Regarding Eckankar’s Background:
From J. Denosky, “PaulTwitchell Founder of Eckankar: The Ancient Science of Soul Travel,” OM-GURU Saints, Teachers, and Seekers in the Indian Tradition (copyright 1999-2009 J. Denosky. All Rights Reserved):
Paul Twitchell…was interested in Scientology, Yogananda’s Self Realization Fellowship, Theosophy, the New Thought movement, and the Radha Soamis (a group that most closely resembles the mainstream Sikh tradition of Northwestern India)…
Eckankar resembles most closely the Radha Soami tradition espoused by Kirpal Singh…This tradition is sometimes called “neo-Sikhism” because it rejects the declaration by Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh guru, who proclaimed that he was the last Sikh guru…The Radha Soamis, however, have rejected this approach and continue to have a lineage of living gurus…
Eckankar’s English names for the various planes of existence (Physical, Astral, Causal, etc.) borrow heavily from a similar cosmology described in the Theosophical tradition. However, the corresponding Sanskrit-Hindi names for these worlds are very close or identical to the names used in the Radha Soami writings…
Paul Twitchell’s Eckankar has changed in various ways since his death. For instance, recently it has taken on more of a Christian orientation…
Paul has been criticized for his plagiarism. He copied sections of text almost verbatim from such popular spiritual authors as Julian P. Johnson, H.P Blavatsky, Inayat Khan, Lama Govinda, Walter Russell, and Shiv Dayal Singh without citing them. This intellectual property problem may explain why some of Paul’s earlier books are no longer in print…
For a time, Paul was successful in hiding his connection to the Radha Soamis in order to dissociate himself from the authority structure of that tradition. However, historians of religion have made a strong case that Eckankar was in fact based on this preexisting Indian tradition, which was combined with a variety of adaptations that Paul thought suited Western religious seekers.
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