The point I believe LA EX was making is that it might all seem fairly innocuous and not costly, when in fact it is.  The belief system that isn't ever questioned is truly damaging to many people, if for no other reason that it creates this bizarre acceptance and inertia in peoples' lives.  Hence, they waste time and resources to the exclusion of lots of other things that actually have some value.  Plus, living in the myopic, mind-controlled world of a premie causes misery, it really does.  But the premie can't really firgure out where the misery is coming from because of the vicious circle of the belief system.

But you are probably right, that the longer someone has lived with the cult programming, the harder it might be to see past it.  Plus, the longer you are in the cult, the more confronting it is to question it because you have already invested so much.  It's a lot harder to admit following a charlatan for 30 years than it is for 5 or 10 years.

But I disagree that it always takes a lot to get people to leave.  I have talked to quite a number of recently-exited premies and it's surprising sometimes the little things that push them over the edge.  That's because all the contradictions, misery and injustices that premies see aren't simply discareded, they are just repressed someplace inside, and they come out once the damn breaks.   It's kind of like the "straw" that broke the camel's back scenario, I think.

That's why lots of people who leave the Maharaji cult go through all these strong emotions of elation, fear, anger, sometimes in big swings, because all this repressed stuff can finally get released, and it's pretty amazing.  That's also why they may need a lot of support from people who have gone through things similar and one of the reasons EPO is so important.