A Seeker Meets Paul Twitchell – Sri Harold Klemp

 

   In the introduction to the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, Book One, Paul Twitchell describes the make up of these sacred writings of ECK.

   “Usually,” he says, “ it is the Spiritual Travelers who make it their concern to study this golden book of wisdom and spread its light to those who will listen. “

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    Paul Twitchell was a spiritual traveler. Later he became the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master and served as the spiritual head of ECKANKAR  from 1965 – 1971, when he passed over to the inner planes.  However, he already know of his coming mission in the 1950s.

   The following story is about a young woman who met him then, but true to his prophecy, didn’t become a member of ECKANKAR until  many years later. We’ll call her May.

   May and her husband joined  Dianetics groups in the early 1950’s.  In prior years she’d developed  strong psychic abilities, among them was the gift of prophecy. Yet she was restless. In fact, they were the indirect cause of her downward spiral from a life of joy to one where all looked flat and shallow.

   May and her husband moved from Dallas to Phoenix. There, L. Ron Hubbard had started his fledgling Dianetics organization, which later became the Church of Scientology in 1954. She recalls that Hubbard and Paul Twitchell exchanged information about their spiritual research.

   In the midfifties she and her husband attended a packed Scientology convention. May was standing in the hotel lobby with a group, when, one by one, she noticed the group melting away. Even her husband deserted her, telling her to wait there. So she stood alone in the middle of the lobby.

   After what felt like ages, , he returned. He said someone wished to speak with her and pointed to a small unimposing man at the fringe of the crowd. He then went back to the wall. May, stubborn, refused to budge. Finally her husband returned and gave her a strong  push in the stranger’s direction. She was furious. Always of an independent and rebellious spirit, she finally relented, determined to get the encounter done with. Later she saw still pictures, and even a movie of him giving a lecture, and chastened herself for no seeing his spiritual beauty at the time.

   She dismissed her blindness to anger and spiritual immaturity. It was a way to live with herself. The first thing Paul said was, “ You are suffering .”

   Of course she was, but May didn’t want others to know it. His observation irked her. “ I like to suffer,” she snapped. “ You like to suffer? “

   “ Yes, how else am I going to learn?” In a superior tone, she explained about telling God a long time ago of her willingness to endure the worst of hell there was if, in the end, she found what she was searching for.

   “ Well you can stop suffering,” he said, “ you have found me.”  What arrogance! She thought. Despite her psychic powers she failed to recognize in him the presence of a Master and the future Mahanta. Nor did she realize that her suffering was indeed unnecessary. He could have helped resolve it. Much of the ensuing conversation was a haze. However, one part about smoking stood out.

   Paul told her to stop smoking in front of him. It was the only time he spoke in a stern tone, despite her rudeness. She learned, then and later, of his strong dislike for smoking. In India May knew it was a strong breach of etiquette to smoke in front of one’s Guru, father, or older brother.

   She refused to honor his request. Paul persisted yet he showed grace in spite of her  blatant disrespect. He predicted that she’d follow him when she was sixty, also that she’d speak of this meeting and write about him. His next words are etched on her memory:

   “ You will apologize to me but it will be too late.”

   Later, May realized that he’d have passed on, and true to Paul’s prediction she apologized many times since.

   Once more she did see him. It was at a friend’s house where Hubbard was also present. Again, May reacted to Paul with hostility, and he left her alone. Never again did she see him in the flesh. May often cries when she tells this story. She grieves over the poor treatment she dished out to the future Mahanta, and the loss of a golden opportunity to sit at the feet of the Master. But where’s the need for shame? There’s no need for self recrimination. The ECK Masters understand. They too once walked in everyman’s sandals, turning their backs on the Master doe to spiritual immaturity.

   The ECK Masters know and understand. They love the seeker in spite of himself. In fact they love him more than he loves his own defilements. The next step in spiritual unfoldment is accepting divine love, because it washes away all limitations like guilt and remorse. It must be done. When the individual’s consciousness  has  expanded after  enough day-to- day experience, then his Spiritual Eye opens. Pure love and forgiveness will flood his heart, but he must allow it. That’s the nature of free will.

   May’s life took many turns in the years following her meetings with Paul. One night, a few years later, a Blue Light came and took her out of the body. Only long after did she recognize the source. It was the Blue Light of the Mahanta. Paul was teaching her with the Light and Sound of God, for then followed times of hearing beautiful violin music in the background.

   May was a Scientologist through the 1970’s. In the 1980’s she ran across ads for ECKANKAR in Fate magazine. The HU song in them caught her attention. Then, she also found books on ECK in the library, donated by ECKISTS. A real blessing.

   That’s the circuitous route May took to the path of ECK. So long, long ago she’d met  Paul in the dawning of his mission. She’s come a long way since then. As the Shariyat promises, “[T]he Spiritual Travelers…spread its light to those who will listen.” She has.