PRACTICING THE ECK TEACHINGS WITH MY DAUGHTER

By Jesse Cromwell

One resource I use to practice the ECK teachings with my daughter is The Book of ECK Parables, volumes 1 through 3. These three books are full of stories written by ECK students from all around the world, highlighting the spiritual principles at work in their everyday lives!

In the evening, after a quiet contemplation where we ask the MAHANTA which story will benefit us the most, we do something similar to the the Shariyat technique: We open one of the books at random and read whichever story we open to. The benefit of opening it at random is I don’t know what I don’t know. So when I ask the MAHANTA, in an open and curious way, and turn the page at random, I leave room for the ECK, SUGMAD, and the MAHANTA to show me what is right for my daughter and me in that very moment.

My daughter and I repeat this process and read a few stories. Then we talk about what spiritual principles we learned. These stories create a springboard to explore a variety of spiritual topics together! Sometimes I ask her if she has had a similar experience or can relate to the story in any way, and we discuss that awhile.

Other times, a situation in my daughter’s life will come to her, and she will share it with me or ask me, “What about this? How do I deal with that?”

This time together reading the ECK parables opens the conversation up for further exploration and brings a sense of love and connection between the two of us.