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What are murtis? pujas? prasad? Where is Mecca?
Finally some religious thought -- starting with doubt. How is it possible that God -- any god, really -- has the power to take someone out of the despair that Pi is documenting here? How hard would it be to maintain faith? What would that take?
Although Chapter 75 is very short (one sentence), it is very powerful if you think about it. Where does its power come from?
24 comments:
Murtis are representations (images, statues, the like) of a Divine Spirit within Hinduism. Puja is the physical worship of deities involving offerings in exchange for receiving a blessing. This can vary from the daily puja in the home or festivals and ceremonies in the temple. Prasad is the offering given to deities during puja. Prasad is usually and edible food which after having been offered to a deity is said to be filled with that deities blessing. It is then distributed among followers as a good blessing. Mecca is a city located in Saudi Arabia and is considered the holiest city in the Islamic faith. It is the birthplace of Muhammad and the site where the Qur'an was written. Muslims are obligated to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
A god gives Pi some hope of salvation still. There's still a chance that he might rescued and saved. Religion gave Pi a stronger spirit and faith that a higher being would help him enabling him to survive. I think that at first religion would be a good asset to aid in survival. But as time goes on it would be harder to believe and maintain faith. One would hope that a higher being would be able to ultimately save Pi. But instead he still remains stranded at sea without some sort of miracle solution. Although at the same time perhaps religion would help. Maybe thinking that a god wants to keep Pi alive to serve a further purpose in life.
I love the quote and I believe that it is a very smart way to spread faith and religion rather than shoving it down someone's throat. Faith can't be forced, but it can be learned, like how children of parents with the religion learn it. Condemnation from churches and the people in those churches will turn nonbelievers off or it, that is no way to get people to believe. By providing someone with the choice, and the ability to learn and discover on their own is the easiest, and most polite way to say that you care about them and their well being. This shows that you want them to learn and understand something very important to you and possibly "save" them.
Any God has to power to take Pi out of his despair, maybe by allowing for the sea to take him, or for Richard to finally become hungry enough to kill Pi. It would be very difficult to maintain faith because nothing is going right and because surviving would become the most important thing to Pi, religion would have to become second. It would take a lot of will power, and the drive to stay faithful for Pi to maintain his faith. He would need to set aside his fears of Richard and deal with his hunger differently to allow himself to be fully devoted to his faith.
I think this quote is beautiful. I really think the quote is just saying that religion should be about love and faith, not hatred and hell. When it says “as gentle as a little girls kiss”, I just pictured the sweet welcome of religion and faith, soft and gentle.
Murtis is, an imagine which express a divine spirit. Pujas is an act showing reverance to a god. A Prasad is a gracious gift usually to a spirt or god. Finally, Mecca is located in Hejaz in Saudi Arabia. Though Pi is in a serious state of depression and hoplesness, I think its religion that actually helps him out of his depression. I think it would be incredibly hard to maintain your faith in a good god if you’re in one of the worst situations ever. I know I would start to loose my faith and question why a god would put me through such terrible torture for no reason. What it would take me to hold on to my faith would honestly be a miracle, I would need a sign that god is still there.
The one sentence of chapter 75 shows his power and strength to still love. Even though he is on the brink of dying Pi is still willing to think about his mother on her birthday. The power of love I think is another thing that keeps Pi alive.
Murti, which literally means "embodiment," is an image that expresses a deity. Puja is the act of worship. Prasad is a gift to a deity/god. Mecca is the Islamic holy city, located in Saudi Arabia.
I think Pi's quote about spreading faith rings very true. Preaching hell fire and condemnation to nonbelievers or pressuring others to take on your beliefs is not, I'm guessing, the way your god(s) (whomever he/she/they may be) intended you to spread the faith.
I don't think any god is responsible for the specific things that happen to us in life, so I don't think there is anything any god can do to stop what is happening to Pi. I think all Pi can do is keep faith, maybe for salvation, or maybe just for one good thing to hold onto during such a horrible time. I think maintaining faith would be easy at first- you believe that your god exists, but you are angry with him/her. Later I think it would get harder. How exactly would one maintain faith? I think that would involve reaching deep, deep inside oneself.
I think this quote is very true. People don’t want to become religious when it is forced upon them. When you are given a choice it feels great because you get to decide what you are going to do and no one else has a say in it. In Hinduism, a murti, or murthi, typically refers to an image which expresses a Divine Spirit. In Buddhism, puja are expressions of “ honour, worship, devotional attention.” In Hinduism, a prasad is a devotional offering made to a god, typically consisting of food that is later shared among devotees. Mecca is in Saudi Arabia.
God is all powerful so God chooses if he wants to put Pi out of despair. If I was in Pi’s situation it would be very difficult to maintain faith. I know God puts people through struggles to make them stronger but I don’t think that I could still be faithful when God is letting terrible things happen to me. This might sound weird but I think in chapter 75 the power came from Pi’s heart because he misses his mother very much and his disparity for his family gave him power.
I think that's a fantastic quote. I'm actually gettin it tattooed on my abs. On a more serious note though I love that quote. It is something I do believe in that religion and God shouldn't be all doom and gloom and fire and brimstone. It shouldnt be about standing on a street corner screaming at people that they will burn for eternity. It's about spreading the love of God through our faith and our actions. The kiss of a little girl thing is great because it is gentle and kind and that is exactly what Jesus talked about being. It would take a lot of faith to hold on to a god in pi's situation but it is in times like that when we prove our faith is real, when it isn't just convenient to believe in a God but when to actually do
In pi's sisuation, maintaining faith seems nearly impossible. The more the book goes on and we see the things that are happening to Pi, I find it hard to believe that anyone could have faith or hope in a time of despair. I think in his sisuation keeping faith is the hardest thing to do next to staying alive. If you don't have faith in something or someone where would we be in our own lives? I know for me..I wouldn't be very far if that was the case.
Maintaining faith takes everything you have. It takes the will and strive to want something, to live for something or someone. Keeping your faith takes patience and practice. What it requires more than anything, is love. If you love the thing you have faith in, anything is possible. Love is life changing and without love the world would be dark. Love and faith go hand in hand. Therefore keeping faith takes everything you are willing to put in and gives back what belongs to your heart.
Chater 75 is unlike anything I've ever read! Talk about short...
I have to agree though on how powerful it is. The power comes from Pi's heart. Even though Pi knows he lost his family and the most beloved women in his life, he will always love her. I think the most powerful thing is that even though she is gone, he is lost and it's been weeks since he has seen his mother, he trys to keep track of days enough to realize that her birthday is around this time. Singing happy birthday to her wasnt sad to me, but precious. I find it precious because he has accepted the fact she is gone but loves her so much that he wants to sing her happy birthday, knowing that she is listening from above
Murtis are images and other representations of a Divine Spirit in the Hinduism religion. Puja is the actual act of showing reverence to a god. Prasad is a gift to a god. Mecca is the Islamic holy city. Mecca is in Saudi Arabia. Being in Pi’s situation, I think it would be difficult for a lot of people to keep their faith strong. It would be so hard to believe that God has a plan for you when you are in a horrible situation, but I think his faith is what kept him strong. His faith keeps him hopeful, even if it doesn’t always seem like it. For me, it would take a lot for me not to lose my faith and to stay strong. Chapter 75 is a very powerful sentence. It is so meaningful to Pi. The power comes from the love he has for his mother, and his entire family.
I think doubt and faith go hand in hand. You can not have faith without a sense of doubt. I think when people got through the kind of suffering that Pi went throught it either makes or breaks a persons faithfulness to there god/gods. I think the a higher being and the hopes of salvation give Pi something to look forward to. Without this type of hope Pi may have given up long ago, but a sense that there is more to life keeps Pi going. I think it would be hard to maintain faith at times because you could not help but to ask "why did you do this to me." But in the same way I could see it strengthening a devotion because it is human nature to need someone and when no one is there to help, most people turn to a god in desperation. I think the sentence in chapter 75 gives Pi back a sense of identity showing he still loves his family. This shows his devotion to love.
I think doubt and faith go hand in hand. You can not have faith without a sense of doubt. I think when people got through the kind of suffering that Pi went throught it either makes or breaks a persons faithfulness to there god/gods. I think the a higher being and the hopes of salvation give Pi something to look forward to. Without this type of hope Pi may have given up long ago, but a sense that there is more to life keeps Pi going. I think it would be hard to maintain faith at times because you could not help but to ask "why did you do this to me." But in the same way I could see it strengthening a devotion because it is human nature to need someone and when no one is there to help, most people turn to a god in desperation. I think the sentence in chapter 75 gives Pi back a sense of identity showing he still loves his family. This shows his devotion to love.
Pi’s sudden reversion back to his former religious self seemed to be a coping mechanism to what Pi must have decided was his interminable condition of desolation. Death was a looming reality for Pi, and seemed to be just around the corner all the time. By relying on God for salvation, Pi is taking a mental burden off of himself by taking less responsibility for his condition. Rather than thinking, “I need to catch some fish to survive,” Pi would have the inclination to think “God will or will not allow me to have fish.” Even though Pi is ultimately responsible for his own salvation or destruction, I believe allocating a certain amount of reliance on a higher power allowed Pi to survive from day to day, especially when food was scarce. Mental health, somewhat more so than his immediate physical condition seemed a highly pertinent issue for Pi, which religion seemed quite able to assist with.
Murtis are sometimes abstract stone or metal images of a god in a human-like form.
Puja is the act of showing worship to a god (prayers, invocations, songs, rituals, etc.).
Prasad is a substance that is offered to a deity as a gift and then consumed.
Mecca is the birthplace of Muhammad and the place where the Quran was written so it is considered the holiest city to people of the Islam religion.
I think the power of Chapter 75 comes from pi showing how much he still loves and cares for his family even though he knows he is never going to see them again. He still feels the need to sing “Happy Birthday” to his mother even though it is very likely that she did not survive the sinking because he still loves her.
It would be very difficult to keep your faith if you were suffering like Pi is and to think that God could do something about it, but He isn't. You would probably think He is punishing you for something that you don't deserve and that's where most people lose their faith. In a situation like Pi's you can't look at what you have lost because it's gone, you have to look at what you can do with what you have left.
I find myself having a kind of respect towards the quote. I like that it relates to life in that no one really wants to be forced into something. It describes the genuine lure he feels toward religion.
Murtis are pictures of divine spirits. They serve as a means of communication between a god and the worshiper. A puja is a ceremony in which a offering is made. A prasad is an offering, usually an edible food, to a deity. It is then distributed, eaten, and considered to have a blessing in it. Lastly, Mecca is in western Saudi Arabia near the coast of the Red Sea.
The power in chapter 75 is profound because it illustrates the loneliness and grief that Pi has gone through. It shows that he he hopes his mother is still alive because he sang to her out loud on the day he estimated to be her birthday.
When you’re at your worship service, there are people around you silently pressuring you to believe what they do. If you don’t, then you shall be damned to hell. Then you have the leader preaching and shouting in passion about his faith and religion. It can be overbearing. When you’re on your own, just you and your sacred writings, you can be at peace and enjoy the faithful words you read, you can go at your own pace, interpret the words the way you think they should be interpreted.
Murtis are images that refer to the divine spirit in Hinduism.
Pujas is a religious ritual performed by Hindus.
Prasad translates to a ‘gracious gift’. It’s an consumable offering given to a deity.
Mecca is located in Saudi Arabia.
God is the world’s answer to life, death, and existence. If one’s faith is strong enough, they’ll look to their God as an answer to everything. They’ll rationalize everything that is happening to them as acts of God; “This is God’s way of testing my faith. He’s testing me to see if I’m worthy of his mercy.” or “This is God’s will- there’s a reason for all this. This is God’s plan for me.” Those thoughts and reasons are what could help that person survive. It gives them hope.
That one sentence shows how much Pi loved his mother. It made me wonder if he still had hope that she survived the accident.
I think it is a smart quote, very true. Letting people find faith and religion on their own rather than forcing them into a church or temple or any other religious place. People are more open to something if they go willingly and not be forced into it.
A murtis is a Hindu thing, it is usually an image in which a divine spirit is expressed.A puja is also a hindu thing, it is a religious ritual performed as an offering to special guests. A prasad is also Hindu and is a material substance that is offered and consumed. Mecca is in Saudi Arabia.
I think being in Pi's position it would be very hard to maintain faith, thoughts of why God would do that to you would be very hard to keep out of your mind.
The power of that comes from the strong bond of family and the hope that she is still out there or that she is somewhere good and can hear him.
Scripture and holy books really should speak for themselves. In them contains proposed stories of the creation of the universe, moral codes, ultimate paradise or ultimate agony, and a savior that is always looking out for you. Practitioners of a religion really don't have anything to add that is near as powerful as the religion itself and, if it is a reputable religion, it should be able to stand on its own without followers propping it up.
There's also an element of genuineness in there, I think. Just like a solicited compliment is less rewarding than an unsolicited one, worship or faith of free will means more than that a person has been pressured into.
I read a book written by a Holocaust survivor once, though I, regrettably, can't remember what it was called. In it, the author described the faith of the prisoners and how it changed throughout their experience. There were people, she said, that started off as very casual observers, In Name Only Jews, if you will, that became the most devoted followers she had ever seen. There were also people who had started off as rabbis, religious scholars, and other holy people that came out of the camps atheists.
Highly stressful situations push humans to the brink, and challenge not only their religious beliefs, but there perceptions of the world altogether. I don't think maintaining faith is necessarily a question of the strength of one's faith, but rather one's personality. I think certain personalities are conducive to turning to faith in hard times, and others are conducive of doubt or disbelief. Every person would, I believe, react a bit differently.
I love the quote. I think it proves true for everyone. If there wasn't so much pressure to be religous, i feel like more people would do it on their own rather than being forced into it. Pi was alone in his worship, just him and scripture, and it was peaceful and relaxed. That is how religion should feel. Him feeling that way is remarkable as I think it would be hard to keep faith throughout the journey he went through. In a situation like that, usually people tend to become reluctant to believe in God.
Chapter 75 has been my favorite chapter, not because it's length, but because it is so powerful in such a simple sentence. Pi misses his family, simple as that.
I absolutely love this quote! Coming from a Christian standpoint, this quote sums up the very task of evangelism. As a Christian, God asks me to not only find faith in him, but to spread God's love and mercy to those who do not know him. At times this is an incredibly hard task, because you never know when you may be offending someone or leaving a bad taste in their mouth. You want to get your point across, but you don't want to be overbearing and shove the gospel down someones throat. This quote is wonderful because it is saying that all you need is the word of God. You do not need the sometimes harsh words of a pastor, or the condemnation of hypocritical Christians or the peer pressure of overly excited evangelists. You simply need the word of God. Sometimes it is more pleasing to discover it yourself, because when you do, it is uplifting, powerful, life-changing, and it opens up a whole new world for your soul. There are always going to be the people that are over the top and are willing to do whatever it takes to get the word out, but to self-discover the word of the Lord is like a little piece of Heaven making its way down to Earth just to give you a little bit of hope!
A murtis is an image in Hinduism which expresses a divine spirit. It is like an idol, or human image, of a Hindu god. Puja is the worship of a particular god in the Hindu faith.
Mecca is the capital of the Makkah Province in Saudi Arabia. Mecca is the birthplace of Muhammad, a prophet of God, who united the Arab people under one religion, Islam. Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the Islam faith, and it is where followers are to make their pilgrimage to at least once in their lifetime, God-willing.
It is possible that God has the power to take someone out of despair because that is what faith is. Having faith in God is believing that he has the power to bring you through absolutely anything. No matter how big the problem, God can handle it. Faith is believing in the unseen and trusting that everything will work out in the end. It would be extremely hard to maintain faith when nothing seems to be going right, especially being stranded on a boat in the middle of an ocean with a tiger, and it would take much patience and loyalty in your religious practice to continue placing your trust in the fact that God is going to take care of you. No problem is too big for God, like they say, "If He brings you to it, He will bring you through it!"
A murti is a representation of a divinity as an image made of stone, wood, or metal. A prasad is a gracious gift that is offered to a deity, saint, perfect master, or avatar. Mecca is a city in Saudi Arabia. I agree that the sentence of chapter 75 is very powerful and meaningful to Pi. It's power I believe comes from his belief that his mother can still hear and that his mother is still their watching over him. She is not their physically but Pi can feel her presence spiritually. In a situation like Pi's it would be hard to maintain faith because he has the thought that he may never be found and that he will die out at sea. If he prays to his god and believes with all his heart that he can be saved and nothing is happening, then his reason for belief could diminish.
In my experience, religion is almost always something that feels forced. Parents force it on their kids, friends force it on other friends, priests along with other religious instructors force it on their audience, and so on. There is rarely an occurrence where religion is an option, where there is no barraging of rules and expectations. People have a black and white mindset, proclaiming that if you don't do or believe certain things, you will not be worthy enough of an afterlife. Yet religion is not strictly a black and white picture, but it is countless shades of grey and can be interpreted differently by each and every person. For example, if someone who has no idea about any religions reads the Bible and becomes a believer, that person will decipher what is and what is not appropriate to do in order to follow Jesus. Instead of going to church on a Sunday, maybe he/she would go somewhere quiet and pray. However, Christian churches of all sorts would claim that this is an insufficient form of worship. In all reality it is ridiculous to say such things, because no one living has ever been to heaven, and no one dead can speak about their afterlife; therefore, these religious expectations were merely the opinions of just one person long ago, of whose ideas have been molded into others' brains as facts for centuries. I agree with Pi when he says that he cannot think of a better way to spread the faith, because if there wasn't as much religious pressure as there is now, then people could get to know God on a more personal level.
The quote is about practicing religion by oneself. The Gideons who make the Bibles placed in hotels help to spread Christianity to those who want it, not by forcing it upon people with threats of fire and brimstone, but by letting them read the Bible on their own to let them make their own decisions about religion.
It would be very hard to keep faith in anyone or anything even in religion. I probably would have given up. It would take a sign from God to give me hope in survival. But then again Pi seems to be stronger in his convictions and it would be harder for him to be broken.
I think that religious institutions and some evangelism is needed to spread religion, but a book of scripture could be helpful. My pastor says that he was not saved when he received a Bible in part because he could not understand it, so I think that guidance is necessary in understanding each religion's book of scripture.
As far as the religious subject, I will first start with a secular point of view, then move on to a religious point of view. A secular person might say that there is a part of the brain that craves some sort of god and is used to reduce the fear of death. This part of the brain, when triggered, can have powerful effects on ones thoughts and emotions.
A religious person would say that the promise of eternal happiness trumps any part of temporary suffering. Why care about what is going on now when millions of years in the future you will be the happiest you have ever been?
The End
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