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COMMUNITY HU SONGS

~~~~~ New in Eastern PA

East Stroudsburg - Day Street Community Center ~

15 Day Street
1st Sunday, 10:00 am
(215) 925-5119

~~~~~ New in Central PA

Lancaster – ECK Center of Central PA ~

137 E. Walnut Street

1st Friday, 7:00 pm
(717) 394-9877

Intro Talks & Book Discussions........and More........

Nothing New This Issue

Cow Paths of the Mind

Three hundred years ago, there was a little calf on its way home. It meandered through the forest, making a trail as it went. The next day, along came a dog. The dog smelled the cow's tracks and followed them. A few days later, along came a bellwether. The male sheep led the flock along the trail made by the calf and the dog. Now there were more tracks through the forest that led to some home.
After a couple of years, men started to track along this path. They bitterly cursed the crookedness of it, but they followed it anyway. Time went on, years passed, and eventually this animal trail became a country road. After more years, it became a city thoroughfare; and finally, after more years, it became the main street of a metropolis. It was still crooked. You had to travel three miles to advance one mile. All the same, the people drove down this crooked street by the thousands, by the hundreds of thousands, day after day. They cursed it and yet they followed this path that was originally made centuries ago by the calf.
In ECK, we understand that the mind forms grooves and runs in a rut. We have habits that we pick up as children. These habits carry into the teen years and gradually harden and solidify as we grow older. These habits form attitudes which often express themselves in anger, vanity, lust, greed, and attachment.
The only thing that is greater than mind is Soul. It alone has the power to nudge mind out of the rut. The path of ECKANKAR makes us aware of Soul. It is not the only path to God, but it is the most direct one.
~~Sri Harold Klemp,
The Book of ECK Parables,
Volume 1, pp. 27-28

“How do you find God?
What makes you yearn for God?
It’s an indefinable something;
and I can only say that often it helps
if you have pain, suffering, and loneliness.
When life drives you against the wall
and you have nowhere else to go,
you finally give up trust and confidence
in yourself and in your material possessions.
And when you can give up attachment and
reliance upon anything in the outer world,
only then do you have a chance to see
the door open for the inner truth of God.
Only then can you find the way
to spiritual freedom.”

—Harold Klemp,
Touching the Face of God, p. 134

The Open Heart

Practice keeping an open heart throughout everyday life. It's very tough; I have to work at it all the time too.
No one technique will work for everyone, but there are ways to keep your attention on having an open heart. Start with something you can love, even a pet or a plant, and just love it a lot. As the love comes, let it pour through you.
The habit of love is catching; it builds, gains momentum, and becomes easier. But like a plant that needs watering and loving care every day, the habit of love takes constant attention.
Love won't come through unless the heart is open. To work with an open heart is to love or care for something or someone more than you do for yourself. This is the first step to the divine love that we are looking for.
~~Harold Klemp,
The Spiritual Exercises of ECK, p.183