Andries,

Do you know what it means to "minimize" something?  I often wonder if you are familiar with that concept, because you do that a lot when talking about the SSB cult and especially about the Rawat cult.  It's a way of rationalizing away an important and sometimes negative impact that something has had upon someone else.  But, it doesn't always have to be about something negative, it can be about something good or positive, too.   I'll give you an example:

"Slavery in America was only very bad for the slaves who worked in the cotton fields, but not for those who worked in the "big houses," because the slaves who worked in the masters' houses weren't beaten as much as the field-workers, plus generally, they had more food."

I agree with Paddy and disagree with Jim that Rawat is not very harmful unless you get deeply sucked in. Same for SSB and many other cults: there are thousands of false belief systems.

The issue with Paddy is that he has people in his life that are quite close to him who are lifelong members.  Paddy minimizes the effects of the cult all of the time on this forum, and it's clear from reading his posts that he rationalizes away the effects cult involvement has had on the premies he knows, as well as on his own life.  When both of you do all of this minimizing, it diminishes the huge negative impact that Rawat and the cult has had on a majority of the posters on this forum, myself included.  In other words, you're kind of saying "It wasn't all that bad for you, because it was okay for others."  That's minimizing an issue.