As I thought about Rawat's hypocrisy, it immediately occurred to me that his hypocrisy was the cruelty. The two are inseparable. He disparaged and forbid premies from engaging in and enjoying (some of) the very actions and lifestyle that he was engaging in and enjoying.

Mentally and emotionally coercing innocent, often less than mature people in their twenties to live under extremely austere and physically demanding rules, instilling fear of dire consequences if they left and requiring a lifetime vow to the Lord, etc., of poverty, chastity and obedience, i.e., no personal property, no money, no sex and no future goals or ambitions other than to unquestioningly serve and obey him, was cruel, if not sadistic. To all that add no intimate relationships, separation from family and friends, no ongoing education or careers, no recreation or excercise, no non-devotional music, and no books, radio, television, news or other media.

Up at 5:00 a.m., Arti, pranam, an hour of meditation, vegetarian breakfast, off to mostly menial and transient jobs that Rawat disparaged, home back to the ashram for vegetarian dinner, out again for nightly satsang, Arti and pranam, back to the ashram for another hour of meditation and hopefully enough sleep to start over at 5:00 a.m. No rest on weekends. For ten years. Hand your paycheck over to the treasurer who dutifully sent 15% to Divine Light Mission and typically an extra 5% directly to Rawat.

While all along:

Procurred women (reportedly), marriage, children, alcohol, cigarettes, meat, marijuana (reportedly), loud rock music, advanced flight training, multiple mansions, eighteen bay garage, world class watch collection and extravagant toys all the way up to a yacht, helicopter and a coveted Gulfstream G750... with a Boeing 707 somewhere in the middle.

And when he abruptly closed the ashrams without warning, not a nickle back to the the premies he impoverished and deprived and who made it all possible.

And the premie rationalizations for why all of that was okay take an even deeper dive. Proof, perhaps, of the cult induced mental short-circuiting and failure of fundamental values and basic sense of right and wrong.

To me, your question exposes more dishonesty than hypocrisy, so my short answer is that they're dishonest. My second short answer is that they don't. They were forbidden from talking about Knowledge to others a long time ago because Rawat deemed them incapable and too confusing (even though they practiced it for years). Instead, they say just enough to entice others to listen to Rawat sell himself as a simple man spreading Words of Peace. He says that. All they can do, it seems, is invent misleading titles such as "Motivational Speaker" and "Global Ambassador of Peace," arrange for him to receive honorary awards and put out self-serving positive press releases for premie-funded humanitarian causes hoping others will notice and listen to him or read one of his books or go through his Peace Education Program or whatever.

I hadn't heard about the distant Antipodes shenanigans, but my foot kissing past forced me into a stressful and unhealthy double life out of fear of a career altering stigma, a career that took many extra-hardworking years to establish in an effort to make up for lost time after the ashrams closed. I left the cult when, among other things, it became painfully clear that that level of concealment and "simple man spreading Words of Peace" dishonesty was anything but peace.

Add Rawat causing premies to be dishonest about the true nature of their involvement with him to the cruelty list.

Bob