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[ xxvi ] The two major Mahikari (True Light) organizations are Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyodan and Sukyo Mahikari. The former claims about 75,000 members, the latter about 800,000. Both trace their origin to the Japanese teacher Okada Kotama (1901–74). In 1959 Okada had a revelatory experience. He was warned that the time had come for the world to change from material to spiritual civilization, but because people are too self-seeking to recognize the need for change, the K ami would purge the world with fire. The kami also provided, however, a way of salvation: the action of light. Okada's mission was to allow the rays of the True Light to flow through the palm of his hand and thus purify people's souls and cleanse the world of impurity. The kami that Mahikari adherents honour is Su-no-Okami. Their chief responsibility, following Okada's example, is to allow purifying light to flow from the palm of the hand into the soul of a suffering person. The action of light convinces people of the existence of the soul and of the kami , gives them strength to endure the baptism of fire and enables them to become ‘seed-people’ of the new and true civilization that is to come. Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyodan was legally incorporated in 1963. One of the people who joined at that time was Sekiguchi Sakae (1909–), who rose to become a top leader and, when Okada Kotama died, claimed the right to ... log in or subscribe to read full text