koeeadi: The beauty of this board is that many voices are heard. Our journeys through this experience are diverse and different. Some folks have embraced other meaningful spiritual pursuits. Some of us recoil in horror at the mention of such involvement. It's all part of sorting our lives out. 

It is great that you are not here to tear M down. There's no requirement that you, or anyone, do so. Here's a different perspective from someone who left decades ago and who has been the focus of unrelenting attack by EV and M -- I believe -- and zealot premies.  I was involved from 1972-1976, when I was 16-20 years old. The details are in my Journey. I lived in the ashram. I left it all behind in 1976. I was a peon premie. But when I began to post here, I became the target of an internet slander campaign that was designed to harm my reputation in the legal community.  Have you read about the CAC site, which reappears with regularity?  Followers of M, in Fakiranand fashion, have set out to harm me simply because I post here. There is something wrong with that. This kind of activity is the dark underside of the cult. I am not the only person who has been subjected to this attack. So with this information in hand, I hope you can understand why some of us are angry with M and those around him, and those who believe they are doing his bidding, by launching such attacks.

The cult does reach out and try to destroy people. That is a reality for me -- even though I left in 1976.

Marianne