Pick One, Pi

Exploited, yet she stands holy to three different religions. Harassed, yet war has raged for centuries for possession of her. Explosions occur daily in her heart, yet men will lay on her surface to worship. The great city of Jerusalem is holy to three religions, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The ongoing war between the Muslims and the Jews and Christians rages, but why? Some would wonder why all three religions cannot coexist in the city and be content. In context, the religions harmonizing sounds perfect, but in reality, is impossible; their religions, like white socks and flip-flops, clash. They do not believe the same way, and each religion will continue to fight until the Holy Land is in their possession. Piscine (Pi) Patel, a character in Life of Pi by Yann Martel, practices three religions, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Because of the religions’ mass differences, fervently practicing all three is impossible.

Pi grows up in India where Hinduism stands as the primary religion. Currently, 80.5 percent of Indians are Hindu. Naturally, Pi’s first religion he stands loyal to is Hinduism, a religion believing in reincarnation and Supreme Beings in every form. Although attending a Christian school grade school, Pi never investigates Christianity. He obtains some ideas about Christians and thinks they are just people who have “few gods and great violence.” After discovering an open door in a church, and after speaking to the priest, conversion begins. Pi finds it intriguing that the answer to every question comes back to Christ’s sacrifice for mankind and His eternal love. Two religions, two totally different beliefs, yet he continues to exercise both. One believes in many gods, the other has one God. One religion believes in reincarnation, the other, life after death where people will not return as someone or something else. The conflict only becomes worse.

The introduction to Islam comes after Pi walks into a Muslim shop and witnesses the shopkeeper roll out his prayer rug, praying towards Mecca (one of his five daily prayers.) The worshiping together started in the shop, and continued through Pi’s life. Muslims believe in one God, Allah, and that Muhammad was the last prophet. Like the Christians, the belief in one God exists, but the Christians do not consider Muhammad holy.

A belief in certain aspects of different religions has happened through the ages, or else we would not have so many different branches broken off of Christianity. After a foundation of beliefs is laid though, two choices remain. One can choose to join the church that comes closest to all his beliefs, or establish a whole new church. Pi does not choose either. In Pi not choosing one religion or establishing his own (maybe he could call it the Histianlam church to combine the parts he likes from each religion) the reader comes to the conclusion that a complete loyalty and conversion to religion does not exist. Pi is not completely interested in figuring out his personal beliefs. “One cannot serve two masters,” and, in practicing three contradicting religions, Pi is trying to.

A significant part of the novel is portrayed at the visiting of the “three wise men.” Pi invites a priest – Christian, an imam – Muslim, and a pandit – Hindu, to the zoo to meet each other and come to a realization that Pi is a common denominator between them. To say the meeting went horribly would be an understatement. Accusations are thrown around like footballs with comebacks made immediately to follow. The three argue about who’s religion is correct (which is pointless because none would end up changing their beliefs because of what another man says.) The imam expresses one sentence of truth when he says, “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian, and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose.” He must choose.

Pi runs on the platform of only wanting to worship God. Valid, but again contradicting in the way he wants to go about it. Hindus believe in many gods. The Christian religion is based on God sending his son to redeem all men. Muslims believe God has no sons and that Jesus was only a Muslim prophet of God and was not crucified. Pi needs to find out which God(s) he want to worship, and once he does that, he will be moving towards a more complete and pure worship of God.

A situation like Pi’s confusion in religion will appear one way or another to everyone at a certain point in their lives. People think for themselves and a time will come in their lives when a personal testimony of beliefs must be gained. They cannot and will not only believe what everyone tells them forever, they must find out for themselves. I was born into a family who taught me about my religion. I have found out for myself numerous times that the religion is right for me through prayer and personal revelation. I still practice the same religion I was born into, and I know for myself it is true; I know the way I want to worship God. My religion guides my life and affects every choice I make. I know what I want to do in life because of my religion. The confusion Pi’s experiencing will end up affecting crucial, life-changing decisions he will make in the future, and in order to obtain stability, he needs a firm foundation, a firm foundation of one religion to lead his life and help him build a relationship with the God he wants to worship.