Eckankar: A Nightmare for the Soul
Perhaps you have heard of the religioncalled Eckankar, but have only a vague idea of what it is about. This article is for you. I intend to show that although Eckankar’s adherents promote it as the answer to all of your spiritual dreams; in fact it is a nightmare for the soul; a satanic deception leading its followers to hell.
Since the headquarters of Eckankar (Chanhassen Minnesota) are so close to the headquarters of Religion Analysis Service (Minneapolis Minnesota), we have received many inquiries through the years about Eckankar. We have encountered members of Eckankar promoting their false teachings in local libraries and other public venues.
Some are drawn to Eckankar by the promise of learning to interpret their dreams. Others may have viewed the teachings of Harold Klemp (leader of Eckankar) in cable television broadcasts. Others have been turned off by traditional or orthodox Christianity and are looking for something new and exciting; something that tickles the ears.
At the outset, it must be made clear thatEckankar does not claim to be, nor is it in any way a Christian religion or denomination, nor is it compatible with Christianity. Instead, its teachings are antithetical to Christ Jesus and His word, and are a danger to everyman.
Brief History
Eckankar was founded in 1965 by Paul Twitchell (1908-1971), “a journalist and former staff member of the Church of Scientology.”[1]Since he was both a researcher and writer, it is not surprising that Twitchell once made the statement that, “Man will take to religion, even if he has to invent one.”[2]And so he did! Barrett offers more background on Eckankar’s founder:
Before founding Eckankar Twitchell was, from 1950 to 1955, a member of the Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism, a Hindu movement led by Swami Premananda. He was apparently required to leave the Church because of misconduct, and in 1955 he joined Scientology, becoming one of the very first to go Clear. Also in 1955 he joined Ruhani Satsang, a Sant Mat movement founded by Kirpal Singh…but…fell out with Kirpal and they [Twitchell and wife Gail] left the movement [in 1963]…Twitchell founded Eckankar in the USA in 1965, at the same time declaring himself to be the 971st in an unbroken line of Living ECK Masters stretching back many thousands of years. His lectures and books…publicized the new movement, which grew rapidly. It was registered as a non-profit religious organization in 1970.[3]
It is clear that Twitchell was involved with a lot of religions before he decided to become a religious entrepreneur and create Eckankar.[4]Lewis reports that “Soon after Twitchell established Eckankar, he moved its headquarters to Las Vegas, Nevada. He wrote several of the movement’s key books, including Eckankar: The Key to Secret Worlds (1969) which served as an introductory text for many years.”[5]
Leadership of Darwin Gross
Ruth Tucker provides details about the change in leadership of Eckankar following Twitchell’s death:
“After Twitchell’s death, Darwin Gross ‘received the rod of power and was acknowledged as the 972 ECK Master…He authored several books and the movement acquired new headquarters in Menlo Park, California, and more than doubled in size. Nevertheless, his tenure was controversial, in part because of his marriage to andsubsequent divorce of Gail Twitchell, his predecessor’s widow…He later was ‘officially cut off from the ECKANKAR organization…He was succeeded by Harold Klemp as ECK Master.”[6]
Indeed, the transition from the leadership of Paul Twitchell to Darwin Gross was very troubling, and should raise problems for anyone interested in truth. Albrecht, Alexander & Nichols provide the alarming details:
As the sixties ended, Twitchell faced a problem. According to his earlier teaching, his anointing as Mahanta would expire on October 22, 1970. But Twitchell did not want to give up his exalted position. At the Fourth World-Wide Seminar held in Las Vegas on October 22, 1970…he reluctantly explained that those who had been training for the mastership had failed their test…Twitchell would continue as Mahanta for at least another five years.Not all Eckankar adherents accepted Twitchell’s explanation. In January 1971 he tried to silence complaints by explaining that the next Mahanta was still only a child who would not be revealed for at least another fifteen years…In a May 1971 letter to his followers, Twitchell warned that anyone claiming to be the Mahanta without his approval and before the end of the fifteen-year training period would be a deceiver. But before the end of the year, Twitchell died of a heart attack. Five weeks after his death Eckankar had a new Mahanta. At the Fifth World-Wide Seminar of Eckankar, Gail Atkinson Twitchell announced the new Mahanta was Darwin Gross…Was Gross then a deceiver? Twitchell’s widow evidently did not think so. She said that Twitchell had come to her in a dream and revealed his successor. On October 27, 1972, Gail Twitchell married Gross, who described himself as ‘the only man ever manifested in all history in whom individualism and universalism are combined in the full expression. Five years later they were divorced.[7]
Several questions are raised by these turn of events. For instance, why should anyone trust their eternal soul to someone like Twitchell, who though claiming to be an ECK Master, the living Mahanta, did not know that he was going to die and needed to turn leadership over to a successor;a prophet he was not.
Again, if Twitchell was correct; there should not have been a successor to Twitchell until the fifteen years had passed in 1985. Indeed, both Gross and Klemp were adults at the time Twitchell said his successor was just a child. Therefore, according to Twitchell’s own words, both Darwin Gross and Harold Klemp are “deceivers.” Further, it was surely a convenient revelation that Paul Twitchell came to his widow Gail in a dream to appoint her next husband as his successor. One wonders why Twitchell would appoint as his successor someone who would later be cast out of Eckankar; a prophet he was not. In light of the above, why should anyone look to these men to as their spiritual guides?
Whatever the circumstances, Darwin Gross did succeed Twitchell. Nevertheless, despite having been the leader of Eckankar for a decade, Darwin Gross was not only removed from all leadership positions within Eckankar, but by 1984 even “his books on Eckankar were banished from the movement.”[8] The successor to Darwin Gross and current leader of Eckankar is Harold Klemp.
Leadership of Harold Klemp
Klemp, or Sri Harold Klemp as he is called by his followers, now 68 years old (in 2010), was a “Wisconsin farm boy and one-time Lutheran ministerial student who in 1981 became Eckankar’s spiritual leader.”[9] We are also told that Klemp “Attended divinity school, and completed four years in the U.S. Air Force. While stationed in Japan, he discovered ECKANKAR [and was] initiated by Paul Twitchell in 1969."[10]Lewis states that:
Klemp felt led to move Eckankar’s headquarters to Chanhassen, near Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the Temple of Eck was erected. The Temple opened its doors in 1990. Under Klemp’s leadership, Eckankar has grown steadily. Eckankar publications are now authored primarily by Klemp, though Twitchell’s writings are still published by the organization.[11]
Klemp also claims the title of “a modern-day prophet,”[12]“Where can he find someone who has already traveled the road to God—and come back to tell about it? Harold Klemp is one such person. He is a modern-day prophet.”[13]
Brief overview of Eckankar beliefs
Maja Beckstrom sums up the beliefs of Eckankar in a nutshell, “It blends Eastern concepts such as karma and reincarnation with dream interpretation and reliance on a living master who guides followers on their spiritual paths.”[14]Lewis offers a more detailed overview:
Eckankar’s basic cosmology and meditation techniques are closely related to the Sant Mat tradition, a north Indian spiritual lineage. The notion that God’s Voice is light and sound is a core doctrine of this tradition. Rather like Western Gnosticism, the cosmos is pictured as a multi-level emanation in which human souls are trapped by passions and illusions, and the spiritual devotee needs to move through these levels and return to the divine source. A ‘sound current’ (a ‘river of vibration’; alternatively pictured as a ray of light) from the higher levels—an emanation for the high God—flows down through all of the lower levels. A living master—referred to in Eckankar as the Mahanta or the Eck Master—links the devotee to this current at the time of initiation. Contemplating the sound current and the inner light…with the Master’s guidance allows the individual to follow the sound back to the source from which it emanated (the Supreme Being), resulting in spiritual liberation.[15]
Experts on the movement describe it as a syncretistic religion in which its founder, Paul Twitchell, blended ideas from many sources in arriving at his new creation of Eckankar. For instance, David Lane, of Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, California says, “Twitchell created Eckankar out of a blend of Scientology, Theosophy and the Radhasoami movement, an offshoot of Sikhism.”[16] Eckankar literature agrees: “He [Twitchell] explored a wide range of spiritual traditions under different teachers. The high teachings of ECK had been scattered to the four corners of the world. Paul [Twitchell] gathered these golden teachings…and made them available to us.”[17]
Clearly, Twitchell gathered into one system ideas from many different religious systems to form Eckankar. Harold Klemp gives an official explanation of the basic ideas of Eckankar:
The teachings of ECK define the nature of the Soul. You are Soul, a particle of God sent into the worlds (including earth) to gain spiritual experience. The goal of Eck is spiritual freedom in this lifetime, after which you become a Co-worker with God, both here and in the next world. Karma and reincarnation are primary beliefs. Key to the ECK teachings is the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master. He has the special ability to act as both the Inner and Outer Master for Eck students. He is the prophet of Eckankar, given respect but not worship. He teaches the sacred name of God, HU, which lifts you spiritually into the Light and Sound of God, the ECK (Holy Spirit). Purified by the practice of the
Spiritual Exercises of ECK, you are then able to accept the full love of God in this lifetime. Sri Harold Klemp is the Mahanta, the Living Eck Master.[18]
The goal of Eckankar, then, is to help initiates learn how to connect to spiritual guides (mainly the living ECK Master) that will help them move through various spheres of existence until they finally ascend to the Sugmad or “god.”
Key Teachings of Eckankar
As we have seen, one of the keys to understanding Eckankar isto understand the role of the “living ECK Master” or “Mahanta.” My personal experience with Eckists has revealed the enormous reverence they have toward the so-called Mahanta, currently Harold Klemp. Though Eckankar specifically denies that the Mahanta or Living Eck Master is worshipped, the actual practice of Eckistscannot fall far short.
When one considers the place of importance of the Mahanta in the teachings of Eckankar, the semi-worship of him is explained. For instance, we are told concerning the Mahanta that, “He becomes the actual manifestation of God through this power, which he retains throughout his life here on earth…they are saviors of the human race.”[19]Indeed, “Each living ECK Master has become the Mahanta, which is God made flesh on Earth. Therefore, we look to the Mahanta for he is the representative of the Sugmad in our midst today.”[20]
Eckists believe that the Mahanta is working behind the scenes in ways that the world simply does not understand. For instance, Paul Twitchell made the following claim while he was the supposed Mahanta in 1971, “Sometimes people criticize the Master for not presenting visible proof of what he is doing, but they are not aware that he often halts destructive earthquakes, disasters which would upset the world population. But he never takes credit nor shows outwardly that it was his efforts that saved perhaps millions of lives.”[21]
Most important of all, the Eck Master is said to be the key to salvation. For instance, Twitchell stated that, “There is proof that the orthodox religions are not doing much for mankind. Man’s great problem is that he has not turned to the ECK Masters to receive spiritual redemption.”[22]Twitchell also claimed that, “Without the Master no Soul can find his way out of the circle of births and deaths.”[23] Again, he stated, “Then who shall see heaven? Only those who accept God in their life. Those who follow the Mahanta and seek Reality through the path of ECKANKAR.”[24]
So, according to Eckankar, one’s very soul and spiritual well-being is based upon following Harold Klemp of Minnesota. Jesus Christ walked on water and did many other miracles giving us a reason to believe Him when he claimed that he was “The way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The only water Harold Klemp ever walked might be a frozen Minnesota lake in the wintertime.
The Danger of Rejecting the Eck Master
Indeed, there is alleged to be grave danger in rejecting the guidance of the Eck Master as the following Eckankar passage shows:
One can neither sell nor betray the living Master, for he is a channel of the holy ECK. The slightest act against him returns swiftly to the doer…They likewise do not understand the troubles that befall them as a consequence of their overt and covert attempts to belittle or ridicule the teachings of the blessed ECK. For some reason, they believe that they are above such things simply because they have read a few books or studied under certain teachers…Even the most simple lies will bring about a quick result which is not of a pleasant nature. One does not realize what these small acts might be, but on closer scrutiny we find that they are such minor things as belittling the Master’s words: arguing with him over some point; the posing of needless questions; smoking in his presence; being doubtful of any promise that he makes…turning against him and refusing to act in accordance with his desires…These are some of the things that create a negative attitude towards the living Master.[25]
It is most interesting that such claims of dire consequences are made in Eckankar literature while at the same time they claim that they don’t use fear tactics as they allege Christians do. One Eckankar source stated, “The teachings [of Eckankar] are written to speak to the inner being, Soul. They don’t play off the emotions or the fears of spiritual seekers.”[26]
Despite such denials, there are ample examples in Eckankar literature of fear being used in an attempt to retain and control members. For example, Harold Klemp stated, “I strongly encourage you to continue with the Spiritual Exercises of ECK…When you stop…you lose the ability to know instinctively what you should do to run your life in the best way.”[27]
Watch Out for the Eck Boogey-men
If there wasn’t enough to worry about for the Eckists, the Eckmasters have created a boogey-man to keep wavering Eckists in line which can be described as attacks by enemy egos or personalities. Twitchell warned of them as follows:
These other egos become guests in the individual’s world and often create problems…because Soul, while encased in the body, gets too blind in the physical world to do much about them…It is a principle of ECK to break up these beings in the chela and allow him to be himself. None of the swarm of personalities have any further power over him once he steps into the world of ECK…The chela must at all times be faithful to the cause of ECK. If he is not then he is defeating himself and is left without defense against the swarm of entities within him.”[28]
Indeed, if a student of Eckankar is not quite ready to let go of their old faith, say Christianity, they are told of the sure attack of these entities, “The swarm of entities we have been speaking about refuse to let go. They will fight desperately to the last ounce of strength to hold on to their channel into this world.”[29] One can easily see how an Eckist would have fear of leaving Eckankar.
Blind Loyalty to Eck Leader
Like many cults, students of Eckankar are taught to trust their leaders rather than their own reason. Yes, the Eckist is taught to leave the thinking to the leadership and to fear his own understanding of things. For instance Twitchell said that, “The mind will play a thousand tricks upon the chela. It is unreliable and habitually beset by its own thought creations, harassed by its own desires and dominated by its own passions. The ECK Master offers a perfect safeguard against the disasters the chela encounters when following the dictates of the mental powers.”[30]