision, with my awareness, with my heart, for as far as I could. But it continued going. And I just watched it. And I opened my eyes back at my desk. And all this happened, literally, within 30 seconds, far less than it's taken me to tell you about it. And that was an amazing few seconds. And my siblings and I determined that we were going to care for my brother in his home in Florida, and we would each come from our various cities that we lived in and take care of him. So I shared this experience with one of my sisters who was going to be the first person taking care of him. And I told her about it and she said, "Well, I'll call you when it's your turn to come." And we both knew what that meant, that when it was as close as possible, that's when she would call me. I would be the last one. And probably five weeks passed and I get the phone call, like, "Sue, you should get on a plane now." So I did. And by the time I flew there and came into the house, my sister said, "He's been in a coma for the last few hours. But he's still here." So we went in, sat at his bedside, my sister and I. I'm holding his hand. We're just talking, sharing stories of how we grew up. Things we love about him, just talking. And my sister said, "Sue, I think you should tell him about the checkered flag." And when she said that, from deep inside this coma, my brother squeezed my hand. I felt it. She saw it and gasped, just like, "He knows! He knows!" And we were both sort of giddy and excited and like, "Oh, my God! Wow!" And so we stayed with him. And within a few hours, he actually did leave his body and this life. And my younger brother, who had been trying to get there in time, got there after this happened. And so we're talking about making funeral arrangements. And he said, "You know, he's a young guy, like, I don't want to do one of those wreath things. Like, what do you think if we did, like, floral arrangement like a checkered flag?" And my sister and I went (Gasp!). And he said, "Well, if you think it's disrespectful . . ." And we're like, "No," and we explain my experience and then what had happened, what my sister and I saw. He was stunned and went off to deal with the checkered flag wreath. The next day, I was going to the funeral home to make arrangements and a cousin had stopped by and he said,"Sue, let me go with you. I'll drive and, you know, you do whatever you need to do. I'll just come along for support." And on the drive over, he said,"Do you think he knows that we're doing this, that we're here, that we love him, that, like, where do you think he is now, like, what do you think happens?" And we're at a red light stopped when he asks this, and off to the side, a car that has a green light turns in front of us. And it is a maroon van with a license plate that says NASCAR. And on the back of the windshield is a checkered flag. And I said, "See that?" He's like, "Uh, yeah." And so I told him the other experiences. And he's like, dumbfounded, giddy, joyful, all of it. Then two days later, we actually have the funeral. And for his friends, this has been a shock; from hearing that he was in the hospital, to him being gone. These are people that he's known all his life. I mean, friends he's played music with, friends he's raced cars with, families, ex-spouses, everyone. And they are so mournful afterwards at this reception that we're having, and here we are, his family, just beaming. And they know we've all taken care of him. And they can't quite understand why the difference is we're not grief stricken and they are. And so I got the nudge to just start sharing the experience of what happened in my office, and my sister tells of the hand from inside the coma. And then my brother says,"And this wreath here?" and he tells his story of how he came to want a checkered flag wreath. And then my cousin tells about the van. And then my youngest sister, who's ten years younger than my older brother, and she's been helping to put out food, and she comes out and she says,"You know, when you're the youngest, nobody tells you anything. I'm hearing this the first time the same as all of you. And she said, "None of them told me any of this." She said,"And I got the cake!" And she opens the box. And the cake is a checkered flag. And everyone in that room had that same moment of joy and insight and love that life does continue. Soul exists beyond this physical body. And everyone in that room had that experience in whatever way at whatever level of understanding was right for them in that moment. But it was the love that was perceived. Thank you. (Applause)
Doug Kunin:As Sue says at the end of the talk, Soul exists beyond the physical body. And we have something here that goes to the core of this truth. It's an audio clip of Sri Harold Klemp talking to a group of students of ECKANKAR. And he uses a phrase that calls for a short explanation. He says "Soul is an atom in the body of ECK." Now, ECK is the life force, the Holy Spirit, the God current. It's simply life itself. And each individual Soul is an atom of that God current. Let's listen
Sri Harold Klemp:"As an atom in the body of ECK, there is a sound that comes from you. And that sound is HU. And this sound not only comes from you, but it is you. And Soul? What is Soul? Soul is a divine part of God. And you are that. And if you are that, all that remains is for you to recognize yourself. And to recognize yourself as a divine part of God, you must first of all, and more than anything, recognize every living thing also as this part of God. We are in this Ocean of Love and Mercy."
Doug Kunin:That's a great launching pad for a spiritual exercise to get this self-recognition of Soul and to open your spiritual wings. It's simply to sing HU with love. The HU is a carrier of love between God and Soul. It tunes a person into the God current, and you're about to hear a recording of 1000s of people singing HU. Feel free to join in, or just listen with an open heart. Sometimes people report seeing a spiritual light or hearing an inner sound. Huuuuuu . . . The HU song can be a new starting point on your spiritual journey. If you want to go deeper, check out the show notes where you can find a link to ECKANKAR's Advanced Spiritual Living Courses. They offer a roadmap to self-discovery and God-discovery. And that's our show for today. Winning the Race of Life. Soul lives forever. We wish you all the best on your spiritual travels.