Nowhere have I seen the expression “stuck together in the same boat” brought to life more vividly than in the recent Academy Award winning film “Life of Pi” directed by Ang Lee, based on the adventure novel of same title by Yann Martel. Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel is the sole survivor of a shipwreck that ends his family’s trip from India to Canada with their collection of exotic animals. He is left alone in a small boat in the middle of the sea with a surviving Bengal tiger. The tiger being not tamed poses an enormous difficulty for Pi, but using the meagre resources available to him, he is gradually able to train and bring the animal to do his biddings, allowing them both ultimately to foster peace and co-habit in the same lifeboat. The boat finally washes ashore on the coast of Mexico where the tiger promptly disappears into a nearby forest and Pi finds rescue. During his ordeal at sea, Pi admits that he may have died without the tiger the initial fear of which keeps him alert and his eventual care of which gives his life purpose.
The author says in an interview that he wrote the book to make people believe in God. Viewers of the film are indeed encouraged to believe in God, but without overtly seeking God. What seems to be specially designed to make one seek God would appear to make it obvious that God is not for seeking. The manifestation of God pervades all realities, and although a man must first deny his existence to deny God, the greater impact is brought about by the simple truths of daily life, not in the constant verbal invocations to acknowledge God. An employee is promoted in his employment based on hard work and respect of rules not by a consistent clamour of the employer’s name. Many things are highlighted in the film to project the majesty of the Almighty, but what suffuses the senses is the overwhelming reality that forces man to look inward, focus on self reliance and adopt pragmatic measures for his survival. Any required help comes of its own accord, and it’s a waste of time to hanker hither and yon beyond the limits of one’s ability. It is an illustration that confines man within his bounds where everything is already provided for and can be afforded.
We are all confronted in our lifeboats with problems we would love to prevent. But hard as we may try, we can neither outwit worries, flee misfortunes nor escape mishaps that are designed to help us grow and mature based on choices we have freely made in the past. Psychologists paint problems with palatable pastel to portray them as mere ‘difficulties’ or ‘challenges’, but the fact remains however that the tough circumstance that becomes our lot is designed especially for us. Seeking to run away from it would be like an attempt to escape from a small boat with a ravenous tiger in the middle of the sea. The outcome will be worse and help will be always too far off and unattainable. True help lies in what we make out of our circumstance; no man can run away from himself. Each man must find the answer to his question.
Once we resolve the problem we evolve to the next stage of development; the debt is paid, everything is compensated and we can move on. This is beautifully illustrated with the tiger promptly jumping out of the boat once at shore and disappearing into the forest without as much as a mere glance backwards at Pi despite having been stranded at sea with him for 227 days. Pi does not understand this and cries in disappointment. But in the way of nature, things are not designed to serve the sentiments of individuals but rather to enforce balance. Looking back makes no difference in the final moment of separation.
We find that everything is presented in nature to fulfil our needs, and it is preposterous and conceited of us to go after heavenly stars to the stark negligence of earthly sparks. We earnestly seek the knowledge of God but often fail to see the hints in the reality of our existence, in the manifestation of His Will through the nature around us. We go to the end of the earth to seek inner peace, we scale the highest mountains but find no fulfilment. The question of God still sets everyone on every quest without rest; scientists are frustrated, atheists are irritated, seekers seek in holy books, some listen to high priests, others await the coming of a deliverer and non is at ease. What we seek above is already provided below, but we don’t see. It is all as in the words of the poet, we “search for the Friend with all our passion and all our energy, until we learn that we don’t need to search”. Nothing has seemed to change since the times of the dreamers who seek treasure abroad but find it at home.
