Ancient Teachings of the Masters

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Ancient Teachings of the Masters (also called ATOM) is the name Darwin Gross gave to his version of the teachings of Paul Twitchell after his separation from the Eckankar movement.

Gross became the new "Living Eck Master" on the death of Twitchell in 1971. In 1981, he nominated Harold Klemp to take that position, continuing to function as the president of the Eckankar Corporation himself. In 1983, his relationship with Eckankar was formally terminated by Klemp, who formally terminated all of his agreements with the corporation and his status as a Living Eck Master, amid a cloud of unproven charges of misappropriation of funds.

At that time, Gross began teaching independently, clearly stating that he was not creating a separate teaching, but that he was maintaining the original teachings of Twichell. He carefully avoided using trademarked terms like "Eck" and "Eckankar" in his new ministry.

Having retained copyright for all of his own books and music, Gross began publishing these works, and the works of his students, independently, under the SOS ("Sounds of Soul") Publishing label through 1989.

[edit] Religion

• Lewis, James R. The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998. ISBN 1-57392-222-6.