is eckankar a cult?

Question

I see lots of posters for a religious/spiritual group called Eckankar. Is this a cult?

Answer 1

Cult!

Answer 2

Eckankar, Path of the Light and Sound of God. Eckankar is a teaching founded by Paul Twitchell in 1965. It exists in most countries throughout the world, and is run largely on a volunteer basis through "ECK Centers". Eckankar's headquarters is in Chanhassen, MN (close to Minneapolis), and is home to (currently) the Temple of ECK, an outdoor Chapel, and an administrative building with paid staff. The teaching was first known as the "Ancient Science of Soul Travel" and is now called "The Religion of the Light and Sound of God".

The teaching emphasizes the value of personal spiritual and physical experiences as the most natural way back to God and does not advocate reliance on external authority, books or dogmatic beliefs. The term "Soul Travel" is copyrighted by Eckankar. It describes one of the basic tenets of the teaching; Soul (awareness or consciousness) can leave the body in full consciousness and travel in other worlds. The current spiritual leader of Eckankar (since October 1981) is Sri Harold Klemp. Eckankar offers membership and mail out discourses to interested parties, as well as support groups who meet to discuss the teaching at what is known as "Satsang". Membership is open to all, it is not a requirement to leave your current faith in order to join.

There are few personal requirements to be an ECKist, however certain spiritual practices are recommended for spiritual growth. Chief among these is daily practice of the Spiritual Exercises of ECK for 15-20 minutes a day. The most basic ECK Spiritual Exercise is singing the word HU (pronounced like the "hue".) There are no dietary requirements, sexual taboos, or enforced ascetic practices. The teaching puts forward no religious holidays, but acknowledges the ECK Spiritual New Year on October 22nd.

The teaching states that Eckists (students of Eckankar; also called chelas) must prove the veracity of the path for themselves. Eckists believe it is possible to achieve self-realization and God-realization in this lifetime. The emphasis has shifted in current times away from out of body experiences to experiencing God's Love in everyday matters. The final spiritual goal of all ECKists is to become conscious co-workers with God. This is the meaning of the term "Eckankar" ... ECK means ONE, ANKARA means Worker. Eckankar therefore means "Worker with the One" or in modern terms, a coworker with the Divine. Some suggest this word comes from the opening words of the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, which reads: ik-oNkaar. (Which means "One Universal") see Wikipedia Ek Onkar.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckankar