A little Background of Eckankar (1/3)

Eckankar Symbol

Eckankar is an extremely interesting religion that mainly focuses on the Soul of a person. Eckists claim that the teachings of Eckankar have been around since the beginning of human existence, but the actual religion was not founded until 1965 by Paul Twitchell. Eckankar has similarities with Sufism, which is a small religious group in India, who also call themselves "The Parent Faith." The leader of the Eckankar religion, or Living Eck Master, is Harold Klemp. Harold Klemp grew up in Wisconsin, and started heavily studying and learning the teachings of Eckankar in the 1960s, and became the Living Eck Master in 1981. There have been some claims that Eckankar is in fact a cult, but they explicitly address these claims. Eckankar claims to not be a cult because Harold Klemp, as a person, is not worshiped or prayed to. Instead, he is seen as a leader and an aide in reaching the most meaningful relationship with God.

The term Eckankar means co-worker with God. Eckists believe in Eck, which is another word for the Holy Spirit, or Life Force. Eckists believe that God is completely transcendent. They believe there is no way to describe God because God is so far beyond our mental understanding. They also believe that because God is so transcendent, God is ungendered as well. Eckists believe that Eck can only be experienced in the physical world through Light and Sound. Much like their view of God, Eckists also believe that the true self, the Soul, is also ungendered. Because the true self is the Soul, Eckists believe in reincarnation.  Eckists believe that there are three separate ways to discover God, and those are through dreams, exploring past lives and Soul travel. 

Eckists believe that dreams are "windows into the worlds beyond the ordinary." They believe that dreams are where questions are answered and they are where one can gain spiritual insight. Eckists are encouraged to keep dream journals to remember their dreams. Then these dreams can be worked through and interpreted with the aid of the journals. Eckists believe that in order to get spiritual guidance in your dreams, you must contemplate a question before bed. Then you must softly sing HU, which is an ancient name for God. This act connects one with Eck. Eckists believe that upon waking, one has gained spiritual guidance about the problem in question.

Now I mentioned HU in the above paragraph. Hu is a love song to God, and singing HU is a spiritual exercise performed very often by Eckists. Here is a video of Harold Klemp demonstrating the singing of HU:

The second way to discover God is through the examination of past lives. Eckists believe in the concept of reincarnation, and they believe that by examining the things you are attracted to and interested in are clues to your past life. For example, a child who is fascinated with airplanes may have been a pilot in a past life. Eckists believe that whenever a strong love or hate appears with no apparent cause, it is a window into the past lives a person has lived.

Eckists also believe in Soul travel, and this is one of their primary teachings. Eckists believe that the Soul can leave the body and explore different planes of reality. The Soul can leave the physical world and travel to different soul planes that exist on different conceptual levels. Soul travel is a way for the true inner self to make its journey back home to God. And it is through this Soul travel that one achieve self-consciousness and God-consciousness.

The basic principles of Eckankar are as follows: