Relatvely speaking, this is likely true. But "very few" can certainly amount to hundreds if not thousands of premies by now... and spreading. I believe the news has saturated the inner circle, the higher ups and the major donor network. That's why they're doing everything they can to fabricate and stand behind all the lies.

As for your second point, you may have overlooked one of the most fundamental tenants of this cult. The "heavy devotion era," perhaps best summarized as Prem's ruthless fear mongering phase, rendered "experience" obsolete and irrelevant. There was absolutely nothing light, joyful and blissful, let alone peaceful, about it. After that, a premie's so called experience made no difference whatsoever. It was all about maintaining that connection and not allowing the thread to be broken no matter what.

Drugs, alcohol, broken families, divorces, dumped, broke, getting fired... so what! Prem said the only thing that mattered was being on the boat and trusting the captain. "Knowledge makes the ride smoother" and crap like that. But, as Prem's dark threat went, once that thread is broken, it cannot be reconnected. Again, experience is not the point in this god forsaken cult.

Even worse, if you corner a premie about their experience, they'll likely lie about it and puff it up into something it isn't for them. Practicing Knowledge is what they do. Period. Sunny day, rainy day, shitty day, doesn't matter. Just do it so the thread will never be broken because without Prem, there is nothing.

The experience is a feeling of being connected to Prem, the invisible friend who's always there, even in your darkest hour; a feeling of connection that comes from doing whatever he says. The defensiveness and all the other appalling behaviors stem from the fear of that connection being broken, the fear of not having Prem in one's life, regardless and in spite of day-to-day experience.

Redundant and ever so slightly exaggerated to make a point.