 |
| http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/wallpaper/gandhi_desktop_2955x4048_wallpaper-309823.jpg |
Why can't Pi practice all three religions? Since our country is primarily Christian in its religious beliefs, from a Christian point of view, why would this be impossible?
How is it that Gandhi (pictured above) -- who is dead -- is able to settle this argument...kind of?
Assuming that all things in a book serve a purpose, why would Pi's story need to include an account of his brother's mockery? What does this add to the story?
What kind of behavior is Pi describing in Chapter 25? Does this behavior exist in American churches today?
Why would religious people want to keep Pi out of their church? No matter what religion we're talking about, isn't one of the basic tenets to love everyone?
19 comments:
Pi is able to see the believes and understand the three religions (Hindu, Christianity, and Muslim) in which he respects and participates in their religious ceremonies. Though the religious leaders in his village and his parents can't understand why he can't pick one over the other, he is able to use the wisdom of Gandhi who says "All religions are true" (69). Rejected by churches and holy places for being of other religions, I feel that it is hypocritical for the religious leaders to act upon such things that Pi does. All he is is open-minded and wanting to love everyone, like many religions that believe in that.
Ok... So this comment is farther ahead then you have available to comment on. In chapter's 30 to 36 we find out that in the italics is the writer talking to Pi. Who as a wife named Meena who is a pharmacist. He also has a son named Niklil who go's by Nick, and he plays baseball. Pi also has a daughter named Usha who is four years old. Lastly he has a dog named Tata and a cat named Moccasin.
WE FIND OUT WHO RICHARD PARKER IS CHAPTER 37!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pi can't practice three different religions because each religion is different from another and they each have different belifs on doing things. From a christian point of view this would be impossible because christians believe in only one god and believeing in many different religions would be insane.In chapter 25 Pi describes the behavior of people as mean i guess would be the word, and non accepting. They kick him out of churches becasue they don't accept what Pi is doing. TO be honest I dont really know if this happens in churches today, I go to church and do not see it but that doesnt mean it doesnt happen. I think religious people would want to keep Pi out of their church because they do not understand Pi and why he would be intrested in 3 religions and not following one religion like everyone else.
From a Christian point of view the reason Pi would not be able to practice all three religions is because in the Christina religion you are meant to only praise one god and one god only. Practicing all three religions in a sense is like mixing all your favorite foods in one combination. Taking what you like from one religion to the next and combining them into one daily routine just doesn’t fit together.
Pi settled the argument by using a quote from Gandhi say “all religions are true” (90) and all that Pi wanted to do is, “love god” (90) Through this honest line it made all the arguing slow down, Pi showed he didn’t mean to do anything wrong by practicing all the religions.
The reason for his brother’s mockery is to show almost how society would see Pi and his meshing of three very different religions.
The behavior shown in Chapter 25 is mainly the want to keep religions separated. The three men from the different religions were annoyed at Pi for practicing three religions instead of sticking with one. I totally think that this behavior is still shown in churches today all religions want to be kept separated. I have never met a Muslim/Hindu/Christian before ever.
Even though in many religions it is stressed to love everyone, but what that means is blurred in a way. Yes you must love everyone, but the loving of every god and every person isn’t specifically said. So many people take that literally, and believe that their specific religion is the “right” one. Many religious people would want to keep Pi out of their church just for that reason, him loving many different religious God’s are seen as wrong in many religions.
I believe that Pi doesn't just believe in God but in spirituality in general. He wants to love all the Gods no matter what religion.
Personally I'm floating in the abyss of religion. Apparently I'm agnostic (from what others have deemed me). I really do enjoy reading Pi's religious experiences because I feel like he is making a strong point. This point, I believe, is that it does not matter what religion you follow but that you have spirituality.
I think that religious people want to keep Pi out of their church because he does not have a set faith. Each religious person believes that their religion is the right one (no offense) so if Pi comes in believing in many different ways of life, he shatters the allusion that they are right.
Pi decided to convert to three different religions (Hinduism, Christianity, and Muslim) because he was curious to understand each religion. His parents never forced him follow one religion, so he browsed through three to decide which one he wanted to be a part of. Pi enjoyed all three religions and wanted to follow them all. Pi is forbade by the "three wise men" to follow more than one of the religions because each religion has a different set of beliefs and practices. From a Christian point of view, one could not be Christian and be Islamic or Hindu because Christianity is monotheistic. Also, they all have different guidelines in its practices.
Pi uses Ghani to help his case when he says, "Ghandi said 'All religions are true.' I just want to love God (92)." This helps bolster Pi's argument by showing that all he is trying to do is make a loving, personal connection with God.
The reason Martel adds Ravi's mockery of Pi in the book is to show that not all people will anderstand why Pi chooses to practice three religions.
In chapter 25, Pi describes those people that say they are religious and go to church, but when they are challenged with seeing people in trouble or in need of help, they turn the other cheek. These people will scold someone for dissing their God or their religion, but refrain from practicing the basic principle of their religion, like helping helping those in need. People like this would want to keep Pi out of their church because he sees religion differently. It is human nature to ostracize someone who thinks differently than others.
Pi's story needed to include an account of his brother's mockery, because this gives Pi someone to prove wrong. This also shows that not everyone was accepting of Pi's decisions.
Religious people would want to keep Pi out of their church, because they would not want Pi to bring in other religions in their church. To go along with what Maggie said, the Christian relgion believes that you should only believe in one God, and the Hindu religion believes in several.
It's impossible for Pi to practice all three religions because according to Christianity, you can only worship one God. I'm still confused at this point how Pi plans on accomplishing that goal. People would want to keep Pi out of their church because what he does is different than anything that they're used to. Many of the more traditional religious leaders aren't open to change and look at things they way they were taught to. They are willing to disregard the idea of loving everyone to stick to their traditional beliefs. This happens a lot, even today in my own church. The older people that are used to practicing Christianity refuse to even address issues that are brought up in response to they ways that society has changed.
From a Non-Christian point of view, it is easy to see that denominations and sects are extremely territorial over all manners. Each religion strives to live in the promised land, each religion speaks the true word of god, and each religion is the chosen people.
A Catholic cannot be a Muslim simply because Catholics are not Muslims. They claim different lineage, the claim different "truths", they claim different fidelities.
What these leaders and "wisemen" fail to realize and accept is that, like art, each different religious belief is its own expression of reality. Religion is the claim to a reality based on that of beings greater than us, and each seperate religion is an individual expression of that reality. Jews, Christians, Hindus, Mahayanas, and Muslims are no different from each other than Impressionists, Realists, Surrealists, and Abstractists are.
The behavior that Pi describes is simply denial.not the denial that one is angry, or that one is hurt, but the denial that one is wavering in conviction. These men claim themselves to be the compassionate Hindus, the loving Christians, and the proud Jews, but the very idea that they may not be true to a faith that they claim to follow is blasphemous to them. Their outward anger is an attempt to expel their doubt. To convince themselves that they are faithful by convincing everyone else.
As a Christian, I feel it is impossible to practice Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. The reason I say this is because for one, Islam and Christianity believe in one supreme being, and that is God or Allah; however, Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. Although this is a big factor in which all of these religions cannot be practiced by one person, there is an even bigger explanation. In Christianity. Christians not only believe in God, but the son of God, Jesus as well. Neither Islam nor Hinduism recognize the fact that Jesus is the son of God and that Jesus was crucified to pay for the sins of man so that we may spend an eternity in Heaven with God our Father. That is the most important thing in the Christian faith, and in order to be a Christian, you have to believe that with all of your heart, and when practicing two other religions without Jesus being present in either, it is impossible to be a surrendered Christian.
As for the last questions, religious people would want to keep Pi out of their church, no matter what religion we are speaking about because every religious person wants to see a human 100% dedicated to their religion. For example, the priest wants Pi to be a Christian and only a Christian, and the same goes for the Imam and the Pandit. No religious leader wants to see a person that has been practicing their religion practice two more religions as well. They all believe their religion is the only religion that is "right". It is true that a basic tenet is to love everyone, but in any religion, greedy minds and judgmental thoughts tend to get in the way of the basic principle of any religion, to love everyone.
What moved Pi to practice three religions is the want of a loving and caring God. Pi believes that he can worship and serve the same God in many different ways. This feeling gives him satisfaction. I think it is so sad that his elders tell him he can't practice all three religions. They restrict him from being a great follower of God and show the world who he really is. It would be impossible to practice all three religions in our country mainly because of how judgmental people are. It is just against what people believe in this country. If you practice more than one religion then it shows you are not a devout Christian. Ghandi saw religion as a time and place to worship God. He was able to settle this argument because as long as you were living your life through and for God then you were living the life that man was meant to live. The mockery from his brother is used in this book to show that Pi is living a life on his own. He has people who put him down and tell him what he is doing is wrong. But this motivates him to be a great person and go out of the "normal" and out of the comfort zone of most people. In chapter 25 the behavior Pi describes is how the people in every religion don't accept change. People do not like people who are different than them and are not very accepting, and this is what Pi describes. In many many churches this behavior exists. Churches want their members only and do not accept anything different and do not welcome their arms to many different kinds of people. People would want to keep Pi out of their church because of how many religions he practices. Many people do not believe in that concept and don't think that you can put your heart and soul 100% in God if you are practicing so many religions. One of the greatest things to learn in religion is to love everyone. No matter race, sex, or religion, God teaches everyone to love each other and treat each other like brothers.
Pi is a very curious boy. At the beggining of the book you could see that he was very smart and loved to learn. Pi is also very religious. Combining his curiosity, love of god, and love of learning, Pi tried to pursue 3 religions. Each religion (Hinduism, Christianity, and muslim) fascinated him, and he wanted to know more. He learned about all three of them, and the more he learned about these religions, the more he loved each one. Because he was so fascinated with these religions, he could not just choose one, he decided to become all three. It is impossible to practice all three religions because 2 of them worship one god, while the other one worships many gods. Also, every religion has a different belief. Ghandi is able to settle the arguement because Pi is getting yelled at for following 3 religions but by quoting ghandi, he was able to calm down the people yhelling at him. This made them think that every religion loves god, and all pi wanted to do was love god, he was just doint it in a different way. I think his brothers mockery was in chapter 24 because it shows how others would percieve Pi. I think cullen was pretty dead on, when he said people think that they practice their religion, but they dont really do it. They defend god when someone makes fun of him, but when it comes to the things that matters, such as helping the homeless, the sick, etc., they will not give it a thought. I dont really go to church that often but i still think this behavior exists, but i also think it has improved. there are still some people that call themselves tru followers of god but wouldnt spare a penny to help a homeless person in need. On the other hand, there are also people that are going on mission trips and things like that to help out others, just as god would want them to do. I think religious people want to keep Pi out of their church because they simply do not approve of the other religions views on god.
I think that since Pi's parents did not bring him up in a single religion, Pi did not really know what to believe and was curious, which led him to join three separate religions. Children develop their beliefs and values from their religion. So because Pi did not belong to a religion as a child, he did not have certain beliefs and was confused when he started learning about different religions.
Since the Christian religion follows the teachings of Jesus Christ, practicing all three religions would be impossible, from a Christian point of view, because the other two religions do not follow Jesus Christ's teachings.
Gandhi kind of settles the argument when Pi quotes a statement by Gandhi saying that "all religions are true." When the leaders of the three religions Pi belongs to begin to argue, pointing out the flaws in the other religions, Pi quoting Gandhi reminds the three leaders that no religion is wrong.
Pi was moved to practice all religions probably due to curiosity. His parents were never really involved in religion, and I think that moved Pi to find out what was out there for himself. He is able to practice all three because he finds beauty in all of them, and this allows him to practice inter-faith. I think religions would want to keep Pi out because they are afraid. The don't want people finding faith in all religions because they want their religion to be the ONE religion. They just don't understand how people can be different, and find things in all religions that they like. I have to say that I was really moved by Pi's way of practicing all the religions.
Pi made the decision to practice three different religions because he loves god. He couldn't see why he shouldn't be able to practice these if he truly loves god. It may seem impossible from the christian point of view simply because there are one set of beliefs and it is practiced relatively the same way. How can one practice three separate religions? They contradict one another in some ways and they all have different practices. Even though these things are true Pi is doing it simply because he loves god. Religious people do have a reason to not want Pi to be in their churches but if we all have the idea that loving everyone is the right thing then why is it such an issue? Yes, he believes in multiple things and practices them in various ways but the issue seems to be that unless you share the same beliefs as another you are an outsider. There is something you just cannot understand about that person. But Pi can understand the point of view of many different people who believe in many different things
Though Pi's family was not an orthodox religious family, he was still moved to practice three different religions. I feel that if Pi's family would have been more orthodox then maybe Pi would have stuck with his Hindu faith. Pi followed his love for learning about God and religion and discovered the different faiths. Though I am a Catholic, I understand why there is a problem with practicing all three religions. There are some vastly different views and different number of gods. Ghandi was able to settle it by once saying, "All religions are true" (69).
The account of Pi's brother mockery shows that it is hard for another person to understand why Pi is doing that. I am not a huge fan of practicing different religions, but I do like the idea of believing in different ideals from different religions. It shows that not one religion is superior and that we can learn from all of it.
The end.
Post a Comment