Eckankar's System of Symbols (2/3)

This religion does not push a lot of ideals onto their followers. This religion seems incredibly open with beliefs because the emphasis is on the Soul. They explicitly state on their website that they support gay marriage and they believe opinions on abortion are up to the individual.  There are some beliefs the Eckists have regarding ways to live one's life, but the moral code established is MUCH less than other religions.  What this religion may lack when it comes to a set of rules and morals, they make up for in very rich symbols. I have not encountered a religion that has so many different terms for all the Eckist ideas. There is a great emphasis on proper names of people and ideas.  Pictured below is a book that illustrates how many actual terms they use in Eckankar. If you can see, the cover of the book states that it is a guide to the 1900 spiritual terms and concepts related to Eckankar! That is an incredible amount of terms!

Many of the typical symbols associated with God and religion are not present in this language. God is never depicted because they believe God is completely transcendent of representation.  The "typical" typical religious symbols are not here, instead they have a vast vocabulary of terms and concepts that are unique to Eckankar. There are three systems of symbols I will focus on here. The first being an explanation of some of the key terms in Eckankar, the Soul Planes and Spiritual Worlds, and the Eck Masters.

Key Terms in Eckankar

As explained above, there are around 1900 terms and concepts in Eckankar, but the website has a glossary of the most important concepts in Eckankar. I will summarize some of these terms.

Arahata- A teacher of Eckankar Classes

Chela- A member, or spiritual student, of Eckankar

God-Realization- Complete, conscious awareness of God

Initiation- A private ceremony where a person is linked to the Light and Sound of God

Mahanta- Highest state of God-consciousness on earth which is represented in the Living Eck Master.

Blue Star- A sign that the Spirit of God is always with you

Satsang- A monthly class where Eckist students study a Eckankar lesson

Self-Realization- When one recognized their Soul. The Soul enters the Soul Plane.

Shariya-Ki-Sugmad- The scripture of Eckankar. They were transcribed from the inner Soul Planes by Paul Twitchell.

Soul Travel- The Soul being about to transcend the physical world and travel to the spiritual world of God.

Sound and light of Eck- The Holy Spirit. The ways in which God appears in the physical world.

Sri- A spiritual title like that of a pastor. It is only used to represent the Living Eck Master.

Sugmad- The sacred name for God.

Wah Z- Spiritual name for Harold Klemp. It is his name in the other spiritual planes. 

Just from these few terms, you really get a sense that this religion really emphasizes certain terms. And there are also multiple terms for the same things. The Living Eck Master, for example is also called the Mahanta, Sri and Wah Z. There seem to be a lot of arbitrary names for things. Though they do represent an important idea in Eckankar, it seems as though these name are quite random. It seems as though Eckists have these terms to set themselves apart, much like the Rastafari did in Jamaica. The Eckists could just have teachers and students, but instead they call them Arhata and Cheta to add a richness and complexity to the system of symbols as well to set themselves apart from other religions.

Soul Planes and Spiritual Worlds

To me, the most interesting aspect of Eckankar are the conceptual soul planes and spiritual worlds. Here are their diagrams:

On the second diagram seems to be imposed on the bottom left hand side of the first diagram. These are extremely interesting to me because of how elaborate they are. I have only had a small amount of exposure to philosophical writings, but this looks like a philosophical diagram. This is how the Eckist view the structure of their world. But to be honest, I do not really know what much of it means. The soul must pass through all the Soul planes before coming to realize God. But the worlds of Eck seems extremely complicated. They believe that God reveals himself to the physical world through light and sound, so I think the sounds on the right side of the diagram represent the different ways God reveals himself, but this is only speculation. Though I may not get it, this is indeed the way the Eckists view their place in the universe. The Rastafari viewed themselves as in Babylon and needed to travel back to the promised, sacred land of Ethiopia. That is how the Rastafari explained their place in the world. The Eckists use these extremely complicated conceptual diagrams to explain their physical place, and spiritual place in the universe.

The ECK Masters, or Spiritual Travelers

A large part of the system of symbols in the Eckankar religion deal with Eck Masters. Eckists believe that there are nine Spiritual Travelers, or Eck Masters. These travelers are seen as agents of God who work with the Living Eck Master, Harold Klemp, to awaken the Souls of people and to help the Soul find its true purpose and destiny. Something that is interesting about these Eck Masters, is that there are testimonies of people who had experiences meeting these Eck Masters long before they had ever even been exposed to the teachings of Eckankar. Many experiences with Eck Masters leads people to the teaching of Eckankar. Eckists believe that if someone's Soul is asking for direction, a spiritual traveler will make contact with them. Often times people have encounters with Eck Masters while they are sleeping or if they are extremely ill. All the testimonies online about people encountering these Eck Masters reminds me of Mormonism a little. In Mormonism, there are really no sermons given. Instead, a lot of a Mormon service consists of people giving testimonies that reinforce the fact that they believe the Mormon scripture is true. Eckankar is the same, because for every spiritual traveler, there are several personal testimonies that are about when a person had contact with that spiritual traveler.  I do take these testimonies with a grain of salt though, no full names are given, and the legitimacy of these stories can be questioned. There are no pictures, audio recordings, and it almost seems as though people may be latching onto these spiritual leaders and changing the memories of their encounters. There are several testimonies where the person is never told the name of the spirit they encountered, or they are told the name and forgot it. Many people say that they didn't know who the person was until they saw pictures of the Eck Masters as felt as though they recognized them. There is really no way to know if these testimonies are legitimate because so many encounters are through dreams. They could have actually been visited by these spiritual travelers, or they could have adapted their memory of a dream to something that had a religious basis. These Eck Masters are not prayed to, or worshiped. Instead, they are seen as protective and helpful spirits that help the Soul come to a greater understanding and have a deeper connection to God. Here is a little bit about the Eck Masters...

 

 Fubbi Quantz-- He was The Mahanta around 500 BC, which was during the time of Buddha. He is said to be the guardian of the Shariya-Ki-Sugmad. Eckists believe that he was Columbus' spiritual guide and encourage him to travel to America. 

Gopal Das-- He was The Mahanta around 3000 BC, and is from Egypt. He is thought to exist on what Eckists call the Astral Plane, which is the first metaphysical plane, and he teaches at the Temple of Golden Wisdom on this plane.

Kata Daki-- This Eck Master looks as though she is twenty or thirty, but is actually incredibly old. She has blond hair that changes to fit whatever task she is performing. Her job is to help people recover after experiencing hardship in their lives.




 



Lai Tsi--A Chinese Eck Master, who is the guardian of the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad. He did exist on earth as he was the Living Eck Master for a time, but now he exists on the Etheric Plane in the Temple of Golden Wisdom.





 



Paul Twitchell-- The founder of Eckankar. He is seen as the spiritual head of Eckankar. He is also given the names Paulki or Peddar Zaskq. [Note that his picture is still a painting. He obviously lived in a time and culture that had cameras. I think they chose to do this to make him seem more authentic and puts him in line with the other spiritual travelers whose pictures had never been taken.]



 


Rami Nuri-- He served as the Living Eck Master. He exists in the physical world in the Temple of Golden Wisdom in Retz, Venus. He has a distinct letter M on his forehead.




 



Rebazar Tarzs-- He is seen as the torchbearer of Eckankar. He has taught many Eck Masters, including Paul Twitchell. He is five hundred years old and lived in the Kindu Kush mountains and is believed to help the Living Eck Master.





 

Towart Managi-- He exists on the mental plane in the city of Mer Kailash. He was the Living Eck Master in an ancient kingdom of Abyssinia which is now in Ethiopia.





Yaubl Sacabi-- He is the Eck Master who was a Mycenaean and lived around 2000BC. He led many Greek cults. He lives in the spiritual city of Agam Des, which is the home of the Eshwar-Khanewale, or God-eaters. He was a Living Eck Master as well.

From these descriptions, you see that this religion is deep with symbols. Every Eck Master exists in a different conceptual plane and in a different conceptual city and temple.

To me, because there are so many symbols, special ideas and concepts, and places that exist on different spiritual planes it makes it seem as though the religion is a little more distanced from the real world. I have just begun to learn about Eckankar and the symbols seem not easily accessible. I feel as though there is too much of an emphasis on what things are called than on what they actually mean. I feel like the religion may put more emphasis on memorizing terms than actually living your life in a certain way.  The entire religion is removed from reality and exists on a very conceptual level. To me, it is often times confusing and the fact that there are so many terms to memorize almost nullifies the actual content of this religion. But I also do see why the religion can be seen as so conceptual. There is such a strong emphasis placed on the Soul, which exists outside of the physical world on a more conceptual level. Learning about this religion has been an incredibly overwhelming task. It could just be because I have never had exposure to it, but it seems that there are so many concepts that they all just become meaningless. Especially looking at the diagram of the World of Eck. It is so complicated that it has no meaning to me. I guess that it why they have Eckist teachers and a book that explains all the concepts. I guess a person who is just being exposed to Christianity may have the same overwhelmed feeling that I have right now.