E-mail David Christopher Lane
directly at dlane@weber.ucsd.edu
Author: David Christopher Lane Publisher: Alt.religion.eckankar Publication date: 1996
E-mail David Christopher Lane
directly at dlane@weber.ucsd.edu
I
want to go back to the home base now.
Kung Fu Fighting in Trikuti: Moral Rights and Eckankar's Existence It was nice to read Bruce's recent rejoinder. Below is my numbered response: 1. When I stated that Harold Klemp should dismantle Eckankar quickly but gracefully, Bruce was upset that I had the audacity to question Eckankar's moral right to exist.... Well, I actually think Klemp and thousands of people would be better served if Eckankar was dismantled. Why? Because as many on this group have shown time and time again there is a lot of deceit built-in to the very fabric of Eckankar's history, theology, and spiritual lineage. We have already addressed ad nauseum Twitchell's cover-up, plagiarism, and biographical fictions. Couple that with the invention of a new religion and you run the risk of not being able to tell truth from fiction (1812, 1908, 1922? Which birtdate is it for Twitch?), real names from phony ones (Kirpal Singh versus Sudar Singh?), good spiritual masters (Harold Klemp?) from bad spiritual masters (Darwin Gross?), historical lineages (Nanak and his successors) from invented traditions (970+ Vairagi masters, and the two right before Twitchell just happen not have an address... P.O. Box?), incorrect prophecies (moon virus? Johnson for President?) from practical, time-honed predictions (there will be a high tide of 5.1 at 10:12 this morning), lame explanations for cribbing (yea, well, i know my writings look real similar to Johnson and Hubbard, but what the heck we all studied together at the Golden Temple Branch library near Yaubl Sacabi's bachelor pad) from honest referencing (I got this great quote from Swami Vivekananda from page 12 of his text, Raja Yoga)........ The point? Dismantling Eckankar saves lots of time, lots of lies, lots of expense. If a Ford Pinto bursts on impact, you want to redesign the car. If a fundamentalist Christian says all of Christianity rests on the body resurrection of Jesus Christ and you find out later he didn't then you should chuck the religion (even fundamentalists agree on this point). If Eckankar claims to be started by Gakko from Venus some six million years ago and you have evidence which suggests that it is more or less the creation of one fairly broke writer with a young wife he lied to, then maybe the religion should be forgotten. Now, I am fully aware that nobody in Eckankar is going to listen to my opinion. But I would suspect that any religion in which its original founder has systematically lied to his following should not be supported either by your donations or your charitable contributions... regardless if it is Eckankar, Christianity, or Shabd Yoga. Naturally, people can believe what they wish, and on that score I think Bruce and others can rightly tell me to take a hike. We are going to believe what we want. On that issue, there can be no debate. But if Eckankar was running a medical facility, or a car plant, or a government, and we found out as much as we know now about Twitchell and Gross and Klemp, I can almost guarantee you that the regime, the management, the people in charge would be out of work.... Indeed, we would call for the plant to close, for the government to change..... I think, quite frankly, we are too nice to our chosen religions, We lack the guts and perhaps the integrity to call the very foundation into serious doubt.... Such doubt is the clarion call of the "Cliff Hanger." Oops, didn't Twitchell say all this before in The Spiritual Notebook about the offshoots of Eckankar? Oh well, if it is good enough for Twitchell to call for the tranformation of religions which are not his own, then i think it is okay to call Twitchell into question for his dubious claims at authenticity. Do I think Klemp will really dismantle Eckankar? No. Do I think he should? Yes. Just imagine the possibilities.... He would be doing a "Krishnamurti" ..... who resigned from Theosophy at the peak of his glory. He would be doing a "Chandian" counter move, when the late Faqir Chand stopped initiation. He would be doing a remarkably honest thing. Oh well, it won't happen.... Honesty is just not Eckankar's strong suit. Sidebar: By the way, I happen to like doing research on Eckankar so I am really arguing against my own self-interest. If I were to be totally selfish, I would never want Eckankar to disappear. It is just way too much fun to research.... And where else would I get my phone names? "Hi Gakko, This is Fubbi" I should also add that I would imagine that if Jesus came back today, he would argue for the dismantling of the Catholic Church, the same would go, I would imagine, for Nanak and Sikhism, Kabir and the organized shabd yoga groups, and Darwin Gross for Eckankar (but, wait, he's still living)......... 2. I got nothing against Kung Fu fighting or karate or any of the martial arts, but do I really think that black magicians are coming to Eckists in their dreams? No. Do I think such advice is sophomoric? Yes. I will give you one example (I could easily cite ten separate ones). I knew this Eckist for years who truly believed that the Eck Masters appeared to him in his dreams. He was so worked up by this concept that he geniunely felt that "black magicians" were trying to steal his "mana"--his "soul." He tried really hard to karate chop them when they appeared, but they just got stronger..... He then began to believe that Darwin Gross, who was master non-grata at the time, was trying to literally eat away his brain..... Darwin had become a "Soul-Eater"--not to be confused with that other nefarious species, the "God-Eaters".... Now I am merely conjecturing here, but this could explain why Darwin put on so much weight..... You know, one soul does not have many pounds, but after a while it adds up and, wham! there you are really fat and out of breath..... But seriously, this Eckist was deeply troubled. It got so bad that he even came to me for advice... My answer? Hey, Darwin is not trying to eat your brain late at night in the dream world. He has his own problems.... trying to auction his musical instruments, working night shifts at a t.v. store, drug running down to South America (oops, slipped out another rumor), hitting on the wives of new initiates (confirmed), and basically trying to avoid legal suits from his former employer, the Vairagi Trademark Group. So I said to this nice fellow, it is all projections of your own mind. Nobody is doing anything to you, per se; you are doing it to yourself.... Realize that and the Vampire Darwins will disappear.... I didn't tell him to give Darwin an upper cut to the stomach (a very vulnerable spot for Dap Ren), but I did say if you are going to do karate go right after the "rod of power"---that will stop him..... No, I didn't indulge in Klemp's nightmare inducing advice. I simply told him that Gross and Klemp and Twitch don't have any power whatsoever. They are human.... merely human. Guess what? The visions stopped. No more headaches, no more late night judo lessons, no more mana sucking.... And all it took was this: "Doubt your visions--they are manifestations of your own brain." I did get a chance to ask this gentleman why he began dreaming so badly of the Eck masters.... He told me he read it in the Eck literature, the very article wherein Klemp gives psychic battle preparations.... The following is a direct quote: "A black magician has a degree of knowledge as to how invisible energies split from the Audible Life Current, but he bends them toward darkness and destruction. With power to invade dreams, he can bring terror through nightmares. The dreamer quakes, wondering what has suddenly unbalanced the delicate scale in his affairs. Monsters appear, forces, tear at the Astral body and strange, awful phenomena confront him. Fear grows and, with it, the disarming influence of the magician steals over the victim. In the initial phase he scatters the initiate's serenity so as to control the mind. Craving raw power, the magician cares not a wit for Soul's freedom. . . To survive a psychic attack takes several approaches: 1) A conscious closing of the emotional door against the intruder. Any photos, as well memorabilia, of a disruptive personality must be put out of the house. 2) A constant chanting of HU or the initiate's personal word. 3) An actual fight on the inner planes whereby the trespasser is driven off by marital arts or some weapon at hand. 4) Getting plenty of rest each night. . . People under psychic attack must make a decision whether to follow the Lord of Light and sound, or the lord of darkness. Hesitation creates a split current of energy within one. I've had reports of people who suffered heart attacks because they let their emotions pull in two different directions at the same time. Forego the Worship of Moloch. The price is too dear. I can help you combat the dark force by use of the might Sword of the SUGMAD--but only if you listen." [The Mystic World (Winter 1983), pages 1-2.]
