Yesterday marked a major change within the Eckankar organization by introducing the new Mahanta, Sri Doug Kunin. This means that the previous Mahanta of Eckankar, Harold Klemp, has just transferred control and direction of the group after 40+ years of leadership. As someone new to Eckankar, I wanted to know more about the process and did what anyone these days does, I googled. I came across a post by someone who mentioned the previous chain of leadership of Eckankar and in that analysis my ego-mind began to have doubts. There were references online to a previous Mahanta, that I didn’t know about (Darwin Gross). Gross came directly after Paul Twitchell and landed in some controversy. It seemed that there was an accusation of impropriety of funds and / or fraud, and he was removed over a variety of complaints to his character. I’m not interested in getting into those details, I just want to reference the point as a seed of doubts relating to the nature of choice of Mahanta.

Doubts

Prior to Eckankar I had a knowing that my Higher Self was the inner guide. It was giving me direction in life. But the experienced lacked connection. Without community and connection, maintaining a spiritual path is very challenging for me. It’s very easy to slip into the world of formation, into the world of gross emotions: anger, greed, worry, etc. It’s not just me. Since 2016, I have seen the pious and religious fall into a political camp that is the very antithesis of their Biblical teachings…. and at the same time, spiritual people slip into hate and anger and fear over the same political climate. I needed that daily reminder that the world is not my kingdom, it is (at most) a training ground. This is why I came to Eckankar. Unlike Rosicrucianism, Martinism, Scientology, Christianity, and a variety of other paths I walked in my lifetime, Eckankar felt real. Even if it’s “made up” it nails everything I discovered to be true in my own solitary search, from the idea of God as genderless (neither male nor female), the ideas of God’s presence being an Ocean of Love, the description of out of body experience (Soul Travel), the direct experience of finding an answer to a question through the Shariyat Ki Sugmad (not an ambiguous concept, but litteral direct responses), the concept of creation of the spiritual and physical worlds of existence, the nature of evil and why it exists, and so on. Everything I found in Eckankar ticked every checklist of direct experience I had prior.

In my private space, I asked these questions, then chanted HU and then received a response.

Why Darwin Gross?

It was the first time I had heard of another Mahanta. Everything I had read or heard up to this point in my work with Eckankar was that there were two Mahanta’s since the establishment of Eckankar in America. Discovering this third, made it feel like it was hidden. If the title is strictly a reference to an organizational leader, than sure, mistakes happen but if the role is spiritual in nature than it questions the spiritual process.

I’m not sure how Gross was picked after the passing of Paul Twitchell. Gross was the leader for 10 years, until he stepped down and Harold Klemp took his place in the 1980’s. Why did he step aside? Hard to say. The story is complex I’m sure, but the question remained if Gross was the wrong person to be spiritual leader, why was he picked in the first place?

White, male, American?

Since the establishment of Eckankar in the 1960’s, it has a leadership that resonates with white, male and American. Maybe it’s not a big deal, but I know a lot of people speculating on the next Mahanta had expected it to be someone from a different cultural reference. This got me thinking, what does God seek to promote its will? It could be a spiritual leader from France, Mexico, Canada, and so forth and reminded me of my thoughts on the Buddhist concept of Rinpoche’s who reincarnate but always seem to come from the same village or area.

Spiritual Practice: Clearing the ego, letting go and listening

After the questions were raised, I sat and chanted HU. I chanted for 20min or so.

When it was over, I sat in silence… BUT IT WASN’T SILENT. I heard it. This sound. A sound that is very hard to describe, but it was incredibly “loud.” It was similar to static, but more like the sound of a rushing force. It lasted about 3-5min. I sat pondering and felt that inner prompt from the INNER GUIDE (the Mahanta) to open to a specific page in the Shariyat.

I opened the Shariyat Ki Sugmad to page 6 and read:

Therefore, Soul must knkow that life and love are not in the voice of the Pinda consciousness. Nor are they in the voice of the Nuri, or Astral, existence; nor in the Karan, or Causal, world; nor in the Manas, or Mental, world. Unless one hears that which we know as the Bani or the Nada Bindu, the seed Sound from which all things grow, he has heard only the voices of these other worlds.

There is more to say regarding my questions, but I won’t relate it here as it is potentially volatile, but do read pages 6 and 7 for one’s own understanding.

Answer

Suffice to say, the answer was the experience itself. How can I doubt, when I felt the presence, heard the sound, read the words?