After stints in Scientology, the Self-Revelation Church of Absolute Monism, and several other groups, Paul Twitchell founded Eckankar in 1965. He claimed to be the 971st in the line of ECK Masters, the spiritual leader of Eckankar. Twitchell adapted many Sanskrit words into English in his teachings, and it is believed that “Eckankar” is a variation on “Ik Onkar,” a sacred Sikh phrase.
Twitchell, who took the spiritual name Peddar Zaskq, led Eckankar until his death in September 1971. He had not named a successor, but his widow Gail Atkinson declared that Twitchell had appeared to her in a dream and told her that Darwin Gross was to lead the group. Atkinson and Gross had been having an affair, but Gross had been a member of Eckankar for less than two years and had only reached the second of Eckankar’s 14 degrees of initiation. His accession led some Eckists to leave the organization.
In a Las Vegas ceremony, Gail Atkinson handed Gross a blue carnation and announced that he now held Eckankar’s “Rod of Power.” Under the spiritual name Dap Ren, Gross was recognized as the 972nd Living ECK Master and was rapidly advanced to Eckankar’s 14th degree of initiation. Atkinson and Gross got married several months later, in early 1972.
During the early 1970s, Gross and Atkinson would preside together over Eckankar events. Gross was an aspiring jazz musician who played the vibraphone, and Eckankar conferences began to include performances by the Living ECK Master. Gross and Atkinson lived comfortably off the proceeds of the religion, but Gross’s position became less stable after they divorced in 1978.
In 1981, the Eckankar Board of Directors removed Gross from his leadership role and gave him the ceremonial title of “president of Eckankar,” with a salary of $65,000 per year. Harold Klemp, a board member who was acceptable to his peers but who had made little impression on Eckankar as a whole, was declared the Living ECK Master — also the 972nd, with Gross’s holy position invalidated. After Klemp had consolidated his position, he fired Gross entirely, accusing him of spiritual deficiency and embezzlement. Gross’s name has been stripped from official histories of Eckankar.
Following his banishment by Klemp, Gross would continue to claim to be the Living ECK Master and founded Ancient Teaching of the Masters, or ATOM. Gross claimed that ATOM was continuing the original teachings of Twitchell and that Klemp and the Eckankar Board had usurped his rightful role. The two organizations would do battle in several lawsuits over Gross’s asserted right to advance Twitchell’s teachings through ATOM.
While he referred to himself as “Sri Darwin Gross” for the rest of his life, Gross devoted most of his time to music, his true passion. He had released an album called “It Just Is!” during his first year as Living ECK Master, and would release three more during the first five years of ATOM’s existence. He continued to perform to small crowds into the early 21st century, and died in 2008 at age 80. Two of his closest students, Addy and Paul Marché, continue his teachings as leaders of a small group called Dhunami.
Key Sources:
Gross, D. (1987). The ancient teachings of the masters.
Gross, D. (1998). The ATOM way of life.
Lane, D. C. (1994). The making of a spiritual movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar: the Unauthorized Critique. del Mar Press.
Lane, D. C. (2023). Gakko came from Venus: Exploring the Lost History of Eckankar.
Maplethorpe, D. (2024, January 20). Darwin Gross: the spiritual Eck Master who didn’t understand music. Far Out Magazine.
Marché, P., & Marché, A. (2009). Dhunami dialogues: In Their Own Words! Paulji Takes Dictation and Questions the Dhunami Masters.
Marman, D. (2007). The whole truth: The Spiritual Legacy of Paul Twitchell.
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