International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 9 2026 122
• honor the leader, who would protect them from the
troubles of the world, end all hardships, save them
from misfortune, and grant them the highest truth.
• know that chanting this hymn would make their
good dreams come true and end their bad dreams.
It would remove all difficulties and fulfill every
desire, including success, wealth, pleasure, and
true freedom. It would wash away sins and worldly
cares, cure major illnesses, and take away their fear
of death. It would also grant superhuman powers
and the ability to control other people. It would
allow an infertile woman to bear a child.
Any emotion deemed to be negative was frowned
upon, its existence condemned. The members were
viewed as the source of any problem. A critical thought
or emotion indicated that the member was failing on
their path to enlightenment.4
1
Enlightenment was used as a mechanism to control
Anika and her parents, who dedicated their lives to
attaining enlightenment through ongoing practices.
They followed all the prescribed actions. Anika’s father
once told her half-sister (not a cult member), when she
recommended a fiction book to him, “Oh, well, now I
only read books written by enlightened beings. I am
not going to read that book.”
Dissociation Resulting from the Drive to Attain
Enlightenment
Anika and David describe the cult as being structured
around a mandated, unchanging, seven-day-a-week
daily schedule that was prescribed for all resident cult
members. Chanting in Sanskrit for up to seven hours
a day dissociated members from thoughts and feelings.
Followers were encouraged to “lose themselves in the
chant.” Sitting on the floor for prolonged chanting
and meditation, forcing a dissociation from physical
discomfort. Conducting chants and worship ceremonies
to various Hindu gods and goddesses enhanced
dissociation. These practices encouraged people to
focus on the divine, not themselves. Meditating to rise
above individual consciousness and attain complete
absorption in God, whereby the sense of individuality
dissolves, reinforced dissociative states.
4 Cults can undermine and control members’ emotional lives by
labeling negative emotions as “bad” and, thus, deterring them from moving
towards a state of equanimity (Whitsett, 2014).
Performing many hours each day of seva, or selfless
service (i.e., working without pay) and complying with
instructions on what to do and how to do it caused
dissociation from personal interests and preferences.
If anyone in this group was not productive, they were
castigated. They had little free time to play, explore,
contemplate, or recoup. Anika and the other core
members were often in a state of physical and emotional
exhaustion or sleep deprivation.
Pujas were installed throughout the cult’s facilities: in
every office, in every meeting room, in the dining areas,
in every public area, in each follower’s room, and even
on their car dashboards. A bookstore in each facility
sold the latest photos of the leader, books by the leader,
and assorted paraphernalia. The pervasive images of
the leader and the inculcated sense of worship further
subjugated the individual and induced dissociation
in community members. Additionally, the leader
monitored followers through closed-circuit cameras
mounted throughout the facility.
Members attended regular, long lectures, which the
leader gave from his throne on a dais. Followers sat
cross-legged quietly on the floor and listened closely,
often taking notes. The teachings were reinforced
through courses, retreats, study groups, and costly
weekend programs. The leader and senior cult
teachers shared stories from other spiritual traditions
about surrendering to a master with total devotion or
performing countless years of selfless service without
question. These stories presented total surrender as an
elevated goal for one’s life. The ideal was to become an
“empty vessel,” a “pure container,” and have a stilled
mind, further emphasizing the goal of a dissociative
state.
Members were coached and praised for sharing in
public programs an account of having a profound
meditation experience, surrendering to the cult leader,
experiencing the leader’s omnipotence or perfection, or
achieving a thoughtless state. Examples of meditation
experiences included having visions, seeing lights,
experiencing involuntary physical movements, or
experiencing a sense of oneness with the divine. This
reinforced the goal of separating and dissociating the
individual from the wider world.
Cult members were encouraged to remain silent as

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Lorna Goldberg |Intergenerational Transmission of Cult Trauma
they followed a long path through the woods to the
dining area. They walked alongside each other but did
not converse. Similarly, silent areas in the communal
dining room further limited the interaction among
some followers, reinforcing dissociative states.
Seeking enlightenment through these practices
reinforced Anika’s dissociative state, which became
her usual demeanor. Members were on guard to act
and appear in a cult-approved manner, so anxiety was
ubiquitous. There was little room to relax due to the
pressure to appear as if one were acting in an approved
manner and the constant need to be “productive.”
Anika became part of the cult’s center of a core group
of highly committed members if anyone in this group
was not productive, they were castigated. They had
little free time to play, explore, contemplate, or recoup.
In addition, the daily schedule precluded adequate
time to sleep. As a result, Anika and the other core
members were often in a state of physical and emotional
exhaustion or sleep deprivation.5
1
Primary Teachings of Cult-Induced Dissociation
The cult’s teachings were transmitted through books,
periodicals, lectures by the leader or senior teachers,
and signs posted throughout the cult’s worldwide
facilities. Anika committed fully to following these
teachings:
• Become free from all attachments. Anika was taught
to cultivate dispassion. She strove to detach herself
emotionally from all the things she was attached
to, including her children, husband, possessions,
agency, desires, worldly goals, etc.
• Rise above pain, pleasure, joy, and sorrow. The
world is an illusion, and cult followers must rise
above the human condition. Reality was seen as the
“ocean of worldliness.” Anika believed that if she
could transcend her experience of the world, she
would attain enlightenment.
• Still your thoughts. This taught Anika to dissociate
from thoughts and feelings.
• Overcome desire, pride, envy, greed, and anger. Anika
learned to dissociate from these “negative” emotions
to comply with the cult’s teachings.
5 According to West (1990), lack of sleep is a pivotal element in cult
manipulation, further undermining the thinking process and increasing
members’ willingness to follow the leaders’ directives.
• Embrace Tapasya, or the burning of the ego. Ego-
based feelings such as shame, embarrassment,
jealousy, anger, sadness, yearning, loneliness,
disappointment, depression, pride,
accomplishment, success, etc., should be “burned”
or destroyed through chanting, meditation, and
selfless service. Anika understood that her human
emotions were unworthy. She castigated herself
for feeling such things and dissociated from them.
Dissociation led her to feel shame and destroyed
her sense of true self-esteem and self-worth.
• Eradicate the ego. Dissolve all sense of limited self-
experience into communion with the cult leader
or God—both were considered divine since the
leader was one with God. Anika learned to separate
herself from her experiences and feelings, seeking
to merge her individuality with “the divine.”
Incorporation of the Cult’s Harsh Moral Voice
To attain enlightenment, Anika believed she needed
to incorporate the leader’s harsh moral code, which
was enforced on everyone except the highly punitive
leaders. The cult maintained a strict moral voice that
dictated every aspect of members’ lives. The leader
enforced this moral voice through his teachings and
authoritative demands. Within the cult, individuals
were judged as good or bad based on their adherence to
the leader’s rules. There was no room for ambivalence,
complex feelings, or personal divergence. Anika and
other members were admonished to follow strict
commands:
• Shower daily.
• Adhere to a strict dress code.
• Work hard and always be productive.
• Speak the truth.
• Refrain from stealing or harming.
• Abstain from sex.
• Offer all you are and all you have to the leader.
• Overcome anger, jealousy, covetousness, and so on.
• Follow the leader’s dictates without question.
• Follow the prescribed teachings.
• Work towards enlightenment.
When they inevitably failed to attain the cult ideal,
Anika and David experienced a cycle of harsh self-
judgment followed by the shame of failure and
unworthiness, a pattern likely mirrored in other cult