The New Age Cult of Eckankar
Possession of Consciousness
Eckankar is a new age cult founded in 1965 by a man named Paul Twitchell.
Many of it's teachings are derived from the Sant Mat teachings of India's Radhasoami
( light and sound) traditions. Eckankar also focuses on Gnostic and other new age
ideas as well.
Upon studying Eckankar's writings and secret discourses and by being in it for any length of time, it becomes very apparent
that Eckankar is largely opposed to Christianity and most of the Christian teachings.
' Soul Travelers of the far Country' Harold Klemp
( about an experience on the inner planes)pg118-119. " But when the Bible hit my lap, I immediately jumped up and threw it on the floor," The Bible is dead!", I shouted in response. The preacher hurled barbs at me while I stalked down the aisle without a word, heading for the exit."
' Shariyat Ki Sugmad' book2 Paul Twitchell
pg25. " Such assaults on the Mahanta are those which originate from the Kal using the minds and the consciousness of those persons within it's power to destroy the Mahanta and the ECK, if at all possible. These are the works of the Kal, who uses religions, ministers, and lay persons, to bring about the downfall of the ECK; because it is truth."
For example, Eckankar falsely teaches that the God Christians pray to is a being called the Kal;
a being in the lowest level of the Eckankar heavens.
' Letters to Gail' vol2 Paul Twitchell
pg72. " Many believe that Jehovah, or Yahweh, is God. The masters of the earth are responsible to this deity unless they have developed beyond him, toward God himself."
pg74. " Now within the negative stream in the lower worlds, under Kal Niranjan is the famous trinity so named by the Hindu and Catholic religionists."
Eckankar teaches that sin is an illusion.
' Letters to Gail' Paul Twitchell' Paul Twitchell
pg18. " You see Maya is actually the dreamworld in which you live in that dual viewpoint which sees good and bad. Therefore what is called sin is but an illusion..."
'Shariyat Ki Sudmad' book2 Paul Twitchell
pg3. " The idea of man being born in sin is one of the oldest pitfalls which the Kal Niranjan could plan for keeping Soul in ignorance of it's true glory."
Eckankar teaches that Jesus was actually only a lower initiate who didn't make it very
far on the spiritual ladder.
' In the Company of Eck Masters'
pg176-177. " You see, because of the nature of Jesus' works and words, he must constantly return to the court of Yama until there are no more misunderstandings involving his name." "On the other hand, the followers of Jesus believed that he could take care of the karmic debts himself. Those following him dumped all their transgressions on him, doing nobody any good. They didn't learn the lessons of the laws of karma, and Jesus now has to answer for all the things done in his name."
Eckankar teaches reincarnation.
' Shariyat Ki Sugmad' book2 Paul Twitchell
pg44. " If he seeks elsewhere, it is eventually learned that he is on the path of the Kal and will spin around on the wheel of Awagawan- the coming and going, the age long cycle of rebirths and deaths, transmigration, and reincarnation."
It stresses that the follower of Eckankar can escape reincarnation through various occult
practices whereby the follower experiences ' soul travel'. While in this state, the follower,
assisted by a spirit guide, ascends through various initiations, to higher and higher levels
of heavens. Eckankar often refers to their particular line of spirit guides as the ' Eck masters,
the inner master, or the dream master'.
The follower is said to eventually achieve, at the higher levels of these heavens, a state
referred to as ' god-consciousness' or ' god-realization'.
As with many other new age cults with their different spirit guides, Eckankar also stresses
that to make any progress on the path of Eckankar, one must surrender his consciousness
to this ' inner master' or ' dream master' (spirit guide) whom contacts the follower through his
occult practices or through dreams.
Contact with spirit guides through occultism has always been forbidden by God.
" Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices. A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly..." Acts 19:18-19
" Now if people say to you, " Consult the ghosts and the familiar spirits that chirp and mutter; should not a people consult their gods, the dead on behalf of the living, for teaching and instruction?" Surely, those who speak like this will have no dawn!" Isaiah 8:19-20
" He made his son pass through the fire in the valley of the sun of Hinnom, practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger." 2 Chronicles 33:6
" No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts and spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord..." Deuteronomy 18:10-12
Spirit guides in the occult often do prove themselves to be nothing more than demonic
spirits masquerading as spirit guides in human form.
Why is this surrender of consciousness to the spirit guide said to be so necessary among
the followers of Eckankar?
Is it because one requires a spirit guide to guide the follower through the spirit realm
during his experiences?
Is it so the follower has protection during his out of body or ' soul travel' experiences?
Or is the requirement of the followers surrender to the ' inner master' or ' dream master'
for a hidden, more sinister purpose?
Just what happens to your perceptions, spiritually, when you surrender your consciousness
to a spirit guide in the occult?
Eckankar places heavy emphasis on dream work and dream development while at the same
time, on surrendering your consciousness to the ' dream master', a spirit guide of
Eckankar.
Normally, one's dreams in everyday life, stem from the subconscious. These dreams can
be anything from stress related dreams to dreams of desire and so on.
The everyday experiences in one's life, from the happy and peaceful, to experiences of
desire, fear and stress will often manifest in dreams of the same nature.
These dreams result in a natural psychological balance achieved through dream release.
In this way, sleep and normal dreaming have been found to be very important for our
mental health and for the proper functioning of the brain.
Dreams have also been given to people directly through the power of God.
" Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said," Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Matthew 2:13
Lucid dreaming is being explored by many people in the new age movement as well.
Lucid dreaming involves waking up in one's dream worlds and having complete control over
the dream environment, the characters encountered, and so on.
In Eckankar, however, you are required to surrender your consciousness, dream life,
etc, to the ' inner master' or spirit guide whom often appears in your inner vision.
If you surrender yourself to this ' inner master', it will then acquire control over your
consciousness and can then proceed to take your dreams, thoughts and spiritual perceptions
under it's own control.
For it's own purposes, the ' inner master' (spirit guide) of Eckankar can then change and
manipulate your consciousness, perceptions and dreams. This is in order to persuade you
to believe various false teachings, visions, and spiritual experiences . The spirit guide's
eventual purpose is to take the soul captive , through manipulation of the follower's free
will.
Therefore, the newly joined follower will eventually fall under the control of Eckankar.
The result of surrendering one's consciousness to Eckankar involves the ability of the
demonic spirits (spirit guides) to induce any spiritual or dream experience they wish-
into the follower's consciousness.
' The Art of Spiritual Dreaming ' Harold Klemp
pg33. " The Dream Master sometimes manipulates the dream state so that Soul may communicate with Soul, whatever it's form. Since the man might have discounted a dream about a talking horse, the Master changed the image to one the dreamer could accept. This is just one of the ways the Dream Master works."
pg167-168. " A situation may be mocked up by the Dream Master to simulate something that is causing the Eckist concern in his daily life. Through this dream, the Eckist is shown what he should or should not be doing if he wants to resolve the situation."
As such, the dreams that the follower will have ( past lives, etc...) and the levels of 'heavens'
the follower will experience, are simply mocked up for the follower to experience.
' The Art of Spiritual Dreaming' Harold Klemp
pg36. " The dream world is actually an imperfectly remembered Soul Travel experience. When the memory is not very vivid, we call it a dream. This is why I have linked Soul Travel and Dream Travel so closely together. Basically they are the same thing. They are not dreams and they are not really Soul Travel. They are your experiences of life in the greater worlds."
In Eckankar, however, it is all falsely promoted as being very real.
When one joins Eckankar, and surrenders to the spirit guides appearing to him,
his dreams and spiritual experiences will take on a radical
change.
The dreams and spiritual experiences of the follower will be
induced and manipulated by his 'inner master' (spirit guide), to
make the follower think that he is ascending to heavenly realms
by his own expansion of consciousness.
Aside from being shown false levels of heavens, the follower may also be given dreams
of false past lives which will further instill a belief of reincarnation and karma.
The follower will be shown a false Christian deity and a false Jesus as well as a counterfeit
Christian heaven. The follower is then put above these things to 'higher' realms and will
believe he is above the real Yahweh of the Bible and above the real Jesus. He will be tricked
into believing that he ascended past the Christian heaven to higher realms when he has not.
Eckankar is not the raising of one's consciousness. Eckankar involves the possession of
the follower's consciousness- a possession of one's dream content and spiritual experiences.
What about the ' inner master' or any of Eckankar's spirit guide characters showing up to
people whom have never heard of Eckankar and to people whom didn't surrender their
consciousness to any spirit guides? The spirit guide
characters of Eckankar have also presented themselves outside of
Eckankar for the purpose of making their existence known.
However, these demonic spirits can usually go no further than to appear to non-Eckists.
They cannot take over the consciousness or dream life of an outsider unless given permission
by the person whom experiences them. Permission often includes verbal surrender to them,
complying to their instruction, willing dialogue or communication, practicing in the occult, or
inquiring to them to gain knowledge of some kind.
' The Art of Spiritual Dreaming ' Harold Klemp
pg256. " The Mahanta may sometimes contact a person years before he has come across Eckankar. The person may have no conscious recall of the Mahanta, Soul Travel, or the Sound and Light of ECK. This contact, however, is made in response to his disillusionment with old religious beliefs."
' We Come as Eagles ' Harold Klemp
pg96. " Your dreams are changing because at some level, you have given consent to work with the Inner Master, also called the Mahanta. By studying ECK, being interested in ECK, and indeed even coming to the ECK seminar, you have said ," I would like to know a little bit about ECK."
Eckankar can do nothing for the soul except to lead one into direct disobedience to God's divine will.
" Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons..." 1Timothy 4:1
God's will is for all to come to repentance and be saved through his Son Jesus Christ.
" But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years , and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance." 2Peter 3:8-9
" Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10
" Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets." Acts 3:19-21
" There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
Are you willing to trade salvation through the real Jesus Christ for some demonically induced
false heavens of Eckankar which upon your real death will not exist?
Are you willing to surrender your consciousness to the demonic spirit guides of Eckankar and
be manipulated by them?
The choice is always yours but please be warned.
Tread cautiously in your spiritual walk of faith.
Do not be deceived by counterfeit spirits or false heavens.
Jesus Christ paid the price for our sin natures once and for all by offering himself back to the
Father as a sinless and perfect atonement for us. This in itself, is something the rest of
us cannot do.
God, through his mercy, love and power, did this for us through his Son Jesus Christ.
" But God proves his love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, we will be saved through him from the wrath of God." Romans 5:8-9
" ...and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
" And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." 1John 5:20
May God's mercy, love and grace be with you always.