I have often wondered what was different about me that I fell for the whole thing while most people, even 13 year old girls, found it creepy and saw it for a cult right away. I don't know if seeing I had a vulnerablity to a con man makes me responsible for falling for the con. He was the con man.

I do however think acknowledging that I fell for it and looking at what I may have found appealing has been important. Not in a "I must take responsibilty" especially if that implies blame. But more in how any person can learn to make themselves less vulnerable to a criminal.

In terms of the Ashrams I do disagree there. There was a huge push and it came from the top to join them. I do believe I knew premies who "dabbled" in the cult, did not fall for it totally, and they did keep their lives intact. I do think the best and the brightest of the cult tended to eventually join the ashram. M said a LOT of contradictory things. But the message was there that devoting yourself 100% was the ultimate and that non ashramers were somehow second class. I thought it was amazing how some rich premies realized if they did JOIN the ashram, and give over everything, they would have nothing left of value to M and lose their special status as donors to be courted. 

There really were different "kinds" of premies, and a few were pretty self serving in their devotion I agree. But my perception of the Ashram premies is that they were usually pretty darn sincere. Some seemed to join the ashram to get a leg up in the cult heirarchy, but most joined because they really believed in M.