Let’s Talk About Faith

Let’s Talk About Faith

In Life of Pi, Pi, as a young boy, discovers three different religions. Pi seems drawn to these religions and found a teacher in each. When Pi’s teachers from each religion met each other conflict arose and they all started telling the other how their religion was “wrong,” due to the stereotypes that each knew about the other religions. Religion is one of the foundations of the world we live in. At one point it was used to explain the unexplainable and now it is used to give people a community of belief in a higher power. The three most practiced religions in the world today are Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.

Hinduism is considered a pantheistic religion. This means this is a religion that believes God and the universe are the same. And Hinduism is both a polytheistic and a monotheistic religion, this oxymoron is explained through the fact that in this religion's practices they worship many Gods that are all different forms of one God. This variation allows Hinduism to be accepting of other religions because other religions beliefs can be practiced and explained within Hinduism. The three main forms of God are Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. Within Hindu practice, there is the belief that every soul is trapped in a cycle of birth-death-rebirth called Samsara and this is possible through reincarnation, the idea that souls are reborn after death. Every Hindu wants to escape from this cycle and achieve oneness with Brahma, called Moksha, the way one can achieve Moksha is through Dharma. Dharma is doing one’s moral duty in this life so that one can be reborn into a better position in one's next life and eventually achieve Moksha. One's Dharma depends on their status in society, and their position in the caste system. The caste system is a system within Hinduism that specifies who someone can marry, determines the type of work they can do, and even limits the things they can eat or touch. Historically, the caste system dates back to the Aryan invasion of India around 2,000 BC. The four main groups of the caste system are explained in this Passage from the Rig Veda that shows how the world was formed from Purusha's body:"The Brahman was his mouth, his two arms became the rajanya (Kshatriya), his thighs are what the vaisya are, and from his feet the shudra was made." The Brahmin is the highest caste of the caste system and they were the religious men, seers, priests, and the intellectual and spiritual leaders. Outside of the caste system, these people would be the philosophers, religious leaders, and teachers. The next caste is the Kshatriyas. Kshatriyas are the warriors they protect the society and the nobles. Outside of the caste system, these people would be the politicians, police, and the military. One level down is the Vaisyas. Vaisyas are the merchants and the craftsmen that produced material things and sold them. The bottom level of the caste system is the Shudras. These are the people working in the fields or doing menial work. There is also a fifth group outside of the caste system, "the untouchables." They are the lowest part of society. Considered unclean, and should not be touched. These people are often discriminated against. They do jobs no one else wants to do including dealing with the waste of humans and animals or dead bodies and these people live lives of poverty. The author included this religion in the book due to the setting of the book. Pi is Indian and Hinduism is followed by about 70 percent of the roughly seven hundred million people of India. So it is reasonable that his family could be “practicing” or affiliated with this religion through where they live.

Islam is a monotheistic religion believed to have been revealed through Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah. In the Islamic faith, prophet is the word used to describe a divine messenger. Prophets are believed to be appointed by God, which deliver his messages or teachings. The Islamic faith describes Adam, the first human, as the original prophet. That being said the prophets of Islam are Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Muhammad is regarded as one of the most important prophets, due to the fact that he was the most recent prophet sent by God. It is believed his purpose was to restore humanity to the path of the Islamic faith. The tragic loss of his sons had caused Muhammad to attempt to cure his problems through meditation. Around 610 AD, he began to hear “messages from God,” as he put it. One vision told him that he was the “messenger of God,” while the other gave him the message he needed to convey to the people of Mecca. Throughout his life, Muhammad continued to spread these messages and with them the Muslim religion. The Muslim holy book is the Quran. Muslims believe the Quran was dictated to Muhammad by God through the Angel Gabriel. Muslims are also told in the Quran to read three other holy books: the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, the Zabur, the Psalms of David, and the Injeel, the gospel of Christ. Followers of Islam are called Muslims. Muslims believe Islam was revealed over 1400 years ago in Mecca, Arabia. The Arabic word for God is Allah. According to Muslims, God sent many prophets to mankind to teach them how to live according to His law.

Christianity is considered a monotheistic religion. This means this religion believes there is only one God. Within this one God there are three, the Holy Trinity; the father, the son, and the holy spirit. The father is god himself. The son is Jesus. And the holy spirit is the version of god that the followers of Christianity accept into themselves. Christianity originated in Roman occupied Jerusalem, in a dominantly Jewish society. Christianity came around to satisfy beliefs within the Jewish faith including the belief of the coming of a Messiah that had developed among the Jewish Cohen or priests. Early on Christianity worked on leading the Jewish people away from stiff rituals and leaders. Christianity was originally practiced in rural areas and appealed more towards the lower classes of society. Christianity started with Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet and teacher who claimed he was the Son of God. Jesus preached in Israel about a purification of the Jewish faith. That he claimed would free Israel and establish God's kingdom