For what it is worth, I know all these people very well.

I would not characterise Bruce as a 'thug'. He and I were good friends. He was just like the rest of us, 'trying to make sense of having the Knowledge of God', as you put it.

We were all culpable of buying into the cult, and accepting all its tenets, lock stock and barrel.

With the greatest respect, Pat, were you not 'fanatically single minded, totally inflexible...' etc? Didn't you think anyone that was not committed 110% was a total loser? Wouldn't you have leapt at the chance of being close to Maharaji personally, and/or having a high-profile service, aka 'slave driver'. And if you were not a 'slave driver', didn't you want to be driven like a slave, surrendering your mind in true service, or at least buy into it? Slave drivers were only able to be slave drivers because of all the willing slaves around.

As I said below, I think the real dividing line is not so much which little piece of territory in cult-land we lived on back then; but rather now, with everything about Maharaji and the cult being easily and publically available, are we still in, or have we come to our senses and seen it for what it was and is?