I think maybe the one word answer is narcissism - the ultimate irony of being in a cult is that the cult leader, the one who is promising to bring you peace, is a narcissist and these are people who create anxiety in the rest of us.
The honchos, the wettest logs closest to the fire - really when you think about it they weren't the 'wettest logs' they were a mix of people just like the rest of us. But somehow we all bought the idea that they were to blame for all management issues, I guess because we all believed it couldn't be Rawat himself at fault.
At Amaroo I got the chance to observe Rawat from a distance, like a serf in the palace grounds.
I watched him interacting with a group of honchos and all I could think at the time was he reminds me of my father but with hindsight I can recognise I was looking at the way he was playing them and creating high anxiety. It's not nice!
so one way or another - either with the narcissistic honchos who are playing their own power games, or the ones who are caught in a state of extreme anxiety, the management is in a snarling freaked out mess.
The closest to the fire the worse it is tho. Rawat is not a responsible grown up person, not kind to anyone let alone an ambassador for peace, and yet he is in charge.