Why new religions find it difficult to evolve?

I feel, this time, I have a more introspective topic to write about - about the evolution of new religions - continuing with my previous post on "Religions and Institutionalization". 

As usual it started with a 'controversial' discussion on religion and God, and as we sifted through topics like Scientology and Tom Cruise an interesting question emerged - why we do not have any new religions emerging recently? This is despite having a much smaller world - interconnected in many ways, including the Internet and its latest social networking platforms, when propagation of messages can go viral! 

A quick survey on the Web did not reveal much, (though it revealed interesting religions as in this link) and an extensive search would be required considering this list. Though  many of them are referred as 'religions' and some were found as late as in 1980's they do not seem to have any significant following. But at the same time, we cannot underestimate them, because today's popular religions also would have started in the same way, but took atleast 3-4 centuries to spread and establish themselves across the world. So, we never know! despite the connected world we live in. 

In my analysis, I believe that there are two strong characteristics that are exhibited by today's popular religions, which will stop or delay the arise of any new religion - one is continuous propagation (and propagation through all new media) by identified leaders - and the other is the embedding of the sense of community among their members, which is done by regular and mandatory gathering of their members in a place for worship. The latter ideal ensures that people don't get distanced too much from their current religious practice and instills a sense of 'belonging' and probably 'pressure' on who are not inclined. 

Disclaimer: I don't intend to start a new religion! and I am not an atheist! 

Religions and Institutionalization

We had an interesting discussion on "Institutions" in one of my classes where I was explaining about the quality processes that has to be inculcated in an organization, and work towards insitutionalization of the same to reap the benefits. Well this blog is not about it, but about religions. 

Religions serve as an excellent example of institutionalization - institutionalization of beliefs on God, and the processes represent the rituals and customs carried out by the followers of that religion.  Now the question: Does institutionalization really benefit here?  My answer: NO.

When we institutionalize the beliefs on god, and evolve them as religions, it becomes one more identity for a person. However the purpose of any religion is to lead its followers to the spiritual path, and largely that requires an individual's own effort and will.

A religion can provide an identity, impose conditions of behavior, that might lead to the spiritual path, but can't guarantee it. Also here we are dealing with abstractness and results or effects would not be tangible always to measure. A goodness of a person has to be judged over his/her lifetime giving appropriate weight to their environments and circumstances - well that's what GOD  would supposedly do in one's after life, according to many religions. 

In quality processes, there is a scope for review and continuous improvement, which can lead to new and different processes over time. However today's religions does not allow to redefine or re-orient or even re-look at the changing needs and hence constrain you to the same beliefs that were set long ago, often justified by saying that all of the processes (rituals, beliefs, and customs)  followed in a religion relate to "core values" and hence are sacrosanct and there's only one choice - either you subscribe to it or get left out. 

Disclaimer: I am NOT an atheist.    

2011 - The year that was for me!

I had been pushing myself to write this post, as it had become a kind of 'ritual' for me to start an year's blogging with reflections of my past year. Also, I should admit that, after I started 'tweeting', it has become extremely difficult to Blog!  So here, I go...

• My Current project had been driving me - as, I got more passionate about it, as days passed by in 2011, and I believe it will surely be of help to students and the academic community
• My successful completion of PhD in Computer Science - The long awaited final defense examination (viva-voce) happened on a day that's simply unforgetful! - on 11/11/2011, and ofcourse, had a sigh of relief! after the declaration of PhD award
• Attended WWW2011 Conference for the first time, and was very happy to listen to few great people, including Tim Berners-Lee and even managed to have a small discussion with him on Semantic Web, and ofcourse a photograph with him.  
• A lot of learning happened in a very different project, relating to setup of a DR. Though had to encounter and learn too many things that are far from my profession, I was happily taking on the challenges!, and did not have much regrets even when the bosses fired us on our slow pace of work!
• Continued to lead the ISO activities in the office; and managed to organize a Project Management Training for the staff members.
• Managed to coordinate and organize two National-level Symposiums on PKI and Digital Signatures along with my friend and colleague Mr. Misbahuddin.  Though I was only a team member here, I was happy that this effort came to a good end. 
• Started Tweeting! and found to be really interesting and useful (This is ironic, because when twitter started, and when I saw the way people were using it initially, I thought it may not be of much use for me!) - This gave me a lesson - Any tool can be used effectively, and it all depends on the user and their context!
• Travel: Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh (and also visited Dalai Lama's residence), Indore, Kashmir (Beautiful Valley; Visited Srinagar, Gulmarg and Pahalgam), Kanyakumari & ; Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu; and my usual trips to Delhi. A very interesting thing happened was I had to travel from Kanyakumari to Kashmir within a span of a day or two.   

Overall, many things were falling in place, and really got a sense of accomplishment, despite some odd firings from few bosses! 

Dog's Day Out

Lot of things to write about and my memory lost traces of many!. So before I lose further, here goes one.

Last month, as usual when I was trying to board the local (BMTC) bus to my office, along with the hustle of fellow co-passengers, a street dog too was suddenly hustling to get inside the bus!  I slowed down a bit, and was wondering what the dog would do, though the fellow co-passengers did not mind it, and were only focused on entering inside and trying to catch (yes 'catch', and not 'get') a seat.

Thankfully the street dog managed to enter into the bus, with some fellows stamping on it unknowingly. Then I too manged to get into the bus, and as I myself pushed inside, the dog was just lying. Half a kilometer would have gone by. The conductor emerged into the scene, where the dog was lying. He shouted "Whose dog it is", in local language, and since no answer came, he blew the whistle and stopped the bus, and forced the dog to get down.

Of course the street dog got down at that point. But there were lot of questions lingering on my mind.

• What was the intention of the dog ? (If the driver had not made it get down, where it would have got down, does it know the stops and places)
• Who the dog was searching for ? (Whether it's friend or love, - probably carried by some one in a car!) 
• Did the dog do it, for the sake of fun, or did it do for some thing else?
• What made the dog to take such a 'risk' ? (It has to fight with 'wild' human beings to get into the bus, and in that process it could get hurt. It also has to face the risk of fighting with other street dogs in a new street - Street Dogs usually have their own well defined boundaries, and they will chase other dogs, if others enter their area - only slightly worse than human beings! )

Interesting questions, but no answers.

BodhiDharma and Bogar

Lately, I have been conducting my Internet surfing research, about a great saint. Well, I got initiated into this due to the interest generated by the movie 7 aum arivu. 

I watched the Chinese movie "Master of Zen" (Made in 1994) which depicts the complete history of Bodhi Dharma. Bodhi Dharma (before becoming) was a prince in the Pallava Dynasty, that was ruling Tamil Nadu, with Kanchipuram as their capital, during 5th-6th CE. Most of the literature available on the Web, concur that he was born in Kanchipuram, and after adopting Buddhism, and then becoming a Buddhist monk, he moves to China, as per the wishes of his Guru Prajnatara (Buddhist monk). 

Bodhi Dharma first goes to Southern China (Obvious, if you are from India), and then after spending some time there moves to Northern China, and was known to use unorthodox methods of teaching. Primarily he wanted to convey that one needs to perform a self-realization to understand himself, nature and God. He also have taught about physical exercises or self defence (probably a form of varma) to Shaolin monks, to protect themselves. Some more information about Bodhi Dharma, especially the cave where he lived for 9 years, and his burial place could be found here and here.

It is said that Bodhi Dharma during his last days, wanted to travel back to India, but died in China, and buried in the Shaolin temple. But later after his death, some one cites him, and when asked where he was going, he supposed to have told, he was moving towards West (towards India). 

Bhogar / Bogar: Bhogar was a Siddha, meaning a holy saint, who practiced meditation, and other techniques (Mantra, Tantra, Yantra) to attain liberation.They were primarily Saivaites who worshiped Shiva.  Bhogar was known to be a great alchemist. He installed the idol of Lord Muruga in Palani temple (known as Karthikeya, and brother of Lord Ganesha, and son of Lord Shiva) which is made of nine special herbs, and known to have medicinal effects, and stronger than Granite.  He also helped or advised in the construction of the Brihadeeswara temple in Tanjore, around 1000 CE. 

Now comes the interesting part. Some accounts say that Bhogar travelled to China, as per the instructions of his Guru, and then to Srilanka, and lived for several centuries. He also have said to taught tantric techniques in China, and  was known as Lao-Tzu (known to be founder or influence of Taoism) (The theory Yang-Yin is correlated with the Shiva-Shakti). Then in the same accounts it is mentioned that he returns back to India. Incidentally his Guru was Kalanginathar, who was originally from China. The period of Bhogar also seems to be from 8th CE.  Bhogar did have a Chinese disciple Pulippani (renamed in Tamil), who was also a Siddha. Bhogar completes his life's journey in the Palani Murugan temple.  

Another interesting thing is about the dates. Bodhi Dharma, said to be from Pallava Dynasty, belongs to 5th -6th CE, and  said to have lived for 300+ years. The Pallava dynasty come to an end during 8th Century CE, and Cholas emerge as the stronger dynasty, starting from this period. Bhogar's time period starts from 8th, and said to have lived several centuries. Both of them had some connections with China, and both were saints with extraordinary capabilities. Hope this is a enough material for a researcher to carry on further.

Update - October 2013:  As can be read from the comments section, though there have been references to texts that states Bhogar's time period as starting from 3000 BC, there is a significant convergence in many of those accounts from 6th CE onwards and during that period Bhogar is said to have travelled to China (for the second time) with few of his Tamil disciples and supposed to have returned back few centuries later. So, that raises another question - If BodhiDharma and Bhogar were different people, then "Was BodhiDharma one of the disciples of Bhogar, who went to China along with the latter's visit?"

Wild Ideas or Fantasies?

Well, once in a while, I get interesting ideas or fantasies. OK, I could describe it using adjectives like "Wild", "Awesome",  and so on... But I don't like to do a self boasting here. These may sound like wonderful ideas, but may lack the technology or economics to be implemented. Though, I like to see these ideas into action, I am not contemplating  to take them to the next level. So, let me start spelling out one such idea (or fantasy) here. 

"As you travel in a car on a road, the heat generated due to the movement of wheels on the road, should be used to charge a layer of energy cells (solar) that are embedded on the road! and the car can draw energy from the road, when required, and when being stationed!, to run its AC's and Entertainment systems!  

Of course this might sound improbable at least for the next 25 years, but hope something close to it could spring up after 25+ years. This requires radical technologies like roads being laid with energy cells that can withstand all the rough movements on it, heat and other climatic conditions. 

An even still better one would be: Once a car (or any vehicle) has started moving it should at least  get or derive part of its energy required for further acceleration from the underlying roads."

The Decade of 2001-2011 for me

I recently completed a decade at my current job at C-DAC.

A lot of things have changed around me, (ofcourse I too have undergone both physical as well as inner changes!). To illustrate it, I could give a sample - though I have not changed my job, the name of the organization has changed! In fact, I joined NCST, which got merged with C-DAC. I would like to look at the changes from three angles - myself, my work area/industry, and my environment.

About me: I was a bachelor at the start of decade, but now I am a family man! with wife and kids, and hence my responsibilities have increased manifold times. I had visited many cities/towns of India, (even traveled outside of India, once) and had developed taste for many Indian Vegetarian Dishes. Ten years ago, if some body would have said to me, that I would get to taste so many Indian Dishes, I would have had a bet with them! (though even now, I am not a great foodie!). I had a great opportunity to learn, discover, and stretch my limits, which I feel, I did reasonably well.

About my Workarea/Industry: I work as a researcher in the domain of Information Technology! Really it's been this work and the people around me that had have kept me here for so long! I was able to discover, think, create, and learn a lot, which I am sure would not have been possible, without this job!

About my Environment: I live in Bangalore, India. The city has changed a lot from a pensioners paradise to a bustling city. I got to know and experience, the pain of a growing or developing city and I wish, it becomes a 'developed city' comparable with any of the world's top cities by 2021.