Harold Klemp was raised on a small farm in Fremont, Wisconsin. He attended high school at a religious boarding school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

After preministerial college in Milwaukee and Fort Wayne, Indiana he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he trained as a language specialist at Indiana University and a radio intercept operator at Goodfellow AFB, Texas. Afterwards, he completed a two-year tour at Misawa Air Base and later at Yokota Air Base in Japan, where he was first exposed to the teachings of Eckankar.

In 1981, Klemp was appointed to a leadership role in Eckankar by the 972nd Living Eck Master, Darwin Gross. In 1984, leadership challenges, including accusations of misappropriation of Eckankar funds and other conflicts, brought the two leaders of Eckankar into formal legal battles in court. At that time, Klemp was allowed public use of the two Eckankar titles of distinction - the title "Living Eck Master" and the title "Mahanta." After court settlements, Gross began ATOM—Ancient Teachings of the Masters. In Eckankar the "Living Eck Master" refers to the "spiritual leader of Eckankar." The term "Mahanta," while translating historically in Sanskrit, Tamil and Pahlavi as the "superior of a monastery," refers in the Eckankar lexicon to "the highest state of God Consciousness on Earth."

As the author of more than 40 books on spirituality, Klemp has been credited for shifting the focus of the Eckankar teachings from a largely esoteric movement to what is known today in Eckankar as "Everyday Spirituality." Klemp has changed the use of words in the Eckankar vernacular from "The Ancient Science of Soul Travel" to a new term—the "Religion of the Light and Sound of God." This corresponded with Klemp's shifting the focus of Eckankar from the meta-scientific approach of Paul Twitchell to a more "religious" focus. Along these lines, Klemp encourages Eckists to be self-reliant, yet involved in community service. During his tenure, Eckankar moved its offices from Menlo Park, California, establishing offices, the Temple of Eck, and a spiritual campus in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

Harold Klemp and his wife, Joan, currently reside in Minnesota. He speaks at major ECK seminars held in Minneapolis.

Harold Klemp's autobiographical writings include the following:

• Autobiography of a Modern Prophet, ISBN 1-57043-163-9
• The Wind of Change ISBN 0-88155-055-8
• Child in the Wilderness ISBN 0-88155-080-9

Other books by Harold Klemp, which often consist of edited transcripts of his seminar talks, include the following:

• Truth Has No Secrets, (2005) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-218-X
• Those Wonderful Eck Masters, (2005) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-217-1
• Animals Are Soul Too! (2005) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-214-7
• Past Lives, Dreams and Soul Travel (2003) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-182-5
• Love: The Keystone of Life (2004) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-208-2
• The Language of Soul (2003) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-195-7
• How to Survive Spiritually in our Times (2001) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-167-1
• Spiritual Laws of Life (2002) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-176-0
• Is Life a Random Walk?(2002) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-172-8
• The Art of Spiritual Dreaming (1999) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-149-3
• Our Spiritual Wake-up Calls (Mahanta Transcripts XV) (1998) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-135-3
• Journey of Soul (Mahanta Transcripts I) (1997) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-003-9
• The Spiritual Exercises of Eck, (1997) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-001-2
• The Slow Burning Love of God (Mahanta Transcripts XIII) 2nd edition (1997) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-130-2
• How to Find God (Mahanta Transcripts II) (1997) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-004-7
• The Golden Heart (Mahanta Transcripts IV) (1997) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-002-0
• Cloak of Consciousness (Mahanta Transcripts V) (1997) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-006-3
• Unlocking the Puzzle Box (Mahanta Transcripts VI) (1997) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-007-1
• The Eternal Dreamer (Mahanta Transcripts VII)(1997) ISBN 1-57043-008-X
• The Dream Master (Mahanta Transcripts VIII) (1997) Eckankar; 2nd edition ISBN 1-57043-009-8
• The Secret of Love (Mahanta Transcripts XIV) (1997) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-114-0
• The Drumbeat of Time (Mahanta Transcripts X) (1995) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-011-X
• What is Spiritual Freedom? (Mahanta Transcripts XI) (1995) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-101-9
• How the Inner Master Works (Mahanta Transcripts XII) (1995) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-103-5
• We Come as Eagles (Mahanta Transcripts IX) (1994) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-010-1
• The Secret Teachings (Mahanta Transcripts III) (1989) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-005-5
• A Cosmic Sea of Words: The Eckankar Lexicon (1998) Eckankar, ISBN 1-57043-142-6
• Ask the Master
• Spiritual Wisdom on Relationships (2007) Eckankar, ISBN 978-1-57043-242 2
• Spiritual Wisdom on Prayer, Meditation and Contemplation (2008) Eckankar, ISBN 978-1-57043-282 8