One was always supposed to pray to Guru Maharaj Ji, also, and if you didn't, the consequences could be severe. The consequences were never forgotten, because the Goomer wouldn't let us. The mind... ahhh, it would eat you alive. Being in your mind after having experienced the Grace of BM was like 'dropping a crystal glass and having it shatter into so many pieces you couldn't put it back together'.

After Guru Maharaj Ji said 'Not a leaf on a tree shakes without Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace', I saw everything as though it was in his control. It was an intense paranoid delusion and I suffered alot from it.

Maharaji taught that if you made the right, sincere and intense effort then everything would fall in place for you, and if you weren't experiencing bliss then it was your own mind. No matter what happened He was perfect.

And naturally, things in the world go wrong... things break down or don't succeed, accidents happen, etc. All the while, incredible worry is heaped on that you aren't doing something right... you aren't making enough effort because Guru's Grace doesn't seem to be kicking in.

Then as the cult develops and everyone figures out that we're not going to hit all green lights while we're driving, the Guru's assitants introduce the idea that EVERYTHING is Guru's grace. It's his Lila (or divine dance) and no matter what happens it's Guru's Grace working to bring us all to perfection.

But I was still troubled after years of practising knowledge intensely. I gave it everything I had, but the more I put my 'problems in my back pocket' (as Guru Maharaj Ji insisted), the more they festered. Until, after years of choked emotion, and issues that were left unattended, I just couldn't take it anymore. I just had to get that big Cookie off my mental hard drive.

And what a relief it was.

The cult is different now, but as Nigel points out, the magical thinking is still there. The rewards are only vaguely described... 'wonderful', 'beautiful', 'natural'... all words that can mean almost anything. But the Guru still claims you can't get this anywhere else, and that's it's the best thing there is, period. And the delusional thinking is still there, that somehow the Guru is magically delivering a terrific experience, that you were convinced you were starving and thirsting for, before it would be 'given' to you.

Yes, it's still a classic cult with classic brainwashing techniques. Ordinary people wanting extraordinary things. Who doesn't. Then the Guru comes along and says he has what you've been looking for. All you have to do is listen. People give testimonials filled with conviction that this experience that the Guru gives is what they've been looking for their whole lives.

But... but, you have to remove your doubts before the Guru will give you the experience. Yes, folks, this is still a cult and the Guru still programs your mind. He's refined his techniques, like any good grifter, and in the end, when you lift your head up, you have nothing, and your wallet (or your life) is empty.