I'm not going to give quotes here, but I am looking
to determine the original Copyright date for the book:
"ECKANKAR PRESENTS, LETTERS TO A CHELA".
The reason to forego quotes is that I don't know
whether this was an Initiates-Only book, discourse
series, or whatever.
The copy I'm familiar with mentions Paul Twitchell
on the cover and appears to suggest it was literally
authored by Paul Twitchell. This would be the 1980
Copyright version of that book.
In 1980, Drawin Gross was the spiritual leader
of Eckankar. And if you believe what is written in
the first letter on page 10, (IMO) it would appear
that Darwin Gross was the "Mahanta, the Living
Eck Master". (large and small caps illustrated
differently in actual quote).
Reading through that book I got the impression
that it was not entirely "written" by Paul Twitchell.
In other words, not entirely authored by him. Yet,
I have yet to locate an illustration in the book to
clarify that, in fact, this was not the actual case.
The original copyright, the first version of this
book, is what I'm curious about. Because if the
1980 version was authored by Paul Twitchell,
why does one of the letters suggest the name
of his successor as the present (1980) master?
Did Paul Twitchell (who died in 1971) write, or
author that? Reminds me a little of Moses and
the "idea" that he authored Deuteronomy.
It's creepy I have to admit, but for someone
who claimed to keep Paul Twitchell's works
in their original form, it sure looks (to me) like
Darwin Gross (or someone) took the liberty of
"re-writing" those letters.
This was Copyright 1980. A critical year in
the history of Eckankar, in my opinion. Does
anybody know if this was a discourse series,
for 2nd-Initiates and above only, or one of the
books available to the public? For research &
educational purposes I want to consider the
"history" behind this book.
Mostly, I'm trying to determine the number
of versions for this book. If 1980 was the first
one. Secondly, I'm trying to determine if the
leader of Eckankar can "re-write" the works
of the former leader, while at the same time
attributing author****p ("apparently") to him
(the former leader) only.
Etznab
|
