"But the thing is, "friendship" in the cult was always secondary, openly degraded and criticized by Rawat and so always less."

That's so true Joe but human beings will be -well- human beings and somehow friends always remained important to me.My premie friend who lives nearby was a friend before she became a premie so maybe thats why the friendship endures.

I am also grateful to the friends ( and family) who never became premies but long sufferingly remained my friends throughout my over 30 year affliction and remain friends to this day ( amused and no doubt relieved that I have at last left the cult). Strangely there is one never- a- premie friend who was worried when I told her I had given up on the Guru as she said she liked me the way I was and didn't want me to "change" and if it somehow "helped" me then I should keep on doing it! She went on to talk about the agonies she went through when I first disappeared into the world of Divine Light....and whether she was missing out on her chance to be saved by not doing it. ( she had a new born baby at the time and was otherwise occupied..thank god ! ).

Coincidently, quite a few premies have passed through her life over the years and she has been a non-judgemental friend to them all...but sensibly avoided being entrapped herself.She sometimes reads the forum so THANKS PENNY !