"If John Travolta has benefited by Scientology, so can you. Special training programme for Marketing People. Scientology, World's fastest growing organisation now in India. Call...."
AN innocuous ad buried in a tabloid. Travolta wannabes in India were intrigued. Other reactions ranged from the perturbed to the enthused. For, the Church of Scientology, the newest entrant into India, is, as its Mumbai champion Dr Yusuf Merchant says, "the world's most controversial organisation."
Admirers like Hollywood artistes Tom Cruise and John Travolta insist Scientology is a religion. Detractors including US-based anti-cult awareness network CAN—which went bankrupt after a slew of high-stakes litigations filed by scientologists—denounce it as a cult. 'Mind is Power' is their philosophy, say Scientologists. Disparagers counter that Mammon is more like it.
"Every new idea is initially faced with opposition. Did Jesus Christ not face it? If it has enduring value it will tide over," defends Malcolm Rodrigues, executive director, Church of Scientology, Mission of Mumbai. The mission, registered as a public trust in India two years back, contacts possible new parishioners through direct mail order and telemarketing. Two workshops have been held in India for top executives and several 'Way To Happiness' workshops for school-kids, collegians and drug-addicts. "Whatever problem you bring to Scientology," promises Rodrigues, "you can be sure it won't follow you home".
The 'scripture' of this religion is Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, written by its founder L. Ron Hubbard. The beliefs of Scientology in essence: the individual is a spiritual being called Thetan, a creature of pure energy who billions of years ago was uprooted from another planet to earth by an evil emperor Xenu. The painful past lives of each individual leads to evil deeds, diminished awareness and ability.
The 'Bridge' to freedom comes through the processes of 'auditing'—by which the Thetan is helped to access and address past lives with the use of an 'Electro-psych-metre'. To critics this 'auditing' is mere 'brainwashing'. "What is brainwashing? Taking out old data. Replacing it with new data. If the old data is rotten and new is good, then brainwashing is not such a dirty word, no?" asks Rodrigues. He is wary of describing Scientology as a religion in India, possibly as it would involve treading on delicate turf.
At the suburban Andheri office set up by international scientologists Helmut Flasch and Andy Potter, every Travolta wannabe is gifted with a lush book profiling the founder. The practised spiel zooms in on recruits to the fold and potential staffers.
The workshops charge Rs 3,000 per person, and Rs 2,750 per couple. And the auditing courses—ranging from Study Skills for Life to Gaining Self Respect—are tagged at between Rs 470 and Rs 1,470 per person. Staffers who undergo free training courses sign a contract by which quitting Sciento-logy would mean remitting the cost of "all services received" from the Church.
One disgruntled student felt his spirit was not getting his money's worth. "That was because he was paying Indian rates and expected either Potter or Flasch (who allegedly left the country under a cloud) to do the auditing for him," says Rodrigues. "The inflow is outflow," explains Ravi Ummadisinghu, the mission's young communication executive secretary. "The donations go back into spreading the message. I had a great career as a marine radio officer, but I now work here at a nominal salary as I want to pass on all I gained through Scientology. Today, I am confident, my parents take me seriously, my understanding of Hinduism is finer."
"Dianetics is mind-blowing," says Dr Merchant. "It offers answers where established psychiatry fails. All its services to addicts and schoolchildren are free in India". Participants at the workshops—from Asit Mohapatra, vice-president, Blue Star Ltd, to Y.K. Gupta, GM, Larsen and Tou-bro, are effusive. Gupta writes: "I am going to use this learning in my business and family life."
However, as elsewhere in the world, the entry of the new 'religion' has evoked mixed feelings. The charmed wax eloquent about it being an elixir for the soul. But the wary warn it's a dangerous experiment with the mind.
