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| Raelians pose with their cult's symbol during one of the seminars in Mumbai on April 7, 2013 |
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| Anup Prasad |
On August 6, 2015 brainwaves of 6 Indians were linked to an alien computer stationed at an unknown destination in outer space. The connection was created in a ceremony where this “conscious lot” announced apostasy and willfully embraced a cult that claims to have an answer to one of mankind’s greatest queries – are we alone in the universe?
Sounds like a scene straight out of an Ancient Aliens episode in Discovery channel? Well, it’s not.
Such ceremonies (or cellular transmission seminars as they are called) are an integral part of a cult called Raelism (not to be confused with Realism) or the Raelian movement and are regular affairs in India and around the world.
Raelism was founded in 1974 by an ex-journalist and automobile enthusiast Claude Vorilhon, now known as Raël, in France. The central philosophy of this cult revolves around its founder’s claim that extraterrestrials or Elohim (as Raelians call them) are the true creators of the earth and it is their superior scientific technology that created the human race (neither Charles Darwin’s evolution nor any God).
Today, with 124 (and counting) official members in India and close to 60,000 around the world, Raelians often claim theirs to be the largest UFO (unidentified flying object) religion in the world and the “baptizing” ceremony on August 6, which took place in Mumbai and Delhi on the same date, was the largest in India till date. The initiation ritual is an acknowledgement that the person undergoing transmission has accepted the Elohim race as his creator.
The Indian Inception
So how did this cult attract the otherwise God-fearing Indians?
Is it an offshoot of similar cults such as the Aetherius Society founded by a spiritual teacher George King in 1955 [both believe aliens were the creators of the human race]? What are their beliefs? If these are questions that are troubling your mind, read on.
It was a hazy evening in Mumbai in 2003 and then 51-year-old architect Bharat Panchal was returning home after a usual day at work. He had just got down at Churchgate station and was walking on a crowded pavement when a woman of Oriental descent in mid-thirties caught his attention. She was holding a book and was surrounded by a seemingly curious crowd as she addressed them. An avid reader himself, Panchal naively joined the lot and borrowed the book she was holding unaware that his life is about to change.
“The book’s title was They Took Me To Their Planet. It was so unputdownable that I finished it overnight. Being an atheist from my impressionable years it answered all my questions concerning religion, evolution and how we (the humans) actually came into being. I met her again the following day and was informed that a video presentation on the subject was scheduled at the Indian Merchant Chambers a few days later,” Panchal says adding that after attending the seminar he became a Raelian and has remained one till date. The woman Panchal had met was a South Korean national named Jin Hee Kim who was the first to bring Raelism to India in 2003.
The book, Panchal says, completely changed his outlook towards established religions and reaffirmed his belief that humans are indeed the creation of extraterrestrials. “I had a Science background in college at St. Xaviers, Mumbai and was always skeptical about Darwin’s evolution theory and used to wonder how a complex human body could function in perfect harmony without some superior technology,” he avers.
Madhu Khanna, former director of Centre for Comparative Religion and Civilisation, Jamia Milia Islamia University, believes that such cults are born out of extreme alienation that people experience in today’s life. She says that one cannot call it a religion the way we perceive the term. “People who face extreme alienation in urban societal setups tend to fall for such cults to find some transcendence. Today people believe in all kinds of things and can go to any extent to substantiate their stand,” she says.
There are many like Panchal in the country, who abide by Raelian theories and maintain that extraterrestrials will pay a visit to earth before 2035 provided we do away with wars and terrorism. “Elohim (extraterrestrials) say that if we don’t stop wars on earth we will soon destroy ourselves with nuclear weapons. They want to give their 26,000 years of scientific advancements to us so that we can make our life easier and happy but only if we live in peace and honour life,” says 29-year-old IT professional Raelian Anup Prasad, who became a official member of the cult on April 10, 2008 after undergoing remote cellular transmission, which he says was done by Rael himself. “Though I haven’t met him in person, he did my transmission through a special arrangement which only Rael can conduct,” he adds.
So, how do Raelians transmit brainwaves to their so-called alien computer? Prasad says that the process of transmission is administered by “guides” (read Raelian priests), who place their water-drenched hands on the foreheads of ought-to-be members and the “ritual is understood to transmit the new member's DNA configuration to an extraterrestrial computer”. “The initiation of new members happens four times a year on days the Raelians recognize as auspicious ones – the first Sunday of April, August 6, October 7 and December 13. December 13 is the date when the Elohim first contacted [cult founder] Rael,” Prasad says.
Till date there are only two guides in India who are vested with the power to carry out the cellular transmission ritual - Panchal and Prasad in Mumbai and Delhi respectively.”
Dipankar Banerjee, associate professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, who is currently working on a solar project, says that such cults are the new fad among uninformed people and have no relevance whatsoever. “I am an atheist and there is no science in this hypothesis. Till date science hasn’t got any proof about aliens’ existence so the cult’s basic concept is baseless,” he says.
Why Raelism
Here one may ask why do one need to worship something as far-fetched as UFOs? At a time when the world in general and India in particular is home to so many different religions with time-tested philosophies claiming to have all the solutions for an ideal society, isn’t it bizarre to pin hopes on aliens? Well, Raelians think otherwise.
Kanchanbala Gaikwad, former deputy director of Maharashtra’s state education department, who has translated two books on Raelism, says
Raelism will soon replace religion in the near future.
Gaikwad, who has translated The Book Which Tells The Truth and Extraterrestrials Took Me To Their Planet into Marathi, says that the author (Rael) took references from all major religious books to substantiate his claim about Elohim and it could be the future of obeisance.
She elaborates on the word “Elohim” to explain her point. “In Hebrew, the word Elohim means God, but according to Rael this word can also be used in a plural form to collectively address the people coming from the skies. In his books he has often mentioned that extraterrestrials have contacted humans many a time in the past and have sent their representatives in the form of Jesus, Prophet, Buddha and so on,” she says adding that though she hasn’t taken up official membership of the cult but is mulling over the decision.
“Despite so many religions and religious philosophies, intelligent minds in the world are still unsatisfied with the answers they get. There are a lot of queries lurking in their heads such as who are we (humans). I believe science is the ultimate truth. For example, look at how much science has given us in these few years of it existence. It is very much plausible that in the near future science might replace religion,” says Gaikwad, a Protestant Christian by birth.
Prof Khanna says that usually new cults that sprout every now and then tend to victimize people. “I will suggest people to keep their eyes and ears open before following such cults. These cults usually claim so many things and have very little to do with original religious sculptures. Don’t be blind and chase so-called gurus but find it out yourself what you want,” she says.
However, citing examples from established Holy books, Prasad is of the opinion that it’s indeed difficult to make Indians believe in the Raelian concept. He says majority of Indians discard Raelian theories as they have been blinded by other religions from eons and hence can’t even comprehend hints dropped about aliens’ existence in their holy books.
“I think every citizen should investigate extraterrestrials and only then they would know the truth – our existence is a gift of science not God,” Prasad says.
However, in a religious hotbed like India, it will not be a cake walk for cults like Raelism to survive and Raelians in the country are very much aware of the fact. “We Indians are very much religion-driven. It is not easy to give up what we have grown up with. Especially it will be difficult to convince the elderly in the country who have been conditioned to pay their obeisance to God, Allah, bhagwan and other religious deities,” opines Panchal.
Controversies
Aliens or no aliens, Raelism since its inception as a cult has surely courted controversy for more than one reason. Be it the use of Swastika fused with the Star of David as its official symbol, promoting sexual freedom through sensual meditation or human cloning, Raelism has had its share of bad press. Of all the controversies, it’s the claim to have cloned a human body through a sponsored company called Clonaid and sensual meditation that grabbed the headlines across international press.
It’s was in 2002 when Raelism had its big day when the cult claimed to have cloned a human baby. Though a lot was written about it then, slowly the company (Clonaid) and its claims faded into oblivion and not much is known about it today. “Yes, Clonaid claimed to have cloned a baby in 2002 and it stirred a lot of controversy. I don’t understand why it’s a big deal as genetic engineering is very a part of science syllabus in educational institutes,” Prasad says.
On December 29, 2002, journalist Matt Cremson criticised Clonaid’s claim in an article published in The Day, a newspaper based in New London, United States. He wrote, “Most scientific advancements do not come from laboratories headed by people who believe that little aliens came to earth to tell a former auto-racing journalist (Rael) that they had created the human race through genetic engineering.”
The Raelian seminars too came under the scanner when it was reported that they are actually huge orgies. Though the official website readily refutes such reports, it however says that “Raelians tend to be sensual and forward people”.
“If one reads Rael's book carefully, what he is advocating is not sexual freedom but asks us not to be hypocritical and pretend to be someone we are not. This is the observation made in all the countries where people interpret the message the way it suits them the best. What we resist persist the most. Suppression of basic instincts leads to perversions in society where sex is considered taboo for open discussion,” Panchal explains. Prasad further clarifies that Raelians believe sex to be a natural phenomenon and hence encourage Raelians to talk about it openly. “When we talk about sex in Raelian theory, it has nothing to do with lust,” he says.
Drawing similarities with Indian self-styled Godmen, professor Khanna says, “These cults are not well defined at all and usually have a charismatic guru around whom lost souls gather to find answers to their queries in life.”
Currently, Raelians are trying to construct an embassy to welcome the Elohim preferably in Jerusalem. “It is believed in many religions and also in Raelism that the first humans were from Jerusalem and Elohim would love to live there. In the book Intelligent Design written by Raël, the Elohim had proposed the building of an embassy for them. However, the situation has changed now and we are talking to different governments around the world to allow us to build it,” Prasad says.
In a nutshell, no matter how absurd it may sound, there are people in the world (including India) who swear by aliens and such science-fiction religious theories (if we may call it so). It might not be a phenomenon yet in India (unlike in many others like Korea, France or the US) but it’s worth a read for all curious sci-fi enthusiasts.
PS – Legends of pop Michael Jackson and Madonna are honourary guides of Raelism while Glenn Carter of Jesus Christ, Superstar fame and French singer Nayah tops the official list of celebrity Raelians.
