A single crucial spiritual exercise of Eckankar is singing or even intonation HU [http://www.eckankar.com/hu.html]—pronounced "hue." Eckankar followers sing it alone or even within groups ([http://www.eckankar.com/Audio/hu.au hear an example]) for spiritual upliftment. An additional is teaching spiritual exercises to see Soul Travel to step back from either a overwhelming input of a physical senses & emotions & regain the Soul's spiritual viewpoint.

Eckankar offers many twelve books in the kind of spiritual topics. Membership around Eckankar is according to the recommended donation: members receive discourses it is invited to learn inside the company of more members in Eckankar Satsang classes. Eckankar doesn't attempt to convert souls to their religion. But, it wash advertise their presence & distribute literature to concerned souls.

The goal of Eckists is to act off karma and achieve Self-Realization in this or a next lifespan. "The aim and purpose of Eckankar has always been to take Soul by Its own path back to its divine source." –A Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, Book 2.

Teachings

Beliefs

Eckankar teaches that spiritual personal experience & spiritual liberation therein life come available to 100% by actively researching a spiritual worlds across Soul Travel [http://www.eckankar.org/soultravel.html], dreams [http://www.eckankar.org/dream.html], and more spiritual techniques. Eckankar's belief is that Soul is eternal and is the single's confessedly identity, non a person. Your family is Soul; you survive because God loves you. Your family is in the journeying of Self-Self-fulfillment & God-Realization. ECKists think that bountiful love & service to their personal & community is 1 way to increase their understanding of God’s love.

Typically known as a Holy Spirit, the Weak & Healthy [http://www.eckankar.org/light.html] come twin aspects of God. Known inside Eckankar when a ECK [http://www.eckankar.com/glossary.html#eck], it sustains completely life. Eckankar teaches training recognize a Weak & Healthy of God. It besides teaches elementary spiritual exercises to case a Weak & Healthy of God. Karma and reincarnation are primary beliefs in Eckankar. A ECK (Holy ghost) assists purify oneself of karma, making it possible to assume a fully love of God in that life, gaining wisdom, charity, & freedom.

Negro spiritual unfoldment may be accelerated across conscious email using a ECK, Divine Spirit. This email may be mass produced via a Spiritual Exercises of ECK [http://www.eckankar.org/spex.html]& a counsel of the Living ECK Master. a friend & answer, the Residing ECK Master's spiritual purpose is to hyperlink Soul to the Weak & Healthy of God; Eckankar universally has the dwelling spiritual master.

Dreams are regarded as an significant teaching convienence. Members come urged to keep the dream journal to facilitate survey. The human is capable of researching more planes of existence, through Dream or even Soul Travel.

Origins

Eckankar began as a formal religion circa 1965. Their headquarters, independent Temple [http://www.eckankar.org/Temple/] & spiritual campus come within Chanhassen, Minnesota.

A origin of Eckankar, based on data from its followers, is dateless.

Based on data from various life history, Eckankar founder Paul Twitchell studied many of the globe's religions, from either Surat Shabda Yoga under Kirpal Singh, to Scientology. Within Eckankar, he brought together [http://www.eckankar.org/Masters/Peddar/behindscenes.html] numerous teachings that he felt were first to the development of Soul. When Twitchell, Darwin Gross was temporarily leader until todays leader Harold Klemp began in 1981.

Current status

Eckankar has an active membership base [http://www.eckankar.org/ekcenters.html] within assibilate of these hundred countries throughout a world, including the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa [http://www.eckankarnigeria.org/addbk.htm].

Seminars come held worldwide throughout a season, sustaining attendance ranging as much as 10,000 participants. 36,694 U.S. Eckankar members were approximated for 2004 [http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html], with worldwide estimates varying from either 50,000 - 500,000 & higher [http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_264.html]. (Eckankar doesn't publish their have membership numbers.) When recently 2005, a big building under construction by Eckankar or even its affiliates (called Satsang Societies [http://www.eckankar.org/ekcenters.html]) is within Africa, and has the aforethought capacity of on top 9,000 humans.

ECK masters
ECKists think call for for by owning Divine Spirit, which it call a ECK [http://www.eckankar.org/glossary.html#eck], may be manufactured via a Spiritual Exercises of ECK & a counsel of the Living ECK Master. Eckists guess God's project is for even u.s. to serve a single an additional, & people virtually completely spiritually advanced, a ECK masters, come on text to serve all life regardless of religious belief or bodily form. All the same, ECK masters may non interfere in the sacred state of consciousness of a second existence while forgoing their permission [http://www.eckankar.org/Masters/whoaremasters.html].

Critics contend that by valuing directly portable spiritual personal experience across thought & analysis, Eckankar can be—in cult-like fashion—discouraging independant thought. Eckists imagine that by valuing experience number 1, one becomes supplementary self-self-directed. the total of victims allowing Eckankar or even with a perception that Eckankar has cult-like features is non known.

Splinter groups
A few Eckists use began their have groups fallowing believing it received inner counsel to vary Eckankar & searching for Eckankar did non agree. For instance, within an open letter, previous Eckist Ford Johnson confesses surprise that Eckankar did not agree by having his interpretation of an inner personal experience [http://www.confessionsofagodseeker.com/], then he created & okay, promotes his have [http://www.higherconsciousnesssociety.org/aboutHCS.asp] spiritual organization, & is critical of religions usually & Christianity and Eckankar specifically.

Johnson emphasizes his Higher Consciousness Society is not the religion however the "Non-profit spiritual educational society (based on) the principle that Soul is a reflection of, and possesses the attributes and characteristics of ALL THAT IS (GOD)" that exists to "help others (to) move beyond saviors ... messengers ... and all other 'helpers,'" & "to provide instruction, by teachers who are experienced in inner travel, to those seeking to personally explore the inner 'mansions' of GOD ..." [http://www.higherconsciousnesssociety.org/aboutHCS.asp#purpose]

Eckankar writings repeatedly & explictly state that members should sense loose to leave Eckankar unbound by any guilt or even fear. Critics contend that when Eckankar promotes itself as a path to ending karma and reincarnation, early Eckankar writings speak harshly of karma and reincarnation, causing occasionally to own pain releasing fears fallowing allowing Eckankar.

Teachings borrowed?
This nature & severity of criticism of religious authors dates back to a authors of the Christian Gospels, world health organization borrowed writings two from either either both more and from the Old Testament.

Accusations against religious movement founders come particularly most common [http://www.cesnur.org/testi/msia.htm]. A Mormon prophet Joseph Smith (1805-1844) was accused of having derived a Book of Mormon from various sources. Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), was accused of having plagiarized from either the manuscript allegedly authored by German philosopher Francis Lieber (1800-1872). Ellen G. White (1827-1915), at the origins of the Seventh-day Adventists, was accused of using several Christian sources. These are usually accepted among New Age spiritual adherents that spiritually evolved authors, perchance by sharing inner sources, clean for instance make similar writings.

Comments in Eckankar include: Eckankar occurs as mixture of ancient wisdom & recently nomenclature; Eckankar occurs as rehash of yoga & related elements, and then on. Eckankar considers Twitchell "a master compiler (who) gathered the golden teachings that were scattered around the world and made them readily available to us." [http://www.eckankar.org/Masters/Peddar/writings.html]

Nevertheless, fallowing Twitchell's dying inside 1971, David C. Lane, then a member of the Sant Mat derivative RadhaSoami Satsang Beas, charged that Eckankar was a derivitave of Sant Mat, but through plagiarization. Of the One c or even even thus groups in the Radhasoami tradition, Lane was critical of victims (outside his chosen class action) that he esteem irregular or wildcat American derivations [http://www.cesnur.org/testi/msia.htm]. Eckankar believes spiritual truth is non a possession of one individual or even class action.