Eckankar

Eckankar was founded by Paul Twitchell (1909–1971) in California in the mid-1960s. Although the Hindi/Punjabi term Ek Onkar (lit. “one God/Power”) was most likely derived from Guru Nanak's Japjī (the first set of hymns in the Sikh holy book, Gurū Granth Sāhib), Twitchell altered its original phonetic spelling and definition, claiming that Eckankar was a Tibetan-Pali word meaning “coworker with God.” According to Twitchell, Eckankar was an ancient spiritual path with a lineage of 970 “Eck” Masters who trace back to Gakko, who brought the true teachings of soul travel from the city of Retz on the planet Venus. Twitchell alleged that through this bilocation philosophy, a neophtye can leave his or her body via an inner light and sound and soul-travel to higher regions of consciousness, which lead ultimately to the supreme lord, Sugmad.

In an early article titled “The Cliff Hanger,” published in Psychic Observer in 1964, Twitchell explained the basis behind his new group. He claimed that Eckankar was based on his own experience in Shabd-Yoga, a meditation practice aimed at uniting the individual spirit with the universal sound current, a form of yoga that is the hallmark of the Radhasoami religious tradition in North India. Eckankar's organization and teachings have evolved since Twitchell died of heart disease on September 17, 1971, in Cincinnati, Ohio, shortly after giving a talk. Twitchell's widow, Gail Atkinson, claimed to have had a dream in which her husband appointed Darwin Gross to be his spiritual successor and the leader of Eckankar. Gross, who eventually married and then divorced Atkinson, served as the Living Eck Master for 10 years until 1981, when he appointed Harold Klemp to succeed him as the spiritual leader of the organization. Two years later, in 1983, there was an acrimonious split between Klemp and Gross, which resulted in the latter being excommunicated from Eckankar.

Under the present leadership of Klemp, Eckankar has expanded its core audience worldwide and has an estimated paid membership of anywhere between 40,000 and 100,000 members yearly. Klemp has also produced a wide-ranging series of books and discourses and has moved Eckankar's [Page 325]former center of operations from Menlo Park, California, to Chanhassen, Minnesota, where he established the temple of Eck.

Eckankar has weathered a storm of controversy since its inception, primarily because of questions concerning Twitchell's alleged plagiarism, biographical redactions, and purported historical antecedents. While Eckankar has been directly influenced by the Self-Realization Fellowship, Theosophy, Scientology, and particularly the Sant Mat teachings of Radhasoami (which has a similar specialized version of sound-current yoga), it has, in turn, influenced a number of new religious offshoots, including the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, founded by John-Roger Hinkins; Master-Path, founded by Gary Olsen; the Ancient Teachings of the Masters, founded by Darwin Gross; the Divine Science of Light and Sound, founded by Jerry Mulvin; the Sonic Spectrum, founded by Michael Turner; and the Higher Consciousness Society, founded by Ford Johnson. Each of the founders of these groups was at one time a member of Eckankar, and they have all incorporated many Eck terms and ideas into their respective organizations.

...