Please do your own research, especially regarding negative reviews. Recent national publicized events for this organization have suggested donations - AND include statements such as "These amounts are suggestions; you may give as you are able, within your means." As with any nonprofit, this organization relies on donations for support. They have allowed participation for free when needed or appropriate.
I have been a member of this organization for many years. Again, I highly recommend personal research. Some may misinterpret family preferences for organizational values.
The teachings of this organization are based on the Law of Love. Suggestions are given, but free-will and self-responsibility are the bottom line. Each of us determines our relationship with God, our spiritual path.
The teachings of this path have helped me garner a greater understanding of why life is the way it is. And, I am a better person for it. I would hope anyone interested in this organization would take the time to read some of the materials and determine for themselves if the tools this teaching offers will be helpful.
I have personally experienced this religion as a kid during my childhood and I can tell you that it literally backfired in so many ways I would not recommend it to no one.
1. People are thought that outsiders that are not in that religion are literally liars and they somehow hold the truth. This is totally ridiculous and this is also very dangerous that you have to believe anything said from above and I mean anything.
2. You are introduced to a new lifestyle, no money. Incredible how this happens everywhere else too so why not? Then they sell you some kind of religious ranking in their organization and make you feel special, funny how some people still fall for this.
3. This is the kind of religion that wants their followers to give away succession to it, meaning that they really are after your money from the start. Not only that, they will then proceed to change your diet to some very fat diet that WILL end up killing you! I am not joking, this is what I personally experienced in my life.
4. They end up selling you the dream of having a room to your name inside one of their temples, if you become top rank and made them thousands more recruits to suck dry.
Definitely a puzzle to solve in the beginning, but trust me all those things are in their speech hidden here and there. Be very careful and in my opinion, stay away!
Eckankar is a spiritual path for the individual. The one-star review gives incorrect information, as plenty of materials and programs are free. The website has a lot of information and there's a free online quarterly journal, there are free classes, they will send you free books and also many libraries have Eck books, and membership is by donation.
Eckankar offers exercises that teach us how to have our own spiritual experiences, and show you how to live a spiritual life every day, learning to have more love, compassion, gratitude, fulfillment, and clarity, and to give service to life.
ECKANKAR guides individuals along the path of love, kindness and service. ECK' s goal is to assist members to be co-workers with God. ECK' s dues are low, and can be waived by Sri. Harold Klemp, ECK' s spiritual leader, and best selling author.
Review from Guidestar
Eckankar helps people from all over the world. I think in over 120 countries and on every continent. I know for a fact it is a very charitable organization and I have first hand experience.
Eckankar doesn't do anything for free and if you were honest you would admit it. Your members pay through the nose for everything you do for eckankar. The org of eckankar rakes in the money but does any of it go to charity. Absolutely not.
www.eckankar.org - - Programs: Teaches individuals spiritual tools and exercises to enhance one's spiritual beliefs, through a series of discourses and Satsang (group coursework). The path is an "active" vs "passive" teaching. The path is about "personal" growth - not about how to "fix other people" nor "to help one interfere with someone else's karma." Members and attendees can attend classes, worship services, seminars, spiritual discussion classes, listen to tapes or watch DVDs and videos. Members train to have direct experiences in spiritual learning, in and "out of" body through "soul travel". ECKANKAR from my understanding, was founded by Paul Twitchell in 1965. He had researched a number of "secret" spiritual teachings from the Far East, and organized religious paths, at a very deep level, and brought their common ground together in one place, forming ECKANKAR. Paul was an amazing man who authored something like 35 books in a period of about six years! (in the days before computers - this was all by typewriter!) Most of the books are still in print today. The teachings include knowledge brought out by an unbroken line of spiritual teachers "Masters" dating back supposedly to the beginning of recorded history. Members "respect" whoever holds the title of Living ECK Master, but do not "worship the personality". There have been three modern day Masters, including Paul Twitchell, to date since 1965. Presently, today, ECKANKAR operates a Community HU Program, working with other spiritual paths and organized religions, and public locations such as long term care homes, hospitals, yoga or nutritional stores, etc. sharing the "HU" (pronounced "Hyuooo") - which is an ancient name for God and chanted. The word is found dating back centuries in many religious paths: Christianity as Hallelujah, Judism, and even in the word "human" (god-man). The HU is used for really anything you want to have help with -- from a spiritual exercise, to when you are feeling lonely, healing a broken heart, help with grieving, bringing peace, calmness, and an experience of Divine Love. The ECKANKAR website goes into a lot more depth as well as has an online bookstore. If you look on the website, there is a link to a page with a sample 5-minute MP3 of the HU chant. ECKANKAR today has members in almost every country in the world. While ECKANKAR holds publicly "open" meetings, the organization does NOT seek out new members. "Evangelism" is not part of its mandate. People who are Spiritual Seekers - perhaps having spiritual experiences they don't understand, or a feeling or longing that there 'has to be more to life than what they are being told', or maybe they are just curious, or maybe they have had a loved one pass over - and now they are getting "visited" ....all are some of the reasons people come check out ECKANKAR...it helps them to find answers and have more spiritual experiences to answer their questions. It has a large spiritual center located in Chanhassen, MN, in the US. If you did your search under ECKANKAR, you may have noticed it pulled up many Satsang Societies as well. In each state, there is a Satsang Society, which is a state registered nonprofit religious organization which oversees ECKANKAR programs within the state. [Contributed by a legal consultant on ecclesiastic law. I am also a 42 year member of ECKANKAR. For me, through doing the spiritual exercises I've learned through studying and following this path for so many years, I can't imagine living any other way. Experiences I have had: Warnings of pending danger by an Inner voice; seeing "golden hands on my steering wheel" - steering my car out of what likely would have been a fatal crash (car going over the edge of the road and down on to another freeway below); asking for and being shown something I could use to help me align my focus in my career in a more effective way - and this year I launch a seminar series based on what I was shown; have written music, poetry, shown how to do unique art projects; received Inner guidance on things to check on for legal cases I am working on; been awakened in the middle of the night to turn on a particular tv channel -- and it would turn out 'that channel' would have a speaker on talking specifically about something I needed in information for legal cases; being shown experiences before they unfolded so i would recognize these when they happened and be able to handle better; shown Akashic Records; been able to "see" and be shown character flaws and how to fix these. Many things are sped up -- I've seen a lot of things on the Inner that when I can "see" them in a detached way, I can just fix these and stop the outer world emotional pain for myself. The spiritual growth and path are constantly changing, growing, evolving. Every day holds something "new".]