" However, I am prepared to bow to the (possibly incorrect) judgements of the moderators because unlike the effects of the flood, none of this is life or death."

Paddy,-Baba's post aside- unfortunately for some premies,especially in the early days of renunciation, total surrender of mind and fear of displeasing the Lord of the Universe by doing it wrong , it was a matter of life or death.

The stories of the suicides and untimely, accidental deaths related to the Divine Light Mission and later versions of the same can be found in the archives of this forum.I was hanging around the Palace of Peace in South London and the factory in Camberwell  1973 / 74/ 75 ( possibly longer but I can't recall all the exact dates and I can't remember when it closed) and I can  remember the precarious state of mind of too many of the faithful.

I belonged to an Ashram for a short time ( I left because I thought I would go crazy if I stayed there).I visited many ashrams for satsang and knew many ashram premies, mostly young, trying to devote themselves ( sometimes through fear IMO). There were often dramas happening where young people were torn between a normal family life and life as a renunciate. These dilemmas coupled with the impossible task of realising Knowledge and the sense of failure that resulted not to mention the ghastly split of mind versus remembering "holy name"( meditation)  had a very bad effect on mental health I can assure you.

Sorry Paddy, but there really seems to be something you never seem to " get" ( understand). Do you deliberately pretend you don't understand these issues in order to provoke a response and make the forum more exciting??

I will post a link which may inform you further ( I'm sorry I haven't got time to research more than just giving a general link which I haven't read) :