| About this site |
| About us |
| Our beliefs |
| Your first visit? |
| Contact us |
| External links |
| Good books |
| Visitor essays |
| Our forum |
| New essays |
| Other site features |
| Buy a CD |
| Vital notes |
| Spiritual/ethics |
| Spirituality |
| Morality/ethics |
| Absolute truth |
| Peace/conflict |
| Attaining peace |
| Religious tolerance |
| Religious hatred |
| Religious conflict |
| Religious violence |
| Laws and news |
| Religious laws |
| Religious news |
|
|
 | Sugmad is a sacred name of God. God is perceived as neither male nor female. | ||||||||||
| An ECK Current connects every person with the Heart of Sugmad. It flows from the
Creator to the lower levels of existence and then returns to God. It is often called the Holy
Spirit. ECK manifests itself in two forms:
| ||||||||||
| Eckankar believes in the duality of the soul and body. The soul is the inner, most sacred part of an individual. It is eternal, without beginning or end. It lives only in the present. One's soul can exist and travel separately from the body and even from the mind. | ||||||||||
| A person is capable of exploring other planes of existence, through Soul Travel. Unlike "Astral Projection" which is taught by other spiritual traditions, Soul Travel is not limited to the Astral Plane; it allows you to go further and explore any of the God worlds. | ||||||||||
| Among the 11 worlds there are 5 lower (psychic or material) and 6 upper (spiritual)
planes. Each has a regular name; a classical name; an associated sound and light; a Temple
of Golden Wisdom and a guardian. The lower planes are:
Before entering the spiritual levels, the chela (student) discards their mind and continues in their Tuza (soul). | ||||||||||
| Eckankar has a concept of Karma which is somewhat similar to that found in Hinduism. Through attachment to the five passions (anger, greed, lust, undue attachment to the physical world and vanity) one's bad karma accumulates. This requires a person to be reincarnated at death, in order have an opportunity to work off the debt of karma in their next life. The goal of Eckists is to pay off all of this accumulated debt and achieve Self-Realization in their present life. Once this state is reached, at death one need not return and spend another lifetime on earth. One is freed from the endless cycles of reincarnation. | ||||||||||
| Eckankar is regarded by its followers as the best (but not the only) path to God-realization. Christianity is recognized as an alternative path that can aid a follower to achieve a degree of enlightenment. Christians, and others, may join Eckankar without renouncing their existing religion. |
Practices:
| Eckankar does not attempt to evangelize the world by aggressively converting individuals to their religion. They do not actively proselytize. However, they do advertise their presence and distribute literature to interested persons. |
| Members generally sing or chant a mantra for 20 to 30 minutes each day. HU (pronounced "hue") is a common mantra; it is an ancient name for God, and is considered a love song to God. |
| Various spiritual exercises are promoted by the organization: chanting, contemplation, meditation, singing, trance work and visualization techniques are used to achieve soul travel. Travel during dreams is an area of growing importance in the movement. Dreams are regarded as an important teaching tool; a "look into the heavenly worlds". Members are urged to keep a dream journal to facilitate study. |
| Worship Services consist of a readings, singing "HU", silent contemplation and an open discussion. It "may also include music, group singing and talks". |
| Initiations mark an individual's spiritual progress within Eckankar. At the Second Initiation, one makes a personal commitment. At the fifth initiation, one becomes a Mahdis (High Initiate) and a member of the ECK clergy. |
| Members who have reached the Second Initiation are urged to conduct a partial or full fast each Friday. |
| Eckankar considers abortion, divorce, sexual orientation, and a decision to terminate life to be personal matters. They discourage the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. Many followers are active in a community service. |
Eckankar Texts:
Shariyat-Ki-Sugmand is the Eckankar Scripture. Paul Twitchell wrote many books including Eckkankar, The Key to Secret Worlds, Consciousness, The Key to Life, and Stranger by the River.
Criticism of Eckankar
Like all successful religions which deviate from traditional conservative Christianity, Eckankar has attracted its share of critics. Most published opposition comes from the Anti-cult and Counter-cult movements. A book by David C. Lane accuses Twitchell of covering up his past, lying about his age an copying his material from other religions. In response, Doug Marman published a "Dialogue in the Age of Criticism," and later updated it as "The Whole Truth, The Spiritual Legacy of Paul Twitchell." They analyze Lane's book and finds "that the picture David tries to paint of Paul Twitchell and ECKANKAR is off base, with a few elements of truth mixed in." See:
| David C. Lane, "The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and ECKANKAR" Del Mar Press, (1993), Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store |
| Doug Marman, "The Whole Truth, The Spiritual Legacy of Paul Twitchell"," at: http://www.spiritualdialogues.com |
| Nara5, "Eckankar: The Religion," at: http://www.youtube.com/ |
Amazon.com's online bookstore lists the following books on Eckankar:
If you see a generic Amazon ad here, please click on your browser's refresh key
Internet and communication references:
| Eckankar maintains a home page, which describes the religion, has an audio clip of chanting and offers free information. See http://www.eckankar.org/ |
| They have a toll free number accessible from the US and Canada at 800-LOVE-GOD (800-568-3463). They suggest that you ask for Dept. 151. |
| The postal address is ECKANKAR Spiritual Center, P.O. Box 2000, Chanhassen, MN 55317-2000. Their telephone is (952) 380-2222 weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., CT. Fax is (952) 380-2196. |
| A welcome WWW site for newsgroup alt.religion.eckankar is at: http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/ |
Books:
| Tod Cramer & Doug Munson, "Eckankar: Ancient Wisdom for Today", Eckankar, Minneapolis MN (1993). | ||||||
| Sri Harold Klemp:
| ||||||
| D.C. Lane, "The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar", Del Mar Press, Del Mar, CA. Excerpts of this negative portrayal of Eckankar can be seen at: http://www.geocities.com/eckcult | ||||||
| Doug Marman, "The Whole Truth, The Spiritual Legacy of Paul Twitchell." See: http://www.spiritualdialogues.com | ||||||
| G.A. Mather & L.A. Nichols, "Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult", Zondervan, Grand Rapids MI (1993), P. 96-99 | ||||||
| R.E. Olson, "Eckankar: From Ancient Science of Soul Travel to New Age Religion", Article in T. Miller, Ed, "America's Alternative Religions" , SUNY Press, Albany NY (1995), P. 364-370 |
|
Site navigation: Home page > World religions > here |
Copyright 1998 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants
on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2007-JUL-30
Author: B.A. Robinson
|
|
|
Page Translator: