Neville,

I called the editor of the NRM scholarly journal where Geaves published his last article on Rawat and asked her if she was aware that Geaves was a follower.  She said no and was, in fact, surprised and rather taken aback at first.  Moreover, I said, his convoluted and questionable hypothesis about the cult's .. oh sorry, did I say that? ... the group's genesis and relativistic sense of truth, i.e. that only current members are able to understand its assumptions and philosophy, just so happens to be a carbon copy of what the cult ... oops, did it again! ... the group asserts which isn't surprising, really, when one considers that Geaves is on record as taking an active role in the group's PR campaign.  In other words, not only is his general undisclosed conflict of interest disturbing in its own right, there's a very good chance that Geaves has simply lifted the cult's own current spin wholesale or, just as bad, has fed them his version.  In either case, the result is a complete exoneration of Rawat for anything and everything and a curious scapegoating of anyone else who ever set foot in the picture.

However, once the esteemed editor found her breath again, she grew rather defensive and told me that, while it would have been preferred for Geaves to disclose his relationship with the subject matter, it wasn't compulsory and she had no interest in taking the matter up with him, let alone publicizing that relationship.  There is no letters section in these journals, at least no access point for a mere layperson like myself so essentially she was saying it's best to leave Geave's colleagues in the dark on this one. 

As you might imagine, I tried to engage her in a discussion about general academic ethics as stated here or there.  They all invariably insist on disclosure in cases even remotely close to this.  The esteemed editor didn't want to talk about it.  Well, in fact she did.  She told me that scholarship in New Religious Movements was unique somehow.  When I pressed her for an explanation, she got testy and concluded the call.

I take this as a sign that there's something very weak and unhealthy in the NRM scholarship realm.  Don't you?