I find attempts by certain followers of Prem Rawat to discredit a victim and former followers who speak out about Prem and Marolyn Rawat's apparent childhood sexual abuse of their own children to be appalling examples of how far removed they've become from societal norms and morality.
What could be worse than calling one of the victims a liar without any justification whatsoever? Only what the wife of that victim has been subjected to.
The accusations made by followers of Prem Rawat against former followers who spoke out against Mahatma Jagdeo's sexual abuse of children and the cult's egregiously slow, ineffectual and obfuscating response to it include: demonizing Maharaji (Prem Rawat), fomenting hate, conspiracy, emotional manipulation, pushing emotional buttons, trying to exploit "pet victims," being desperate for attention, coming from "dangerous minds" and tabloid sensationalism. Those same types of responses are resurfacing in the face of these recent revelations.
Worse are the vulgar smears, rationalizations and excuses for these recent revelations that include: it was common in India, it was common in Prem's family, false memories, mental illness, use of recreational drugs, "even Jesus had a dark side" and others that I'm not in a position to mention.
At what point does truth and efforts to ascertain it become so threatening that it elicits such strong, hostile, defensive and preposterous reactions?
To be clear, everything I've written about these recent revelations is based entirely on the words of one of the victims, his wife and a recorded conversation among Rawat family members in which Prem, Premlata and Daya acknowledge the truth of the parental childhood sexual abuse described by one of the victims; a recorded conversation listened to and corroborated by many individuals.
I'm not seeing how any of those accusations, rationalizations and excuses apply.
