The True Sin,

is choosing to stay ignorant.

Life of Pi

I recently finished the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Very touching story, and reminder of how none of us are far from having to resort to the things that Pi did. Time after all is just an illusion and as Pi (or Martel) says, a person can get used to anything.



Another aspect of the book that caught my attention is Martel's profound description of the Hindu philosophy. So I'll type that part of the book out here:



There is Brahman, the world soul, the sustaining frame upon which is woven, warp and weft, the cloth of being, with all its decorative elements of space and time. There is Brahman nirguna, without qualities, which lies behond understanding, beyond description, beyond approach; with our poor words we sew a suit for it-One, Truth, Unity, Absolute, Ultimate Reality, Ground of Being-and try to make it fit, but Brahman nirguna always bursts the seams. We are left speechless. But there is also Brahman saguna, with qualities, where the suit fits. Now we call it Siva, Krishna, Shakti, Ganesha; we can approach it with some understanding; we can discern certain attributes-loving, merciful, frightening-and we feel the gentle pull of relationship. Brahman saguna is Brahman made manifest to our limited senses, Brahman expressed not only in gods but in humans, animals, trees, in a handful of earth, for everything has a trace of the divine in it. The truth of life is that Brahman is no different from atman, the spiritual force within us, what you might call the soul. The individual soul touches upon the world soul like a well reaches for the water table. That which sustains the universe beyond thought and language, and that which is at the core of us and struggles for expression, is the same thing. The finite within the infinite, the infinite within the finite.....atman seeks to realize Brahman, to be united with the Absolute, and it travels in this life on a pilgrimage where it is born and dies, and is born again and dies again, and again, and again, until it manages to shed the sheaths that imprison it here below. The paths to liberation are numerous, but the bank along the way is always the same, the Bank of Karma, where the liberation account of each of us is credited or debited depending on our actions.

Humor

The beautiful thing about humor is that not only can it bring levity and exhilarating laughter; it can also help to get people of opposing views on the same page, even if for a brief moment.