Within two years Klemp fired Gross, accusing him of negativity, spiritual decay, and embezzlement. We actually challenge our inner experiences in the name of God, to make sure that theyre not phony, not of the negative world of Kal. Rather, hes tried to make the teachings more accessible to the average person whos interested in religion or spirituality but may not be familiar with a lot of the terms that weve used in the past., What alternative terms have been developed?, Instead of talking about contemplations or the nurat or the surat technique for the light and sound, we just say we do spiritual exercises. Off my granddaughter sprints down the driveway, giving herself a head start, the front gate our finish line. Totally aware, she says seriously. On Saturday, I lunch with Lane at a restaurant in Del Mar. The 69-year-old joined the broadcaster in 2008 after 22 years in football management. That i owed it to myself to know for sure that what i. I dont think so. Secondly, we dont have any kind of communal living. I had out-of-the-body experiences, I had contact with spirit, I saw the blue light, saw all the things they talk about in the books prior to coming to Eckankar. Gail, after Twitchells death, married his successor, Darwin Gross, in a. The term Eckankar is also a word used to refer to the name of God in Sikhism. Grosss fastidious avoidance of the copyrighted term Eckankar is noticeably awkward and circuitous. But the woman I remember was mousy, with a broad smile; no Bond girl was she. Theres lots of stuff I know about Eckankar, lots of stuff that is real juicy and real scandalous, but I wanted to limit my book to some major salient features about plagiarism and cover-up. The program Lane and I attend at the Best Western Hanalei is called The Universal Basics of Life Through Music. It costs $35 at the door. Walking Away: A Former 6th Initiate's Story May the Force be with you.). The courtship was over. I have been an official member of Eckankar for 10 years. Lane imagines himself driving, Let me see, I turned left here, now right, then I drove straight for a bit. Using this gyroscopic homing pigeon technique, he leads me straight to his little white Nissan. Im greeted by a tall, handsome black man with a mustache and short-cropped hair graying slightly at the temples. . Are your tax dollars being spent by this group? So they interviewed me, and I had this rainbow tie on, and Geraldo and I were going at each other. It's. Im just saying that if he had a personal problem with some Eckists, this is not an indictment against Eckankar, this is an indictment against the individuals hes had contact with. My research has helped because its made me more discriminating, more critical-minded. If you were going to visit a new city, wouldnt you want a guide, wouldnt you want to stay away from the places where the prostitutes are, from the dark streets and the hoodlums? I open the door to a boyish 38-year-old with a full head of healthy brown hair. Lane is convinced John-Roger was involved. "There are three areas that cause people to leave ECK: First is discouragement. Last year, former cult member Peter McWilliams published a scathing tell-all, Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You; Novembers Vanity Fair linked Arianna Huffingtons allegiance to MSIA to her husbands unsuccessful senate campaign; and the March issue of Playboy ran a detailed expose. He resigned in June 1993 following a direct threat to kill from another member, Ebenezer Egunjobi, and a series of violent and disorientating mind control attacks emanating from the leader, Harold Klemp. What it means is that I ultimately dont know. May 1, 2023 6:30 AM. One exclaims, Arent you afraid of those Eckankarists, arent you afraid what theyre going to do?, I take a guilty sip of my drink. But in buying a religion, youre supposed to wear these narrow blinders, so that if anybody disagrees you can block it out. Id really start believing Id had a spiritual experience, Id wake up feeling like, Wow! Eckankar works because it doesnt make you have experiences that are impossible to have., What about soul travel, visiting higher planes of existence? Lane swallows his pizza. Soul, being a spark of God, is on a journey to find its way home to God, or the Sugmad. I only accept that thing which I can verify or that thing which I consider to be somewhat genuine. Browsing in a bookstore one day, Lane stumbled upon one of John-Rogers books and noticed it was very similar to Eckankar. In the late 50s, Twitchell also became a staff member of L. Ron Hubbards Church of Scientology, another association that would later be denied. Operating, as I do now, in a professional arts world in which people want a rsum before deciding whether to talk to you, I miss the support of the Eckankar community. Grosss movements are frail and slow as he removes his dark-blue jacket to reveal a short-sleeved white shirt and tan pants held up with wide red suspenders. Houdini longed to communicate with her beyond the grave. In the Army he traveled to Thailand, where he met his wife. and is being financed by them to do his dirty research. Radhasoami is a yogic teaching that, according to Lane, is designed to enable the soul or consciousness to ascend beyond the physical body to higher spiritual regions by means of an internal sound or life current. Central to the teachings of Radhasoami, continues Lane, is the necessity of a living human master competent in initiating disciples into the practice and technique of listening to the inner sound, contemplating the inner light, and leaving the human body at will. The Indian guru Kirpal Singh figures prominently in Twitchells early writing.