There are a variety of Reasons that I am an Eckist. I follow Eckankar because of the proof it manifests in my life. There are so many miracles and evidences. I’ll just call these moments “Reasons.” This reason relates to the Eckankar view of the spiritual “Ocean of Love.”

When I was a teenager I had a death experience. I was dying, I passed out. I became consciously aware, but I had no vision. It was like being blind or in a void. Yet the darkness wasn’t frightening. Instead of fear I felt something entirely different – I felt love. I can remember being in this field of love and I said to myself, “This is like being at the bottom of an ocean of love.”

It may seem like something inconsequential, but those words just sat with me for years. Now in my 50’s, as I read the Eckankar Holy books, I see the term “Ocean of Love,” repeat a lot. It is a reference to the presence of ECK (what some might think of as the Holy Spirit).

The ECK is the Ocean of Love, a life-giving, creative sea, heard by the divine followers of the SUGMAD. Within the Ocean of Love is the total sum of all teachings emanating from the SUGMAD. It is the divine Word, for It includes everything that SUGMAD has said or done, and what It is.

The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, Books One&Two, 3rd Edition (p. 19). ECKANKAR. Kindle Edition.