A Balancing of Accounts

By Emmanuel, Nigeria

All my life, I constantly felt cheated and wondered why. The recurring experiences of people taking advantage of me were too many to count. I had almost resigned myself to the situation.

One day, after another loss, I vowed to find a solution to these problems by turning the situation over to the Mahanta, the Inner Master.

“Why is this happening?” I asked inwardly.

As a member of Eckankar, I’d learned that life is a series of births, deaths, and rebirths. I wondered if a karmic root from the past might offer an explanation. I decided to set aside some time and do a spiritual exercise to look at my past lives.

Before bed one night, I sang HU, the holy name for God. Singing HU allows me to hear more clearly the ECK, the Voice of God. I invited the Mahanta, also known as the Dream Master, to show me if a past life was the cause of my problems today.

Then I surrendered any expectations to the ECK, the Holy Spirit, and went to sleep. That night I had a very vivid dream.

In the dream, I was living several thousand years ago in an uncivilized society. We lived in huts made from large green leaves and fought our enemies with wooden clubs. It was a dreary life filled with hatred and misuse of power.

In that lifetime, I was a mean, giant of a man. With intimidating physical size and strength, I used my physical prowess selfishly.

Armed with an extra-large club to match my huge size, I lived a life of destruction and took by force whatever I wanted. The entire community lived in fear of me.

When I woke up, I was sad at what I learned. How could I have used up an entire lifetime causing so much harm to my community?

Yet at the same time, I was grateful to the Mahanta, the Inner Master, for this remarkable revelation. The enlightenment and wisdom of the holy ECK washed over me as I recognized the reason for my experiences in this lifetime.

After seeing this past life in my dream, my attitude changed. I used to become angry or complain about what I perceived as unjust treatment, but today I hold no bitterness or blame. My heart has opened to greater love.

Now I see that the ECK, Divine Spirit, is helping me balance my karmic accounts by repaying debts in order to gain a greater level of spiritual freedom.