It is a parody of religious studies, a satire on religious-philosophical movements and sects, a "canonization" of "ideologies, works, and great men.
[6] The essence of the story is a pure reflection of the sect's views, its theoretical works and its main figure – Antonov, after whom it was named, the attributes of the members of this movement, etc.
[8] After Antonov's "self-realization" (in ordinary parlance, death), his "mardong," that is, a specially treated corpse turned into a statue, becomes a place of pilgrimage for the sectarians.
The popular phrase about the duality of light and darkness, right and left, life and death finds its philosophical realization in the author's text, which makes us think about the justice of his character's dialectical judgment.
That is, time, space, memory, sleep, life, death become in Pelevin the categories of one series, one philosophical system.