Video: Sikh spiritual leader warns against Pokemon Go as it attains cult status

Ever since its initial release on July 6th, Pokemon Go has sky rocketed to popularity. Players of the augmented reality game across the globe have been spotted hunting for Pokemons in public spaces.

What started off as a popular video game franchise followed by an anime series in the 90’s, has been elevated to the status of a cult by loyal users, who religiously attend Pokemeets, go for Pokewalks and crowd at Pokestops.

But as the phenomena seems to be gaining a wide fan following in a short period of time, with more people spending time on the game than on Facebook or Twitter, there are many for whom it comes as an alarming development.

In a four minute video posted by a Sikh religious group called Nivair Khalsa Jatha UK, a spiritual leader named Bhai Harinder Singh is seen warning people about the perils of Pokemon Go, at a Gurudwara in England’s Wolverhampton.

Singh told his followers to be aware of the game’s addictive effects taking control of people’s minds and their time. He said, “We think we are capturing Pokemon but the game is actually capturing us.”

To drive his point home, Singh narrated an incident from his US visit, where he found youngsters glued to smartphones. After hours of observing them, he asked the youngsters what they were doing, only to be told that they had been playing Pokemon Go all along.

Although Singh did not bar his followers from playing the game, he did as them not to spend excessive amounts of time chasing Pokemons. He said, "We think we're capturing Pokémon, but the game is actually capturing us".

It has also been reported that clerics in Saudi Arabia have revived their 15-year-old fatwa against Pokemon, stating that it promotes ideas like polytheism and evolution.

Click here to watch the video: