Organization and Clergy

“Who Is the Mahanta?” A sign on Eckankar’s Meditation Trails

Eck Masters

Eckankar emphasizes individual spiritual growth, yet is a deeply hierarchical organization. The religion is headed by the Living ECK Master or the Mahanta, the spiritual leader of the religion. The Mahanata represents “the highest state of God consciousness on Earth.”¹ The ECK Master is revered and respected by ECKists, but is never to be worshipped. ECKist Kathleen explains Mahantaship:

"We believe that in every day and age that mankind has been on Earth, there’s always been a living Eck Master. And so there’s been over nine hundred of them…[There have been] previous Living ECK Masters from ancient China and Egypt and Tibet, but there’s a line, or a lineage of Eck Masters. And what that means is that an Eck Master is, we believe, the highest state of consciousness represented in a physical person on earth. And ECK means Holy Spirit, so they are one who has mastered the ways of the Holy Spirit."²

Although there are understood to have been over nine hundred ECK Masters, Eckankar formally focuses on ten Mahantas, which includes the current leader of Eckankar, Harold Klemp. The nine other Mahantas are as follows:

• Fubbi Quantz: “The guardian of the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad [the central text of Eckankar] at the Katsupari Monastery in northern Tibet”
• Gopal Das: “Teaches at the Temple of Golden Wisdom on the Astral Plane”
• Kata Daki: “Helps people get back on their feet during hardship”
• Lai Tsi: “The guardian of the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad on the Saguna Lok, the Etheric Plane”
• Rami Nuri: “Guardian of the holy book, the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, in the city of Retz, Venus”
• Rebazar Tarzs: “The torchbearer of Eckankar in the lower worlds”
• Towart Managi: “Was the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master in Abyssinia, an ancient kingdom in what is now Ethiopia”
• Yaubi Sacabi: “The Mahanta, the Living ECK Master among the Mycenaeans in ancient Greece”
• Paul Twitchell: “Modern-day founder of Eckankar”