What Is the Secret of All Relationships?


Download this free book, ECK Wisdom on Relationships to find the answer and much more. You will discover:

  • the source of love
  • the secret of all relationships
  • wisdom on strengthening a marriage
  • how to love yourself
  • how to find solace when a loved one dies
  • your bond of love with all life—and with God
  • and much more

Try the techniques and spiritual exercises on pages 29, 37, and 56 to begin a happier, more fulfilling life today.

—Sri Harold Klemp


Can I Heal a Divorce Situation?


I had a divorce that I am unhappy about. I have four children; two live with their dad. This situation makes me very unhappy. Do you think it is too late to somehow gather all my family back together?

You might start by taking soundings of how each person you wish to be with again feels about it. A lot of pain occurs on all sides in a marital separation, and it doesn’t go away overnight. Besides, as time passes, each of your family has gotten older and has begun to fashion a new life for themselves.

Parents who stay together in their marriage see the growing independence of their children on a day-to-day basis. But in a separation, the parents whose children live away may not be able to keep up emotionally with the growing independence of their children.

Growth and change are natural parts of living. We are unhappy when, for some reason, we cannot keep up with them.

So you must look first at yourself with complete honesty. Do this by taking a sharp look at all the people in your dreams of a family as of old. Look at each person honestly. How old were they when they left? How old are they now? What interests did they have then? Now? The hard part, if there is to be one, is the condition of how things are now.

People respond quicker to warm interest and love than to criticism. When hurt and misunderstandings occur in a marital split-up, the old fears do not dissolve overnight. Indeed, they may never go away.

There are a minimum of two parties in a relationship. It takes the cooperation of both if it is to continue. If you’re the willing party and the other side is not, there is little to be done to nurture such a relationship. Go on with your life.

Life isn’t run by people who are experts in living. Neither are marriages. We’re all beginners for the most part, doing the best we can. This means making mistakes of all kinds, of all degrees. Some can be righted by apologies or forgiveness, but many others cannot: Only time can be the healer, and not always in this lifetime.

You’ve got to look at yourself first, with sincerity and love. The past is past. It may not be fully in your hands to build a new future like the past. But you will be able to get a handle on your problem if you start with yourself. Be gentle and kind to yourself. We are all beginners in living.

—Sri Harold Klemp


One Marriage Two Religions?


Recently I have met and fallen in love with a devout Christian. He cannot follow ECK, and in order to maintain a harmonious home I made the choice to become a Christian. But in letting go of ECK and accepting Jesus, I feel such disloyalty and loss. How do I deal with these new feelings?

In regard to your personal situation, love will overcome all. This does not mean we will be without problems, but that love is holy and must come before any other consideration.

Follow whom you will in your heart. It is the same Holy Spirit working through yet another of Its instruments. There are many ways to reach the kingdom of heaven, otherwise why would there be so many religious paths, even within Christianity (Baptists, Episcopals, Pentecostals, etc.)?

Life does not bring two people together without a reason. Our past lives get mixed up in this, and we find new friends in this life are actually old acquaintances from before. Love is what drew you to your Christian friend. The relationship, if followed through, will bring spiritual enrichment to the person who recognizes the hand of Divine Spirit as the motivating factor.

One’s inner life may be in harmony with whatever Master is able to be there in joy and sorrow. No one else, no matter how close they are to us, actually ever knows what all is in our hearts.

—Sri Harold Klemp


How Does ECKANKAR View Sex?


What is Eᴄᴋᴀɴᴋᴀʀ’s view on sex?

The deep relationship between man and woman is a sacred token of human love. The sex urges does not lift anyone into the Soul Plane, so why endorse sex as a means for spiritual unfoldment?

This relationship between a couple must be open and clean, without guilt or shame. If you cannot love your family, how will you then love God? The dirt and guilt that the orthodox religions put upon lovemaking is for control of the followers. Guilt and fear have been deeply impressed upon them for centuries.

Lovemaking, a deep expression of love and warmth between a man and woman, is their private business. Overindulgence in anything is lust. Will we be pulled down to the common level of the animal?

The union between man and woman demands mutual responsibility. I do not intrude into your private life to judge your personal relationships.

—Sri Harold Klemp


Hardships, Handicaps, and Love


I have many physical problems this lifetime and have had to overcome many obstacles. I’ve come to the conclusion that love is not for me this time around. How can I begin to have love in my life? Is it too late for me?

Your life certainly is an extraordinary one, and its uniqueness might let you think that love is only for others and not for you. You may find this hard to believe, but people can live together for years in a relationship and still not know love.

It would be wrong for me or anyone else to try to change your mind about anything that is between God and you, so I won’t. This world has its torture camps (as in World-War-II Germany and elsewhere) and places for breaking the human spirit. Yet for some reason, a few among many who faced the same prospect of fear and death on a daily basis had a fierce desire to live. Why? Who can say? Perhaps the survivors were those with the strongest spiritual heartbeats.

Where is love? Again, who can say? We know it’s all around us like an ocean, but where’s the little stream to nourish the garden of our heart?

We don’t mind if all the world has love, but we’d like a little too. Sure, we know about Helen Keller, who became blind, deaf, and mute at the age of nineteen months. With the help of Anne Sullivan, who was her friend and teacher, Helen became a renowned writer and lecturer. She raised funds for training the blind and other projects.

What I’m saying to you here is that people with exceptional problems like yourself must work many times harder than the average person for love or for anything else. But your success can also be much more than that of others.

Love begins in a small place in your heart. Love your music, which can reach out to bring love to others, and so the love in you can grow larger.

There are other people with handicaps who are looking for love as much as you. Some have found it. How? Can you connect with an organization of handicapped individuals to see how its members cope with their search for love?

Love is something we all need as much as air and light.

—Sri Harold Klemp


Divine Love or Human Love?


What is the difference between the love one has for one’s mate and the love Soul has for God?

Is one sort of love better than the other?

The highest love is a pure love for God.

A pure love for one’s mate is the same as a pure love for God. There is no difference. But, frankly, pure love is a rarity—whether for God or for mate.

“Falling in love” usually means falling into karma. Karma—good, bad, or neutral—sets the tone for a relationship. For example, some couples love to fight.

The attraction between people of a high state of consciousness is a mutual desire to serve God and life. Such a couple join forces to help each other reach even higher states of being.

A high, pure love is sweet indeed.

—Sri Harold Klemp

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