I had a girlfriend named Layo who had spent slightly over a year married to the right-hand man of a deceased swami named Adano Christopher Ley. The swami's other followers were nasty to her, and she came away from the experience with an impression that God had rejected her.
God did not reject Layo. People who thought they were God rejected Layo. These people were bullies and usurpers. They had been in contact with a great man, and they made the mistake of thinking that they were great themselves. They were not great. Not anything close to it. They simply had had the good fortune to have their lives touched by a great man. The knowledge and power that they had came from him, not from them.
There are many people who make the same error. And the correct solution is to remind them of what is actually the case. They did not author the wisdom that they have been given. Somebody else did. And that means that the credit belongs with the source, not with them.
At least the Christians are commanded to be humble. But many followers of gurus are not humble, but both abusive and arrogant. Once again, they make the error of thinking that, because they have been in contact with somebody who was great, they are great themselves. In most cases they are not.
We see a similar error on behalf of any number of people who live in great countries. They think that, because they live in a great country, they are great themselves. In most cases they are not. They simply have had the good fortune of having been born in a great country. They get a bloated ego without having done anything to deserve it. Whereas in countries that are not great, people do not have that crutch, and someone who wants to feel great has to work at it.
As should be the case for anyone who wants anything like greatness or sense of accomplishment.
Now there are some things that should be extended to most people, such as tolerance. But greatness is something that has to be earned. And in case of people such as Adano's initiates, it was not earned. It was bestowed on them by a great man who believed that he owed them a karmic debt. So they decided, once again, that they were better than other people, such as for example Layo. They were not better than her. They were worse than her. She had a brain and went to a great length to make sense of what Adano had stated and what others had stated. Whereas these people simply had had the experience of being around a great man.
I think that there are many situations in which such things need to be clarified. I will not respect you because of whom you have been around. I will respect you because of who you actually are.