Eckankar: Compiled Writings Volume 1

by Paul Twitchell

Eckankar is a religious movement founded by Paul Twitchell (1909-1971) in 1963. The personal experience of the "Light and Sound of God" is one of the aims of the many spiritual exercises that are delineated in the numerous books available to the general public as well as in the discourses accessible to members only. Eckankar followers believe it provides an individual spiritual path to an understanding of self as eternal Soul and the development of higher states of consciousness. Twitchell is accepted by the members of that group as the Mahanta, or Living ECK Master of his time. Twitchell wrote dozens of books and discourse study programs under Eckankar, gave public lectures around the world, and also wrote thousands of letters. This book consists of a collection of his writings put together by his wife after his death.

Unknown Binding

First published April 1, 1978

About the author

When Paul Twitchell made Eckankar known to the modern world in 1965, he separated spiritual truths from the cultural trappings which had surrounded them. Average people could begin to experience the Light and Sound of God while still living a happy, steady, and productive life.

Paul Twitchell was born in Kentucky in the early part of the twentieth century and served in the US Navy during the Second World War.

A seeker from an early age, he was introduced to a group of spiritual Masters who would change the course of his life. These were the Vairagi ECK Masters. While they trained Paul to become the Living ECK Master, he 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 gathered these golden teachings of Light and Sound and made them readily available to us.

It was these God experiences he chronicled in his book, The Tiger's Fang. Paul Twitchell eventually joined the Vairagi Order and was given the task of bringing Eckankar to the world. He became the Living ECK Master.

By 1965, Paul was giving Soul Travel workshops in California and offering discourses on the teachings of Eckankar. A community of ECKists began to grow. In 1970, Eckankar was established as a nonprofit religious organization. Paul Twitchell died in 1971, but not before he initiated many into the ECK teachings.

The present-day Living ECK Master is Sri Harold Klemp. He continues to give new life to the age-old spiritual teachings of ECK. (www.Eckankar.org)

Reviews

[H Gultiano · Rating 1 out of 5]

One manifesto from a cult spawned from the incomplete synthesis of eastern esoteric knowledge, spun to support the power of the leaders of the group (moreso in later years, apparently, after the group's leadership went from Twitchell to Klemp who instituted money scams/scandals as part of the spiritualism).

Of course, any watered down synthesis will have grains of truth floating in it. It was nice to experience a new agey treatise that emphasized the out of body travel ability, but even astounding things get a bitter taste when used to support a certain school of thought as the ultimate [way to] Truth.

p.s., any sufi would gently correct: the pronunciation of "hu" is not "hue"