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Lorna Goldberg |Intergenerational Transmission of Cult Trauma
of the cult on herself, her marriage, and her children,
and to heal from the multiple harms done to her and
her family. Only in the past two years, she, now 61,
and David, 32, began to understand the impact the cult
has had on his life and their relationship.
At fifteen, Anika left home to live with the leader in
India and to join him on a world tour. This left her
vulnerable to the leader’s sexual abuse. Anika was a
teenager in India, with no previous sexual experience,
far from home and her family, when the leader raped
her.2
1
Trying to nullify and justify her distress over
the abuse created dissonance in Anika and increased
her dissociation. She could not flee or fight. She was
trapped in the cult without her family, and so she
froze.Anika had incorporated the cult message that
the cult leader was “perfect,” as all those around her
told her he was, and, therefore, his sexual abuse was
reframed positively. The cult leader was a sanyasi, a
sworn celibate monk. However, he allegedly raped or
sexually assaulted numerous young girls and women.
Cult members reinterpreted physical touch from the
leader as a blessing because it transmitted spiritual
energy. They believed that the leader could awaken
the kundalini in a disciple through his thought, gaze,
word, or touch. Disciples hungered for any attention
from the leader, believing this attention would further
their movement toward enlightenment, but the leader’s
touch held particular importance. Some of the victims
of the alleged sexual abuse reported that he told them
that they were receiving a “special touch” or a “special
initiation,” which was “top secret.” The leader was seen
as infallible, so although many girls, women, and other
cult members were reportedly aware of the abuse, they
excused it as a special tantric practice that benefited
the victim they did not perceive it as harmful. One of
the stories perpetrated in the cult to excuse the leader’s
rapes was that adolescent girls were needed to provide
him with energy after he suffered a heart attack. This
narrative asserted that the victims were doing him and
everyone else a service they were serving the greater
good, which was their privilege. However, each victim
was instructed to treat the information as confidential
and never disclose or discuss it.
Anika’s mother knew the girls were being abused.
She rationalized and found a way to justify the cult’s
2 It is typical in cult life that children are separated from parents
(Goldberg, 2003 Whitsett &Kent, 2003 Markowitz &Halperin, 1984).
hypocrisy: the leader could do no wrong.3
1
Anika never
told her mother that she was one of the victims. While
she was unaware of Anika’s abuse, her mother (and
others in the cult) knew that girls were being abused.
She rationalized it and found a way to justify the cult
hypocrisy. Her mother had accepted the notion that
anything the leader needed, wanted, or commanded
was to be given to him.
Anika secretly wondered why cult members accepted
that the leader defined sex as a distraction not to be
indulged in, yet indulged himself. This caused profound
confusion and cognitive dissonance. She displaced
these feelings onto others, a defense mechanism, by
becoming hypersensitive to anyone who said one thing
but did another. She also became deeply ambivalent
about her sexuality. Having been taught that sex was
negative, Anika struggled in her marriage with her
sexuality. She transmitted that ambivalence to her
children, who came to wonder what constituted a
healthy sexual relationship.
Enlightenment
The cult’s objective was to attain enlightenment or
self-realization. Enlightenment was defined as a state
in which the individual becomes one with God by
destroying the self-limiting ego, bad karma, and any
sense of separation from God. The cult taught that
enlightenment would be achieved by receiving spiritual
initiation from the leader and then following a rigorous
schedule of daily chanting, meditation, and selfless
service (unpaid work).
The leader was purported to be one with God. Cult
members were urged to surrender all aspects of
individuality to the leader. A central feature of cult life
was a mandatory chant, sung every day in the early
morning. This chant exhorted followers to
• think only of the leader and abandon any wish for
personal well-being or reputation.
• purify their mind by following the leader’s path
consider the leader to be father, mother, brother,
and God.
• dedicate to the leader their body, senses, spouse,
and all else.
3 In Terror, Love, and Brainwashing, Stein (2016) describes how the cult
leader undermines the possibility of a protective attachment bond between
parents and their children, leaving children in these groups vulnerable to
neglect and abuse.
Lorna Goldberg |Intergenerational Transmission of Cult Trauma
of the cult on herself, her marriage, and her children,
and to heal from the multiple harms done to her and
her family. Only in the past two years, she, now 61,
and David, 32, began to understand the impact the cult
has had on his life and their relationship.
At fifteen, Anika left home to live with the leader in
India and to join him on a world tour. This left her
vulnerable to the leader’s sexual abuse. Anika was a
teenager in India, with no previous sexual experience,
far from home and her family, when the leader raped
her.2
1
Trying to nullify and justify her distress over
the abuse created dissonance in Anika and increased
her dissociation. She could not flee or fight. She was
trapped in the cult without her family, and so she
froze.Anika had incorporated the cult message that
the cult leader was “perfect,” as all those around her
told her he was, and, therefore, his sexual abuse was
reframed positively. The cult leader was a sanyasi, a
sworn celibate monk. However, he allegedly raped or
sexually assaulted numerous young girls and women.
Cult members reinterpreted physical touch from the
leader as a blessing because it transmitted spiritual
energy. They believed that the leader could awaken
the kundalini in a disciple through his thought, gaze,
word, or touch. Disciples hungered for any attention
from the leader, believing this attention would further
their movement toward enlightenment, but the leader’s
touch held particular importance. Some of the victims
of the alleged sexual abuse reported that he told them
that they were receiving a “special touch” or a “special
initiation,” which was “top secret.” The leader was seen
as infallible, so although many girls, women, and other
cult members were reportedly aware of the abuse, they
excused it as a special tantric practice that benefited
the victim they did not perceive it as harmful. One of
the stories perpetrated in the cult to excuse the leader’s
rapes was that adolescent girls were needed to provide
him with energy after he suffered a heart attack. This
narrative asserted that the victims were doing him and
everyone else a service they were serving the greater
good, which was their privilege. However, each victim
was instructed to treat the information as confidential
and never disclose or discuss it.
Anika’s mother knew the girls were being abused.
She rationalized and found a way to justify the cult’s
2 It is typical in cult life that children are separated from parents
(Goldberg, 2003 Whitsett &Kent, 2003 Markowitz &Halperin, 1984).
hypocrisy: the leader could do no wrong.3
1
Anika never
told her mother that she was one of the victims. While
she was unaware of Anika’s abuse, her mother (and
others in the cult) knew that girls were being abused.
She rationalized it and found a way to justify the cult
hypocrisy. Her mother had accepted the notion that
anything the leader needed, wanted, or commanded
was to be given to him.
Anika secretly wondered why cult members accepted
that the leader defined sex as a distraction not to be
indulged in, yet indulged himself. This caused profound
confusion and cognitive dissonance. She displaced
these feelings onto others, a defense mechanism, by
becoming hypersensitive to anyone who said one thing
but did another. She also became deeply ambivalent
about her sexuality. Having been taught that sex was
negative, Anika struggled in her marriage with her
sexuality. She transmitted that ambivalence to her
children, who came to wonder what constituted a
healthy sexual relationship.
Enlightenment
The cult’s objective was to attain enlightenment or
self-realization. Enlightenment was defined as a state
in which the individual becomes one with God by
destroying the self-limiting ego, bad karma, and any
sense of separation from God. The cult taught that
enlightenment would be achieved by receiving spiritual
initiation from the leader and then following a rigorous
schedule of daily chanting, meditation, and selfless
service (unpaid work).
The leader was purported to be one with God. Cult
members were urged to surrender all aspects of
individuality to the leader. A central feature of cult life
was a mandatory chant, sung every day in the early
morning. This chant exhorted followers to
• think only of the leader and abandon any wish for
personal well-being or reputation.
• purify their mind by following the leader’s path
consider the leader to be father, mother, brother,
and God.
• dedicate to the leader their body, senses, spouse,
and all else.
3 In Terror, Love, and Brainwashing, Stein (2016) describes how the cult
leader undermines the possibility of a protective attachment bond between
parents and their children, leaving children in these groups vulnerable to
neglect and abuse.
