In the book, Tredwell recounts her personal experience in the ashram, where she admits she was complicit in covering up all sorts of ashram secrets, in a misguided attempt to protect the guru’s misdeeds from public view (believing, as all guru cultists do, that the guru is God in human form and therefore exempt from human standards of right and wrong).
Tredwell’s riveting book recounts stories of donations intended for charity being converted into gold jewelry and hidden under the garments of Amma’s sanyasis (monks) as they passed through customs – then the gold being passed to Amma’s family to make them fabulously rich. Tredwell tells of being beaten, clawed, and bitten by Amma, who would succumb to fits of rage over small mistakes made by her attendants. Tredwell speaks of her discovery that, while claiming to be a lifelong celibate, Amma secretly had ongoing sexual affairs with several of her closest swamis (monks who have taken lifelong vows of celibacy). And she speaks of being raped herself, repeatedly, by one of these same swamis, and names him.
Tredwell was extensively quoted in an August 2012 “Rolling Stone” article on Amma regarding some of these allegations, although the book (and the worst of the allegations) only recently came out (now, in November, 2013, which is when I write this). “Rolling Stone” was able to corroborate the claim of physical abuse by Amma through the testimony of another one of Amma’s female attendants, who would not reveal her name except to the magazine.
Now, whether Tredwell’s searing expose makes a difference in bringing down this false spiritual empire depends very much on other victims boldly stepping forward and sharing their own stories. But the disciples are afraid of this guru, who, her biography alleges, has beings in the unseen who will retaliate against anyone who speaks out about the Divine Mother. This superstition makes it difficult for members struggling to break free from the cult to find the courage to speak the truth. Insiders report there is also genuine physical danger, for anyone living in India who speaks out.
