The "eck masters" were clearly intending to build up a core of
followers (surrounded with a majority of moderated eckists, of course)
who have totally abandoned their psychic independence from the leading
personalities. That it is not simply a universal spiritual principle
they are surrendering to should be clear after reading "How eckankar
makes real communication so hard". From my own experience, this type
of follower is met more frequently the higher one goes in the
hierarchy of eck. The way there is paved with the long process of
indoctrination as exemplified in earlier postings, and the more the
student swallows those messages, the more his ego is pacified with the
acknowledgement of spiritual advancement through formal initiations
that to lose would mean a catastrophe to the indoctrinated. It is this
dual binding of fear and hope, of reward and punishment, which
gradually prepares the increasingly staunch eckist to finally swallow
messages like the following, which show the true face of the "eck
masters" unmasked. Please note that the third quote sets the stage for
the same mentality which caused the crusades, the inquisition, the
intrigues of the Jesuit mafia as well as the holy wars of Islam:
"Those who have become recruited into ECK must realize this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ from the beginning. Because of this power of the ECK, these persons must show initiative, resourcefulness, and a fanatical loyalty to ECK." ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
--- PT, Satsang III, L. 3
"If the chela is not possessed of this quality of dedication ^^^^^^^^ and loyalty to the path of ECK, his incarnations are lengthened in this world, and he shall not be able to enter into the next worlds at the end of this present life." --- PT, Shariyat 1, Chapter 6
"Therefore, as you can readily see, my greatest task is not to gather disciples for ECK, but to create a corps of 'true believers.' This corps must convince itself that it's the only moral position in the universe. Their moral absolution gives them the right to dissolve what they judge to be amoral according to the conditions of the world an its higher spheres. The breaking up of the old traditional religions and reestablishing of the rightful beliefs under the banner of ECK is the way of the right [...] Indeed such attitudes are not only felt to be right, but it's an obligation to those who belong to the ECK Truth Corps. This truth corps is often known as "the Mahanta's children." --- PT, Satsang III, L. 2
The mentioned arguments in "Fear and negative programs in eckankar"
apply to the quotes that were taken from Satsang III, as to Klemp's
full endorsement of this view. For the quote from the Sharyiat, one
can assume Klemp's endorsement for the reasons given in "Eckankar: the
destructive side". Most probably, Klemp thinks of himself as the
innermost corpse leader of the true believers, and many of the
reported attacks on HIs who have left eckankar, are not unlikely to be
ultimately directed by himself.
As a very enlightening view on this matter, please take a look at the
chapter "Pupil and Master" by Jiddu Krishnamurti that you can find in
the file healthy1.txt
Why not simply concentrate on the valuable aspects of eckankar ?
----------------------------------------------------------------
If one were alone with this situation and capable of being totally
beyond influence of the negative aspects, yes. But it is extremely
doubtful that this, as much as an eckist would like to think this way,
is true. Eckankar affects all that get in contact with its teachings,
which are not identical to one's personal understanding of or
selection from them. And so we have to take the teachings of eck into
account the way they are meant and expressed by Paul Twitchell and by
the organization independently from what one filters out of it for
himself. Only then can we speak of a compassionate view, since many
people are deeply affected and sickened by the parts of the teachings
that others choose to ignore or filter out.
As an example, not too long ago I met an old eckist acquaintance
again, and she had been wanting to leave eckankar for years, sensing
that it is not a genuine path, wanting to get out. And the only thing
that had kept her inside the teachings these last years is fear. Fear
of blowing it spiritually in case she might be wrong after all, in the
sense that Paul Twitchell had suggested in his writings.
She's not an exception as I personally know many such people. I'd even
say they form a high percentage of the long-term eckists, except that
most of them would refrain from admitting this fact even to
themselves.
In this context, there arises another question: it seems that most
eckists who are unorthodox in this respect (among which I don't count
those that want to justify the promised disasters in a
pseudo-reasonable way as karmic consequences of leaving eckankar)
choose to filter away the same fear-making statements in the
works. Why is it that they never speak up against these parts of the
teachings in an organized manner towards the organization (as many
Christians do in their religion today), since they all seem to
rightfully find the same statements unhealthy ? Single attempts by
individual eckists are usually warded off with the lifted forefinger
that the leader knows what he is doing and that this (eck center,
seminar, any eck function at all) is not the right place to work it
out. Letters to the office are ignored in a similar manner. But why is
there not louder protest to really change this ugly side ?
It is more than likely that many people are much more influenced by
the threats in the teachings than they deem themselves to be,
especially in a criticizing role, since the fear tactics are directed
particularly at such critics.
Another questionable side in this context is the fact that eckankar is
filled with disinformation about matters spiritual as well as other
paths, and unless one knows the other sources thoroughly, one is
liable to be filled with wrong views which may hinder spiritual
progress.
Finally, whatever one can find in eckankar can be found in better ways
elsewhere, along with a better overview and integration of universal
sprituality of all traditions which the teachings of eckankar claim -
but so pitifully fail - to be.
So in all, the idea of taking from eckankar whatever one needs - while
being sufficient for a superficial engagement with spirituality - is
of highly doubtful value for genuine truth seekers in the long run.
ECKANKAR AS A PURE TEACHING
Knowing all these things, what is an honest eckist to do ? He may be
disillusioned about the purity of the intentions of Klemp and
Twitchell, but still he may be too old, too tired or too attached to
make up his mind and start all over again, to once again set out for
the adventure of being a genuinely humble truth seeker, ready to
completely restructure his mind, without any feeling of safety through
promises of a leader or an organized liberation (the question of why
eckists tend to cling to eckankar although they have know of all the
information is well addressed in the beginning of quotes1.txt).
If one would ask me, the defector, I would ask the questioner to
please renounce all negativity that is streaming from anywhere, not
only from the pages of the eck words, to make his notions of love and
compassion free from the limits of his ideology, free from the desire
for self-confirmation, to be determined - as I said before - not to
allow those parts of the teachings to influence his actions, speech
and thoughts of which he is not 100% sure that they are expression of
universal truth independent of ideology, and indestructible as the
corner of a perfect circle. This will take a lot of mindfulness and
awareness when reading the eck works critically, and this in itself is
a strongly purifying excercise.
Also, if you feel drawn to Klemp or are used to visualizing his
person, please imagine him to be just a light form - devoid of any
substantiality - in which the complete enlightenment,the universal and
ultimate highest truth of all beings everywhere and of all times is
unified, without connecting it at all with his personality and
regardless of whether it is called "Mahanta" or not. Then the ultimate
truth may actually use this shape to enlighten you gradually, but
watch that you do not listen to self-projected messages. Rather, just
visualize white purifying light to flow from the hologram and flood
your body, cleaning it of all past negative actions, words and
thoughts, of all lies you have told, all anxieties, all the broken
commitments to truth, of all your fears, but also of the hopes. These
negativities leave your body in form of dirt, of mud, insects, slimey
monsters who used to live on the energy in your subconscious. All
this is rinsed downward in a golden ground above which you hover, and
dissolves.
It is very important at the end of such a visualization to dissolve
all visualized forms into light that melts with you, like water poured
into water, and rest in the open nature of mind until discursive
thoughts arise again. Otherwise, your visualizations tend to harden
over the years and appear to you and others like ghosts, letting
yourself fall into self-deception, like the Greek artist who fell in
love with a statue he had created.
You can expect some heavy reactions from this excercise, but there's
nothing in it which would contradict any spiritual teaching, not even
eckankar. So whatever comes up certainly cannot have been caused by
this excercise. It can be uncovered by it though.
It is the openness, love and compassion that flows from the form, not
the form that counts. Remember that Elvis fans saw Elvis during
Near-death-experiences.
Finally, those who'd like to be recommended a few books that I
consider an introduction to higher steps after eckankar, there are a
few suggestions in the file healthy1.txt, although at first sight, the
books seem to be more down-to-earth than what eckankar has you dream
of.
May this be of help.
P.S.: From an earlier posting on a.r.e.:
<.blockquote>
Let's suppose that everyone who's a
current member of ECKANKAR, leaves ECKANKAR, and the religion dries
up, until the only follower is Sri Harold Klemp, and he has to get
a "real job".
"Then what?"
[...]
What would you G, or you David be doing?
[...]
I can only tell you what I did, as I have left eckankar in 1993. If
one asked me what my advice for the Exists =:) on the group is, I
might answer the following:
Please take your time in evaluating what your time in eckankar as well
as your disillusionment concerning it has taught you. At the same
time, read a little bit about the universal side of spirituality in
all traditions of the world to get a better understanding of how to
seperate the truth in the eck teachings from the false. Recommended
literature is the teachings of Ramana Maharshi (easily read, yet, of
course, not an individual instruction for practice) as well as the
works by Ken Wilber (e.g. "The spectrum of consciousness") for people
with the desire to get an intellectually high quality integration of
eastern mystical and western psychological understanding.
Make sure not to condemn yourself later for having spent so much time
in eck (the greatest danger when looking at the facts), understand
that self-deception is part of the spiritual path, and will be until
you reach liberation. To understand this better, as well as our own
subtly materialistic motivation for engaging in spirituality, please
read "Cutting through Spiritual Materialism" by Chongyam Trungpa which
is a very hard but necessary pill to swallow slowly and thoroughly
(I'd like to take this opportunity again to stress that I don't
recommend nor not recommend the organization Trungpa left behind).
Please scrutinize your motivation for wanting to join another path too
quickly after leaving eck, you might repeat the same self-deception in
yellow. Watch promises of that path. A path promising too much reward
is generally kitsch.
You might find that you are not really ready for a spiritual path and
prefer going back to pursuing relative happiness, you may choose
psychotherapy, or your karmic connections will sooner or later show
you the way to a more genuine path of your own liking, slowly and
without again losing the universalist point of view. Finally, you
might do more than one of the things above. But please take your time.
-----
Here I recommend the reader to have a look at the article
"Prerequisites to Spiritual Practice" by Stephen Echard-Musgrave Roshi
which is an excellent introduction into healthy spirituality that you
can find in the files healthy1.txt and healthy2.txt
May all beings find true happiness
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