The groundbreaking study of the new religion, Eckankar and its founder Paul Twitchell. Written forty years ago by a then a young college student, The Making of A Spiritual Movement showed for the first time how the founder of Eckankar had attempted to hide his past and create a new biography replete with mythic characters such as Sudar Singh and Rebazar Tarzs. Paul Twitchell was also a plagiarist of the first rank and copied verbatim whole pages from the work of Julian P. Johnson and others. Many Eckists who read this book in its earlier editions chose to leave the movement and became harsh critics of Eckankar's persistent cover-up of its founder and his questionable activities. The Making of a Spiritual Movement caused such a tremendous uproar within the membership of the group that Eckankar issued a "Special Notice to All Eck Chelas," dated December 27, 1979, attempting to squelch the persisting controversy surrounding Lane’s ﬁndings. The following excerpt reveals in a nutshell Eckankar’s ofﬁcial opinion of this book and its ﬁndings: “It does not tell the straight story. . . was not completely researched and is untrue. These people [David Lane, Mark Albrecht, et al.] are being used by the Kal [Negative] forces to dismantle Eckankar and are referred to by Sri Paul Twitchell in a private tape he made. . . shortly before he translated. Paul said: . . ‘[These] pagans and heathens are in a conspiracy to destroy Eckankar, not only in the physical but in the psychic worlds. . . those who are bracketed within the category of these people are actually against us. They have been-since the beginning of mankind or the formation of the lower worlds. All these people are under the Kal forces. . Sn' Darwin [Second Living Eck Master] asks that [Lane’s research as found in the 1979 SCP Joumal] be destroyed. . . .” Obviously, Eckankar does not agree with Lane’s ﬁndings. However, as Dr. J. Gordon Melton notes, "The evidence that David Lane uncovered of Twitchell’s creating a false history of his rise to leadership of Eckankar indicates extensive corruption. That the leadership has done nothing to correct Twitchell’s false claims, yea, have perpetuated them, indicates a significant problem at the heart of that organization." This particular edition is based primarily on the 1978, 1983, and 1993 versions and thus reflects what was then known about Eckankar and its history. Excerpt from the prefatory section, "A number of researchers have discovered that Paul Twitchell’s plagiarism was much more extensive and widespread than I even first imagined since it turns out that he had appropriated complete sentences and paragraphs from a variety of books outside of Radhasoami and Sant Mat circles. In light of the Internet and sophisticated scanning applications, it is now possible to track down most of Twitchell’s sources word by word. Twitchell wrote at a time when he most likely did suspect that his massive plagiarisms would be discovered, but today it is relatively easy to see where the founder of Eckankar got his inspirations and where he indulged in literary piracy. Moreover, Twitchell’s attempt to hide his past has come undone, with new documents and information showing that he never traveled to Europe or Paris at the times he claimed. Despite Twitchell’s duplicity there are many who feel that he was a “master compiler” and a spiritual “smash up” artist before his time. As for myself, I find Paul Twitchell to be one of the most interesting religious leaders to have emerged from the 1960s.

Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar

Religion & Spirituality

Lane, David Christopher

Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts

Delmar Pub

One of the first critical studies ever done on the hidden history of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar. It was first completed as a term paper when David Lane was only 20 years old as an undergraduate student at CSUN. Later it evolved into a very controversial book which caused a worldwide stir in the Eckankar organization. Contains extensive documentation on how Paul Twitchell created a fictional mythology about himself while denying his association with certain spiritual teachers. Also contains extensive correlations of Twitchell's extensive plagiarism. This E-book is a replica of the 1983 edition.

The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Del Mar Pr

The practice of listening to subtle, inner sounds during meditation to concentrate and elevate the mind has a long history in various religions around the world, including Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Today there are a number of new religious movements that have made listening to the inner sound current a cornerstone of their teachings. These groups include the Radhasoamis, the Divine Light Mission, Eckankar, the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA), MasterPath, the Sawan-Kirpal Mission, Quan Yin/Ching Hai, Manavta Mandir, ISHA, and a number of others. In this study we provide a historical and comprehensive overview of these movements and how they have incorporated listening to the inner sound as part of their spiritual discipline. We are particularly interested in the distinctive and nuanced ways that each group teaches how to listen to the inner sound current and how they interpret it in their own unique theologies.

The Sound Current Tradition (Elements in New Religious Movements)

History

World

Cambridge University Press

First person narrative describing the life and work of various Indian gurus and masters, including Ramana Maharshi, Sawan Singh, Paramhansa Yogananda, Sushil Kumar, Yogini Mataji, Partap Singh, and Charan Singh. Also includes a detailed account of how to meditate via surat shabd yoga and go within.

The enchanted land: A journey with the saints of India

MSCA Philosophy Group

It is not too often that a brilliant scientist is also a wonderfully gifted writer. Sir Arthur Eddington was both. Brought up as a Quaker (he was a pacifist during World War One), Eddington was by all accounts a brilliant mathematician and physicist, who eventually became a Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge University. Sir Arthur Eddington is perhaps most famous for partially confirming Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity back in 1919. Sir Arthur Eddington was also famous as a popularizer of science and for advocating a more mystical view of the universe, one which exceeded the grasp of materialistic science. In this regard he was something of a renegade and though his writings on the mathematics of relativity won universal praise, his more spiritually speculative philosophy was met with resistance in more staid scientific quarters. The following book includes selections from Eddington’s two most well known writings, The Nature of the Physical World and Space, Time, and Gravitation. The excerpts that we included are “On the Nature of Things” and “Reality.” Hopefully these small literary gems will serve as intellectual appetizers to readers not familiar with Sir Arthur Eddington and inspire one to look deeper into this fascinating man and his scientific philosophy on the universe at large and our precarious place within it. Also included is a brief biography which goes into some detail about his life and work.

Sir Arthur Eddington On the Nature of Things

Science & Math

History & Philosophy

Mount San Antonio College/Philosophy Group

Sach Khand: The Journal of Radhasoami Studies (Complete Set)

Other Eastern Religions & Sacred Texts

The true story of how famed K2 mountain climber Paul Petzoldt killed his friend and mentor, Dr. Julian P. Johnson at a spiritual ashram in India. Explores the controversy surrounding what happened on that fateful night on January 25, 1939, and the spiritual scandal that ensued in the Punjab. The tragedy haunted Paul Petzoldt for the rest of his life since there were dark rumors about him being a murderer and not being allowed back to India. However, this book unravels the mystery behind Dr. Johnson's death and corrects many misconceptions that have evolved over the years. It also touches upon how Paul Petzoldt using an ancient yogic technique had the most profound, mystical experience of his life--something he regarded as greater than any drug or mountain climbing experience. It is a complicated story with a Rashomon character, with each side seeing something different in what transpired. Includes original documents and photographs.

The Mystery of Dr. Johnson's Death: A Spiritual Scandal in the Punjab

There is no doubt in my mind that Faqir Chand is one of the most important shabd yoga masters in history and that his frank confessions of "unknowingness" are of vital importance for those interested in religion and spiritual masters. Faqir reveals what other gurus will not. Here in the MSAC Philosophy Group at Mt. San Antonio College it is our wish to republish almost all of Faqir Chand's books and pamphlets in English and give them a wider audience. This book, The Secret of Inner Visions, contains judicious selections from Faqir's small book, The Essence of Truth. Since the latter book contains more or less verbatim transcriptions from several of Faqir Chand's satsangs, readers should be aware of its more vernacular and informal tone. Nevertheless, a close reading of Faqir Chand's radical thinking will undoubtedly have a liberating impact on the reader since he doesn't mince words. One of the most refreshing aspects of Faqir's philosophy is that he readily admits that he doesn't ultimately know anything (similar to his Greek counterpart, Socrates, and the Chinese poet, Lao Tzu) and that he is most open to being wrong. In all my many travels to India and my interviews with scores of shabd yoga teachers, I have never met a more honest and forthcoming spiritual teacher than Faqir Chand. He is perhaps the most straightforward guru in history. In the early 1980s I coined the term the Chandian Effect which describes in a nutshell what Faqir realized about inner visions and other miraculous incidents. Whenever a person has a spiritual vision of a holy man or woman they invariably believe that such an apparition is real and manifests of its own accord. But according to Faqir Chand's realization, none of these visions are objectively real since they arise (even if unconsciously) from one's own mind and that the personage one beholds is ignorant about such a manifestation. In essence, the disciple is merely projecting what he or she desires but mistakenly attributes such mystical happenings as being apart from one's own self, "O, man your real helper is your own self and your own faith, but you are badly mistaken and believe that somebody from without comes to help you. No Hazrat Mohammad, No Lord Rama, Lord Krishna or any God or goddess or guru comes from without. This entire game is that of your impressions and suggestion which are in grained upon your mind, through your eyes and ears and of your faith and belief. This is the change that I am ordained to bring about."

The Inner Secret: Faqir Chand on Visions

Hinduism

Many critics consider Rain to be Maugham's finest short story and it has proven to be wildly successful for an essay that is less than 16,000 words, eventually earning him over a million dollars. What makes the story standout, besides its exotic setting in the south pacific, is the archetypal conflict between the pull of the flesh and the pull of the spirit. This is brought to dramatic effect by the juxtaposition of a Christian missionary's disdain for a prostitute who he attempts to convert but whom he ends up sleeping with, thus highlighting his own duplicity. The metaphor of the ceaseless rain, according to one critic, is that it represents an over-determined fate, where there is "simply no escape from what is pre-ordained and nature must take sit course." This book contains the original short story by Maugham as well as an introduction explaining why the story echoes Nietzsche's views on the upside down world of moral values.

Somerset Maugham's Rain: A Philosophical Journey

Literature & Fiction

Evolution and Natural Selection: August Weismann on Darwin and Lamarck

Weismann, August

Evolution

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