The Practice of Hinduism by Pi in The Life of Pi, a Novel by Yann Martel

Have you ever heard of a name called “Piscines”? I am mostly convinced that you are not very familiar with this name, However, you might know about Pi. The boy who practiced three religions and whose family used to own a 200 but encountered some accident while moving to another country, Pi’s beliefs are all based on Hinduism, “all religions are true” doesn’t mean they are able to tolerate each other and practicing multiple religions is unacceptable First of all, I believe that all the religions Pi practiced are based on Hinduism.

As an Indian, he might believe in Krishna When he decided that he was going to be a Christian, he “offer[ed] thanks to Lord Krishna for having put Jesus of Nazareth in [his] way”, which demonstrates his belief in Christianity was indeed under the frame of Hinduism. In fact, I think that what Pi believed was not the religion of Christianity, but the idea of the saints.

The idea of the saints is to love and to tolerate. My thought is also proved by Gandhi that “Religion is one tree with many branches” which shows that what Pi believed was all under the frame of his family’s religion. The reason that Pi admired Gandhi so much was Gandhi represents Hinduism, Therefore, I think the religions Pi was attracted to were based on Hinduism Second of all, even though religions have the same purpose, they are not all the same. I admit that all “religions are different roads converging to the same point”.

Get quality help now

Sweet V

Verified

Proficient in: Belief

4.9 (984)

“ Ok, let me say I’m extremely satisfy with the result while it was a last minute thing. I really enjoy the effort put in. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Nonetheless, I disagree with the saying that all religions are able to tolerate each other. According to the Ten Commandments from the Bible, “I am The Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me”.

That means it is impossible for a Christian to have other beliefs at the same time. In addition, Islam is also a monotheistic religion. The imam claimed that “Hindus and Christians are idolaters” because they “they have many gods”. To summarize, it is impossible for Pi to believe in multiple religions at the same time. Last but not least, to practice multiple religions at the same time is unacceptable Pi quoted from Bapu Gandhi that “All religions are true“ to prove that it is reasonable to practice more than one religion at the same time. Whereas people around him gave him examples to retort his idea. The priest said, “Piscine is a good Christian boy. I hope to see him join our choir soon”.

“My parents, the pandit and the imam looked surprised when they heard the priest’s word. Then the imam said, “You must be mistaken. He’s a good Muslim boy, He comes without fail to Friday prayer, and his knowledge of the Holy Qur’an is coming along nicely”. “My parents, the priest, and the pandit looked incredulous” when they heard the imam’s opinion. The pandit spoke at last “You’re both wrong. He is a good Hindu boy. I see him all the time at the temple coming for darshan and performing puja. “My parents, the imam and the priest looked astounded” after hearing the pandit‘s thought. The three words: surprised, incredulous and astounded shows the unbelievable feeling. Thereby, the majority of people cannot accept the action of practicing multiple religions at the same time.

In conclusion, Pi can only practice one religion because all the religious Pi believed are based on his family’s religion, respecting others’ belief does not mean being approved of believing in multiple religions, and practicing multiple religions is unacceptable to a lot of people. I think that Pi was so respectful of all religions and respectful of all gods that he thought that he was believing all of them. However, he admitted that he“[has] been a Hindu all [his] life”(Marte149) and that “the universe makes sense to [him] through Hindu eyes”. Everyone has their own opinion on religions but we should have one thing in common: to respect others’ belief. What’s more, we need to recognize and understand our true selves.