Paul Twitchell
[2][3] Upon Twitchell's death in 1971, his second wife Gail told the medical examiner that Paul was born on October 22, 1922, the same date presented in their marriage certificate.
[5][4] In his biography In My Soul I am Free, authored by Brad Steiger, he claimed to have been born in a place called China Point, the location of which is not clear.
In 1950, he joined Swami Premananda Giri's Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism,[1] an offshoot of Paramahansa Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship.
[9] Twitchell was initiated into the Surat Shabd Yoga by Kirpal Singh, Master of the Sant Mat group named "Ruhani Satsang," in October 1955 in Washington, D.C.
[citation needed] Twitchell's first known connection with L. Ron Hubbard (also a US Naval Reserve Officer during WW2 and pulp fiction author) was around 1950 during the Dianetics period.
Twitchell later introduced her to the Ruhani Satsang teachings, and others, and Gail was also formally initiated by Singh in early December 1963 in San Francisco, during his second tour of the US.
[citation needed] In late 1964, they moved south to San Diego, where Twitchell gave his first lectures on Eckankar and what was then termed the "bilocation" technique, which he would later call "Soul Travel."
In spring 1965, he began a long-term series of regular lectures and workshops on Eckankar at the California Parapsychology Foundation in San Diego and also started selling monthly "Discourses" to interested students.
Critics state that at first Twitchell claimed his teachings were new but that he eventually referred to them as an ancient science that pre-dated all other major religious belief systems.
[11] Others say this interpretation is based on comments Twitchell made before he officially started Eckankar, when he was promoting what he called his "Cliff-Hanger" philosophy, which was an "outsider's" view on modern society.
[12] In his book Eckankar: The Key to Secret Worlds, Twitchell lays out wide-ranging examples of the teaching down through history, while also explaining his own personal experiences with his teacher, "ECK master Rebazar Tarzs."
Some believe Tarzs was a persona created by Twitchell to cover his previous associations with Kirpal Singh etc., or to provide the public with the image of a personally powerful and intellectual teacher.
"[16] In Paulji, A Memoir, Patti Simpson reveals how Twitchell put her in charge of a monthly communication to students called the Mystic World.
"[17] Twitchell told famed writer on the paranormal Brad Steiger that he expected The Tiger's Fang to be controversial, having announced that it "would shake the foundation of the teachings of orthodox religions, philosophies, and metaphysical concepts.
"[6] In a 2006 article published in the 5 volume Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America, David C. Lane, a professor of philosophy and sociology at Mt.
[19][20] Harold Klemp has responded to the plagiarism allegations by stating that Twitchell's role was that of "master compiler", saying "He gathered the golden teachings that were scattered around the world and made them readily available to us."
[27] Despite having formulated the Eckankar doctrine of named succession, he had not in fact designated anyone as his successor and his sudden death created difficulties for the movement's leadership group.
It fell upon his widow to make the final decision, and she selected a second initiate and her current boyfriend Darwin Gross[citation needed], who was himself succeeded later by Harold Klemp.
