 The Living Eck Master (available only to paid up members) is vital. No other religion, path or system has access to the heavenly worlds without the Living Eck Master, and only Eckankar has the Living Eck Master, Harold Klemp. Soul is eternal. It has no beginning nor ending. Soul exists because God loves it. The ancient word Hu (mostly used by the Sufis) is chanted constantly and supposed to bring beneficial vibrations. Soul is the real man and can be expanded in a state of consciousness infinitely. The Divine Sound is supposedly the bedrock upon which Eckankar builds its teachings. Twitchell studied for a number of years under Kirpal Singh's system, the noted Indian guru. An immediate problem arises in that Twitchell never did manage to get the correct sounds for the different inner planes. He used the conventional sounds contained in Sant Mat and Radhasoami literature, but would change them around to suit himself. The students don't know which sound corresponds with which plane, as apparently, Twitchell himself didn't know. This puts the member into a bind, in that the EXACT sound must be used, according to Sat Mant and Radhasoami - false or mistaken sounds lead to dead ends, unfortunate situations and a complete waste of time. A Soul can only reach the highest Heavens through Eckankar. All other religions and paths are dead ends or only reach the very lowest inner planes. The misguided followers of all other religions will eventually have to make their way to Eckankar if they are to ever make any real progress. Only Eckankar has the approval of God, in a sense, in that It's first manifestation, the Mahanta, is available only through Eckankar membership and nowhere else. When challenged on this issue, Eckists will backpedal quickly and concede that the Mahanta is just their trademarked word for Holy Spirit and works with all people. They're simply being politically correct, though, since their writings quite clearly state otherwise. Eckankar claims proprietary rights to a heirarchy of high spiritual masters called the Ancient Order of Vairagi Masters, who supposedly oversee all of the creation. John Paul Twitchell elected himself the 971st Vairagi Master. Not a shred of independent or historical evidence supports the existence of these exclusive masters (You can only get their guidance by joining Eckankar and remaining a dues paying member for life.). No other religion or eastern light and sound path recognizes Eckankar or this line of Vairagi masters. There's nothing new here and that shouldn't be surprising, since these are fairly well known concepts of many other religions, metaphysical paths and mystery schools. In fact, upon close examination, there's absolutely nothing new or unique in the Eckankar teachings. Twitchell stole liberally (word for word, paragraph upon paragraph) from the published texts of Shabda yoga, Radhasoami, Sant Mat, Sikhs and others, including liberal doses of Scientology. The stolen words quite often ended up in the mouths of his fictitious Eck Masters. There is something mildly amusing hearing Rebezar Tarzs, the 500-year-old Tibetan talking with Julian Johnson's Kentucky accent.
Twitchell's claim of holding the highest consciousness in existence becomes simply the empty boasting of a small-time con artist, once it's seen the enormity of the man's plagiarism. Aside from the sobering fact that the Eckankar teachings were stolen, there's the point needs considering that he only stole portions of the real teachings, which is much like stealing only certain parts of an airplane. The plane doesn't fly because vital components are missing. Eckankar limps along in the same circumstances.
|
"When we come to the final analysis of life, we realize that ECKANKAR will provide us with the whole spectrum. It, of itself, is the All-Embracing and universal path to God. All others are contained within its fold." |