Ven. Vimala was raised as a fundamentalist Christian in Houston. She renounced organized religion at age 17. Instead, life became one experiment in truth after the next. After college, she moved to California, where she met her first husband and encountered Eckankar, a small religious movement founded in 1965 by author Paul Twitchell. Central to Eckankar's teaching is the belief that the soul can leave the body at will. That, she said, prepares her even more for full ordination. The 311 vows required for full ordination govern relating with and respecting others and their spiritual paths.