After one of Prem Rawat's sons stated publicly on social media that his father sexually abused him as a child, I had a lingering suspicion that we still hadn't heard the worst of it. Apparently, my suspicions were justified.

If Prem Rawat said or implied that, he said something similar in Mexico City recently. Loosely paraphrased, he said something like a person feeling vengeful has the choice of focusing on the present instead. (When I looked for the video clip, it said "This content isn't available right now." )

In other words, if something bad happens to a person and they feel bad about it, that person is defective. They made a poor decision. Instead of choosing to be in the moment and making it all disappear, they allow themselves to be affected by it. It's their own fault if they feel bad about it.

If someone reports that they've been sexually abused in part because they feel bad about it, that person is defective. They made a poor decision. Instead of choosing to be in the moment and making it all disappear, they allow themselves to be affected by it. It's their own fault if they feel bad about it.

Prem Rawat might as well have said "I can't be held accountable for how what I did affected him because I've offered a solution. It's not my fault if he chooses not to apply it. It's his fault if he feels bad about it."

And many of his followers are so compromised by their devotion to him and their adherence to his so-called Self-Knowledge that they'll believe and support him instead of the victim. They can't afford to look up from their breath for even a moment because the truth might reappear. Many of them have gone so far as to pile on in their attempts to discredit the victim, going so far as to say vile things about him and his wife.

In addition to sexually abusing his own son, what may be Prem Rawat's attempts to gaslight or manipulate his followers reaction to the news (that he surely knows is spreading) amounts to an abuse of his followers, an abuse of his power over them and further abuse of the victim: abuse upon abuse upon abuse upon abuse. Outside the insular circle of that cult, the entire planet would rightly view his behavior as a deeply alarming level of sociopathic sickness.

As others have alluded to, beyond the limited practical benefits, focusing on the present, on one's breath, especially in the context of some ultimate form of inner peace or "Self-Knowledge," is often an extreme and unhealthy form of self-denial, suppression and avoidance.

The evidence is painfully obvious.