Raj Patel is a British-born academic, journalist, activist and writer. His 2008 book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System was described by the Guardian's Felicity Lawrence as "an impassioned call to action". A new book by Patel, The Value of Nothing, was on the New York Times best-seller list during February 2010.

Patel looks a bit like a younger, GQ'ish version of Krishnamurti but any suggestion that he is Maitreya - who some regard as the heralded world teacher - he denies. On his website he has a humorous post that pokes fun at his alleged Maitreya status. His parents even bought him clothing with the message 'he's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy'. But even these denials haven't been enough to change the minds of those who see Patel as "the one".

Patel's odd run-in with Maitreyahood began when he showed up on American TV to talk about his new book The Value of Nothing. Following his appearance on the Colbert show, he began to receive peculiar email messages asking if he was the world teacher and if he had ever heard of Benjamin Creme.

Benjamin Creme is an 87-year-old self-described "esotericist" who founded Share international, formerly the Tara Center. He believes that the second coming prophesied in a number of different religions will take place when Maitreya - also known by Buddhists as "the future Buddha" - appears on the scene. Creme refers to Maitreya as the "Avatar for the Aquarian Age".

Creme has made a number of predictions in the past that failed to come true. As a result he is regarded as a figure of amusement by some in the British press, but nonetheless is accorded great esteem by his admirers.

There are a number of "signs" associated with Maitreya that Creme's followers claim to see in Raj Patel. Oddly enough Creme himself has been unwilling to commit to the Patel-as-Maitreya thesis. He claims it isn't up to him to say, adding cryptically "People are looking to Mr Patel because they are looking for the fulfillment of a story which I've been making around the world for the last 35 years."

A Guardian article by Bobbie Johnson provides some background on Creme's beliefs:

Creme – who joined a UFO cult in the 1950s before starting Share – has added a cosmic take to the whole concept: he says that Maitreya represents a group of beings from Venus called the Space Brothers.

This 18m-year-old saviour, he says, has been resting somewhere in the Himalayas for 2,000 years and – as a figure who combines messianism for Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Muslims alike – is due to return any time now, uniting humanity and making life better for everybody on earth.

Raj Patel grew up in Golders Green in north-west London which would seem to rule out 'resting in the Himalayas'. But such inconsistencies don't appear to phase the believers.

Johnson:

Patel's rejection of his status as a deity does not seem to have killed off interest from Share's members. Indeed, the situation has invaded his everyday life, such as when two devotees traveled from Detroit – some 2,400 miles away – just to hear him give a short public talk.

"They were really nice people, not in your face, really straightforward – these people do not look like fanatics," he says. "I gave the talk, and they hung around at the end and we had a chat."

It was only then that the pair revealed that they were followers of Creme's teachings.

Patel said: "They said they thought I was the Maitreya … they also said I had appeared in their dreams. I said: 'I'm really flattered that you came all the way here, but it breaks my heart that you came all this way and spent all this money to meet someone who isn't who you think he is.'

"It made me really depressed, actually. That evening I was really down."

All of this unsolicited devotion is enough to give a guy a guru-complex but Raj Patel to his credit, doesn't appear to have let the pressure of being pegged as "the one" go to his head.

Related reading - Share International on the "world teacher"

Also Examiner.com - Colbert announces Raj Patel, Maiteya: what's the real story? (with video)

YouTube - Raj Patel, Maitreya and the Prince who shall come