According to the Eckankar glossary, the term Eckankar means "Co-Worker with God".^[1] It is likely drawn from the Sikh term, Ik Onkar. Since 1985 followers of Eckankar have described it as "The Religion of the Light and Sound of God". Prior to 1985, Eckankar was known as "The Ancient Science of Soul Travel".

Eckankar's headquarters are in Chanhassen, Minnesota (southwest of Minneapolis). The Eckankar Temple, an outdoor chapel, an administrative building, and the ECK Spiritual Campus are located at this site.

Contents 1 History 2 Teachings 3 Origins 4 Beliefs 5 Current status 6 Ceremonies and rites 7 ECK masters 8 Related groups 9 The Writings of Paul Twitchell 10 Criticism 11 See also 12 References 13 External links 13.1 Plagiarism discussion

[edit] History

The leader of Eckankar is known as the Living ECK Master. According to Eckankar doctrine, the Living ECK Master is respected, but not worshiped, by followers of Eckankar and is seen as a spiritual guide for their own spiritual progress. Paul Twitchell founded Eckankar in 1965 and led it until his death in 1971. Darwin Gross then took over leadership, serving until 1981. On October 22, 1981, Harold Klemp became the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master, and took over leadership of Eckankar.

[edit] Teachings

One of the basic tenets is that Soul (the true self) can leave the body in full consciousness and travel freely in other planes of reality. Eckankar emphasizes personal spiritual experiences as the most natural way back to God.^[2] These are attained via "soul travel", shifting the awareness from the body to the inner planes of existence.

Certain mantras are used to facilitate spiritual growth. One important spiritual exercise of Eckankar is the singing or chanting of hu. The Hu has been used in the Sufi and other traditions, and is viewed as a "love song to God". It is pronounced like the word "hue" in a long, drawn-out breath, and is sung for about 20 minutes. Eckists sing it alone or in groups. Eckists believe this practice allows the student to step back from the overwhelming input of the physical senses and emotions and regain Soul's spiritual higher viewpoint.

Dreams are regarded as important teaching tools, and members often keep dream journals to facilitate study.^[3] According to followers of Eckankar, dream travel often serves as the gateway to soul travel^[4] or the shifting of one's consciousness to ever-higher states of being.

Eckankar teaches that "spiritual liberation" in one's lifetime is available to all and that it is possible to achieve self-realization (the realization of oneself as soul) and God-realization (the realization of oneself as a spark of God) in one's lifetime. The membership card for Eckankar states: "The aim and purpose of Eckankar has always been to take soul by its own path back to its divine source."

The emphasis has shifted away from out-of-body experiences to expansion of awareness through experiencing God's love in everyday matters. The final spiritual goal of all Eckists is to become conscious "co-workers" with God.^{[citation needed]}

The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, which means "Way of the Eternal", is the holy scripture of Eckankar. The Shariyat, as Eckists call it, is a set of two books that tell of spiritual meaning and purpose as written by the Mahanta, the current head of Eckankar. Some of the key beliefs taught in the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad include soul travel, karma, reincarnation, love, light and sound, and many other spiritual topics. Eckists believe Sugmad is the endless world from which all forms were created, and that the ECK, the sound current, flows out of Sugmad and into lower dimensions.

The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad is a set of two books and may now be considered scripture of Eckankar, however there are also a series of 'satsang' writings, that are available with yearly membership in Eckankar. There are satsang classes available and the booklets and or discourses are discussed in classes or may be studied individually. There is a suggested donation for membership which is renewable annually. (www.eckankar.org)

[edit] Origins

Although Twitchell founded Eckankar in 1965, Eckists claim that the basis for the Eckankar teachings date back to the beginning of human life.

According to Doug Marman, Twitchell sourced many modern and ancient religious teachings in his creation of the Eckankar Teaching, but the main sources appear to be Sufism and a little-known teaching in India called "The Parent Faith". (This is where other light and sound teachings, such as Sant Mat and Surat Shabd Yoga also derived their roots.)^[5]

Eckankar headquarters were originally in Las Vegas, Nevada. Under the leadership of Darwin Gross, the organization was moved to Menlo Park, California in 1975. In 1986, Harold Klemp moved the base of operations to Minnesota, where it remains today.^[6]

Eckankar was founded as a business; however, the Panel of Administrators urged Twitchell to conform to usual standards, and the teaching was later registered as a non-profit organization. Eighteen years later, in 1983, Harold Klemp changed it to a recognized religious institution. Currently, Eckankar is accepted as a religion by the U.S. Army,^[7] the Boy Scouts of America, and many other public institutions.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Beliefs

Primary to the teaching is the belief that soul can leave the body (soul travel) and explore the inner planes of creation in the physical world and in the dream state. Also, the concepts of karma and reincarnation help to explain situations in life. Soul is seen as the true self in that it is housed in a physical body. The physical body uses the mind, emotions and becomes aware who and what they are and that is we are soul. Nightly, when we sleep, all of us as Soul can thus leave the body and return at will, once it learns how. Dreams are seen as very important, with books such as The Art of Spiritual Dreaming forming part of over thirty books available for reading for all people and Eckankar students (Chelas).

The beliefs that individuals are responsible for their own destiny and that their decisions determine their future are important concepts to contemplate. Eckankar students meet in open public services and classes to discuss personal experiences, topics books and discourses. Eckists do not proselytize, and it seems to attract membership from those who find confirmation of personal experiences and understandings after reading the books, discussions with a member, or seeing a video available to the public.

According to the U.S. Department of State (International Religious Freedom Report for Cote d'Ivoire 2008), the current Nigerian branch of Eckankar describes its beliefs as "a syncretistic religion founded in 1965 in Nigeria that sees human passion as an obstacle to uniting a person's divine qualities".^[8]

[edit] Current status

Eckankar claims an active membership base in more than 100 countries throughout the world, United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa.^[9][10] 26,000 American Eckists were estimated in 2001 and 36,700 in 2004.^[11] Estimates from varying authors ^[12] varies from 500,000, in 1972^[13] to 50,000 or less in more recent years. Eckankar does not publish membership figures.

Eckankar's 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m²) main "Temple of ECK"^[14] was dedicated in Chanhassen, Minnesota on October 22, 1990. As of late 2007, the largest capacity Eckankar Temple was in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, with a total capacity of 10,000.

Eckankar has produced over thirty books, videos, CDs, and tapes on a variety of spiritual topics. Members receive discourses, and they are invited to study at home or in the company of other members in Eckankar Satsang classes. Eckankar does not attempt to convert individuals. They do, however, advertise their presence and distribute literature to interested persons.

The Eckankar "EK" symbol appears on the list of Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.^[15]

[edit] Ceremonies and rites

There are few personal requirements to be an Eckist; however, certain spiritual practices are recommended. Chief among these is daily practice of the "spiritual exercises" of ECK for 15–20 minutes a day. The most basic ECK spiritual exercise is singing the word hu, an ancient name for God (also known and practiced in Sufism), for upliftment and spiritual experiences. A wide variety of spiritual exercises are offered, and members are encouraged to create their own. There are no dietary requirements, taboos, or enforced ascetic practices. Eckankar does not require potential members to leave their current faith to join.

There are a number of ceremonies an Eckist can experience as part of the teaching:

• ECK Consecration Ceremony : Celebrating the entrance of the young and infant into Eckankar, and new life in the light and sound of God.
• ECK Rite of Passage : Celebrating the passage from youth into adulthood, usually around thirteen.
• ECK Wedding Ceremony : Celebrating the marriage bond as two Eckists commit their lives to one another before God.
• ECK Memorial Service : Honors the journey of soul and welcomes it into the worlds beyond the physical.

In Eckankar's original form, the Consecration Ceremony, Rite of Passage, and Memorial Service did not exist. Sri Harold Klemp, the Modern Prophet (Living Eck Master) added them later. Eckankar now is referred to as a religion with ceremonies mirroring more mainstream religions.

Eckists celebrate a spiritual new year on October 22. There is no celebration of personal anniversaries, such as birthdays of the leaders. There is a founder's day.

[edit] ECK masters

ECKists believe contact with Divine Spirit, which they call the ECK,^[16] can be made via the spiritual exercises of ECK and the guidance of the living ECK master. It is held that the ECK masters are here to serve all life irrespective of religious belief. The main Eckankar website offers this list of Masters: Official Eckankar Masters List

The following masters are among the better known:^[17]

• Kata Daki : An ECK Master in the Ancient Order of Vairagi Adepts. She helps people get back on their feet during hardship.
• Gopal Das : The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master in Egypt, 3000 B.C., who founded the mystery cults of Osiris and Isis; the guardian of the fourth section of the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad on the Astral Plane; he teaches at the Temple of Golden Wisdom there. Gopal Das is said to be youthful but mature in appearance, fair-skinned, clean-shaven, and with longish light-colored hair.
• Rebazar Tarzs : The officially-designated “torchbearer” of Eckankar in the lower worlds; the spiritual teacher of many ECK masters including Peddar Zaskq, or Paul Twitchell, to whom he handed the Rod of ECK Power in 1965. Said to be over five hundred years old, Rebazar Tarzs was Tibetan by birth and lives in a hut in the Hindu Kush mountains. He is said to be about 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall, with an athletic physique, dark skin, closely-cropped black hair and beard, and piercing black eyes.
• Rami Nuri : The ECK Master who is the guardian of the holy book, the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, on the Pinda Lok (the physical world) at the House of Moksha, Temple of Golden Wisdom in the spiritual city of Retz on the planet Venus. The letter M appears on his forehead. He also once served as the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master.

[edit] Related groups

Groups such as ATOM and Dhunami[2], claiming to carry on the original teachings of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar, were created by Darwin Gross (now deceased) and Paul Marché respectively. John Roger's Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness appears to have split from the main body of Eckankar. Gross and Marché have made this public while Roger denies any connection to Eckankar beyond having once been a student of Paul Twitchell.

More recently, former Eckist Ford Johnson formed a spiritual organization based on the idea that one does not need a master or spiritual guru to achieve spiritual enlightenment.^[18][19] Other groups created by former Eckists, like Michael Owens' The Way of Truth :: Path to God Realization; Michael Turner's "yahoo group" ^[20] and Gary Olsen's MasterPath^[21] could be seen as organizations that maintain Eckankar-like cosmogonies.

Professor of Philosophy Dr. David C. Lane discusses the phenomenon of these numerous related teachers.^[22] Lane suggests these might be seen more traditionally as an organic continuum or an historical school of "American Shabd" teachings, rather than a "splintering" of any movement. Lane is already distinguished in this particular subject^{[citation needed]} for his research from the late 1990s concerning perceptions of distortions, plagiarism and concealment involving author Paul Twitchell during the first three decades of Eckankar's existence. For clarification of this matter, see www.eckankar.org.

The current leader of Eckankar has stated that members should feel free to leave Eckankar unbounded by guilt or fear.

[edit] The Writings of Paul Twitchell

After Twitchell's death in 1971, David C. Lane published a book ^[23] that claimed some of Twitchell's Eckankar books contained passages from other authors' books without proper citation. Lane claims Twitchell's The Far Country contains plagiarism (of Julian Johnson’s Paths of the Masters).

Eckankar states that Twitchell's role was that of "master compiler", saying;

Master Compiler [3]

The high teachings of ECK had been scattered to the four corners of the world. The different masters each had parts and pieces of it, but they attached little requirements, or strings, to it: You must be a vegetarian, or you have to meditate so many hours a day if you want to really be a true follower on the path to God. And this was wrong for our day and age. It was geared for another culture.

Paul gathered up the whole teaching and took the best. Though it may be a strange thing to say, in this sense I see him as a master compiler. He gathered the golden teachings that were scattered around the world and made them readily available to us. So now we don't have to feel that we must spend ten or fifteen years in an ashram in India, sitting around in the dust with the flies, or locked in a walled-up little cell to keep our attention from the outside world, in order to live the spiritual life.

Doug Marman, an Eckankar High Initiate, published a book in 2007 refuting these claims.^[24] in The Whole Truth, a biography of Paul Twitchell. Marman lists several books that he feels Twitchell used as uncredited sources, even of the words of "eck masters" from whom Twitchell claimed to have taken dictation.^[25] In relation to this book, Twitchell's widow, Gail Twitchell, has written "...finally, someone got the whole thing right ... Paul's work [put in] in the proper perspective."^{[26][unreliable source?]} Twitchell biographer and paranormal researcher Brad Steiger has also written and commended this work as the most researched and authoritative to date on Paul Twitchell.^{[unreliable source?][27]}

Lane has published commentary on Marman's book, reaffirming his view that Twitchell tried to cover up his past associations and plagiarized several authors.^[28]

[edit] Criticism

Internet communities of disgruntled ex-members and critics, such as the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.eckankar, include criticisms dating back more than ten years. Eckankar has been labeled a cult by some critics, including both former members and conservative Christian writers.^[29]

Eckankar states that spiritual truth is not the possession of a single person or group, and that many paths all lead to the same goal. However, Eckankar states it is the most direct path to the highest heaven. The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, Eckankar's guiding text, unambiguously states that Eckankar is the most direct path to God.

As is the case with all religions, some outspoken former members, ^[30] claim that Eckankar is unethical and dishonest in how it presents itself and its history.^[31] Accordingly, some former Eckankar initiates feel an obligation to inform the public as to what they are not being told about Eckankar, and some critics cite the evidence of Eckankar's founder's plagiarism [4] as a key reason to avoid Eckankar.

Supporters feel that Eckankar has been completely honest in dealing with its history. Harold Klemp, the modern spiritual leader of Eckankar, provides a frank discussion of Paul Twitchell and the modern founding of Eckankar in the context of the times^[32].

[edit] See also

• Contemporary Sant Mat movement
• Sri Darwin Gross
• Ik Onkar
• Karma
• Sri Harold Klemp
• Radha Soami
• Reincarnation
• Sant Mat
• Surat Shabd Yoga

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eckankar

• Official website
• ReligionFacts.com
• Om Guru Twitchell Biography
• Darwin Gross Truth Files
• The Unauthorized Eckankar Page
• Higher Consciousness Society Ex-Eckankar High Initiate Ford Johnson's organization.
• Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness Organization founded by a former Eckankar member
• Undoing the Damage of Rogue Light & Sound Gurus
• Eckankar, A Spiritual Hoax Anonymous criticism
• Eckankar Survivors Anonymous Yahoo Group Anonymous criticism
• The neural surfer: Eckankar
• Eckankar News
• The Whole Truth, Doug Marman
• Peddar Zaskq...in this moment, Tammy Latimer New book by non-Eckankar member

[edit] Plagiarism discussion

• Dialog in the Age of Criticism. David Lane and Doug Marman discuss plagiarism
• Twitchell Plagiarism