Past life TV show proves huge hit in India
Updated on 23 January 2010
Revelations which have included a celebrity once being a mass-murderer are highlighted in a new hit television show in
Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka – which means secrets of past life in English - draws upon the Hindu belief in reincarnation, and uses hypnotism to guide participants back to their former lives.
The aim is to help people resolve problems in their current lives by revealing horrors from the past, but critics warn the programme is "damaging Indian mindsets", as it suggests problems and lives are pre-determined.
Bollywood star Ravi Kishan, who hosts the NDTV Imagine network programme, and who was found by the show to have killed three people in a past life, told Channel 4 News: "In India this show is rocking – big time.
"People thought earlier that it was not going to work, because they thought past life was nonsense. Now everyone that used to criticise us wants to come and do their own regression."
Participants on the show are regressed by Dr Tripti Jain, a trained psychologist. She told Channel 4 News: "There are various kinds of hypnotic techniques that I use, they are very simple meditative techniques."
Aside from Mr Kishan, other Indian celebrities have been found to have been a German soldier in World War Two in a past life, while another saw herself as a Muslim woman, whose uncle had killed her after molesting her.
The show has already developed a significant following in the
But critics warn the pre-destined assumptions made in the programme are setting a dangerous precedent.
Sanal Edamaruku, president of Rationalist International, said: "This kind of programme tells people to go back to the old theory of karma, that it’s your problem and you can't change.
"That you have done something 1352 and that’s why you have this misery, that's why you are a dwarf…this is absolutely unscientific and it's damaging the mindset of Indian people."
