Editing Mahatma (section)

==In the Divine Light Mission==
The [[Divine Light Mission]] (DLM) was a [[Contemporary Sant Mat movements|Sant Mat]]-based movement begun in India in the 1930s by [[Hans Maharaj]] and formally incorporated in 1960. The DLM had as many as 2,000 Mahatmas, all from India or Tibet, who taught the DLM's secret meditation techniques called "Knowledge".  The Mahatmas, called "realized souls",<ref name="Price, Maeve 1979 Page 279-296">Price, Maeve (1979): The Divine Light Mission as a social organization. (1) Sociological Review, 27, Page 279-296</ref> or "apostles",  also served as local leaders.<ref>[[Saul V. Levine|Levine, Saul V.]] in {{cite book |author=Galanter, Marc |title=Cults and New Religious Movements: A Report of the American Psychiatric Association |publisher=American Psychiatric Pub., Inc |year=1989 |isbn=0-89042-212-5 }}</ref> After Hans Ji's death in 1966 his youngest son,  [[Prem Rawat]] (known then as Guru Maharaj Ji or Bagyogeshwar), succeeded him. The young guru appointed some new Mahatmas, including one from the United States.  In one incident, a prominent Indian Mahatma nearly beat a man to death in Detroit for throwing a pie at the guru.<ref>{{cite news|title=Who's Who in Gurus|first=Dennis |last=Bartel|page= 55|work=Harper's|date=November 1983}}</ref>  In the early 1980s, Prem Rawat replaced the Divine Light Mission organization with the Elan Vital and replaced the Mahatmas with initiators. The initiators did not have the revered status of the Mahatmas, and they were drawn mostly from Western followers.<ref name="Price, Maeve 1979 Page 279-296"/> In the 2000s, the initiators were replaced by a video in which Rawat teaches the techniques himself.