Talk:Divine Light Mission/Reception draft 2

Reception
The Divine Light Mission has been described in various and sometimes conflicting terms. It has been called a new religious movement, a cult, a charismatic religious sect, an offshoot of Sant Mat, an alternative religion or spin-off from other traditional religions, a Radhasoami offshoot, an orthodox Sikh community, an Advait Mat related tradition, Guru-ism, and a defunct religious movement. A study of terms used in U.S. newspapers and news magazines found that Divine Light Mission was referred to as a "sect" in 10.3% of articles, as a "cult" in 24.1%, and as both in 13.8%.

Bromley and Hammond describe the Divine Light Mission as belonging in a "medium tension category" one of a group that were seen by the public as peculiar rather than threatening and to which society responded with watchfullnes and ostracism. Psychiatrist Saul V. Levine wrote that the DLM, the Hare Krishna movement, the Unification Church and the Children of God were widely held in low esteem – families felt that their children were being financially exploited, while the groups' leaders lived in "ostentation and offensive opulence."

Ron Geaves states that although the Divine Light Mission was established as an organization for promoting Prem Rawat's teachings, it developed into a vigorous new religious movement with its own specific traits that included characteristics of a contemporary North Indian Sant panth and nirguna bhakti, combining intense reverence for the living satguru with the millennial expectations of the 1970s counter-culture.