Analysis : A River Sutra By Gita Mehta

“The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it (James Bryce). If measured by the rule of the quote, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow has tremendous worth. Randy Pausch, a professor dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” at Carnegie Mellon in 2007. In the book, he reflects upon the lessons of his life experiences mentioned in the lecture. The lessons addressed ways to lead a fulfilled life. At first, his experiences seemed to be entertaining stories from his past, but as he progressed through each chapter, I began to realize the mentoring quality of the stories. From the lessons, I carried away invaluable advice. While it would be difficult to visit and elaborate upon every lesson, there were three that were most memorable to me: the importance of obstacles in our life, how honesty is a better character builder than false praise, and the uselessness of complaining.

Siddhartha becomes a rich man and soon loses his desire to search for Nirvana.  Along with Kamala, a man named Kamaswami influences Siddhartha.  He convinces Siddhartha that material possessions can "fill" his life.  Siddhartha takes the advice, and he begins to live his life for money.  He starts to gamble and to compromise his true beliefs for material pleasure. While living in the village, Siddhartha slips into a deep depression.  He feels that he has lost a part of his soul, and he attempts to commit suicide.  However, during this attempt, Siddhartha becomes reborn and longs once again for Nirvana (http://splavc.spjc.cc.fl.us/hooks/ew/SmithSidd.html).  At this time, Siddhartha meets a ferryman named Vasudeva.  Vasudeva fascinates Siddhartha the way Buddha did (Welch 71).  Vasudeva tells Siddhartha that the way to find inner peace is by listening to the river.  He also tells Siddhartha that the river will teach him two things; however, Siddhartha must learn these things on his own.  Siddhartha's relationship with the ferryman is the key for Siddhartha to reach Nirvana.  Eventually, Siddhartha takes the place of Vasudeva as ferryman, and he soon attains

With every experience, there is a lesson learned. In Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, as the main character Siddhartha journeys through life, each experience he encounters teaches him a different aspect of the value of life. Through his relationship with Kamala he learns the importance of love, when he tries to commit suicide he realizes the beauty of life, and when he lives with the ferryman he is taught to listen and ultimately achieve the end goal to life, Nirvana.

There have been many teachers in one’s lifetime, some more important than others. These teachers and instructors affect different people in different ways, and lessons are learned that are important to prepare for real life situations. In the book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, a young Brahmin named Siddhartha is not content with his current spiritual self. Siddhartha is directed to spiritual enlightenment and Nirvana because of his guidance and teaching from Kamala, Kamaswami, and Vasudeva.

“What could I say to you that would be of value except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.” (113) Siddhartha, a book written by Hermann Hesse, is about this young boy who throughout the book grows to an old man who, throughout his journey, seeks to attain enlightenment. He comes from a Brahmin family and later decides to become a samana and lives in the woods with his “shadow”,Govinda. Siddhartha is distracted with obstacles throughout his life and ultimately finds a way to conquer them.

How one should live his or her life is a concept that has been discussed for centuries. It is debated, written about, argued over, killed for, and envied. Advice is offered at every turn. Parents, family members, elders, friends, teachers, athletes, authors, politicians, all have their say. But only one’s self can decide how they want to live life. After a year of reading, discussing and arguing this point in English 9 Honors, it can be determined for person to live their best possible life then they should make the world around them a better place by treating others as they wish to be treated, doing everything to the best of their ability, and loving.

When you hit rock bottom, it becomes extremely difficult to get back up. The moment you do get up though, your life changes forever. In the novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, the protagonist Siddhartha finds himself contemplating suicide after experiencing a series of unfortunate events. He has to dig deep to get himself out of the situation and afterwards he gets caught within deep, remorseful thoughts. He finds a river and is reminded of what his original goal was and because he was on a journey to enlightenment he was able to be reminded of the spiritual muttering “om.” This moment is pivotal because Siddhartha is finally able to find his Self again.

The two boys leave the town to join the Samanas, a group of people who believe that spiritual enlightenment comes with the rejection of body and all other needs. The boys quickly realize that their ideas of the group are very different, Govinda loves the way that improvements that he has gained spiritually and morally. While Siddhartha has yet to reach the spiritual enlightenment that he wishes to achieve. “Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas; he learned many ways of losing the Self. He traveled along the path of self-denial through pain, through voluntary suffering and conquering of pain, through hunger, thirst and fatigue. He traveled the way of self-denial through meditation, through the emptying of the mind through all images. Along these and other paths did he learn to travel. He lost his Self a thousand

In a society where hardships occur daily, it is vital to have something to hold on to as an anchor. This reliance or commitment is in the form of friends, family, or even tangible possessions; however, humans sometimes have to fulfill deeds for others instead of continually thinking of themselves. Given these obligations, there results both a need and a desire to complete certain tasks for other individuals, for a community, or even for a higher power. In his novel, A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines quite successfully portrays the theme of the importance of obligation and commitment through presenting an effective setting and community, constructing strong relationships between characters, and providing

You go outside on a beautiful sunny day, it's gorgeous outside in the daylight you’re enjoying yourself often playing on your own wandering around and you are completely aware of your surroundings. Suddenly it turns pitch black, it's nighttime. You’re lost and frightened, completely alone you stumble not completely sure what you are doing. Without the help of a few travelers and your own “gut” decisions, you're able to make your way back into the light. Like a weight has lifted off of your shoulders and you are freed. Similarly with the story of Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, which tells the tale of a young man, Siddhartha, a respected son of a Brahmin who breaks away from traditional way of Ancient India on a journey to find inner peace

Mae West, an American actress and screenwriter, once said that “you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough”. However, people have different philosophies of what the “right” way to live life is. Priorities and routines differ for most people and some believe that because the way that they live works for them, they should encourage other to live in a similar way, like Thomas Jefferson, Machiavelli, and Pema Chodron. While Jefferson and Machiavelli exhibit strong arguments through their use of argumentative strategies, Chodron’s document “Start Where You Are” is the most effective of the three in terms of evidence-usage, connecting to the audience, and overall

Chapter 18 is all about doing what you enjoy, and enjoying the things you do. A person who finds himself happy in doing things that are not their preference has mastered the ability of finding a sense of meaningfulness. When I achieve my goal of become a Physical Therapist, I will definitely be enjoy what I do as a career. Another way to become my ideal self is to stop dwelling on problems. Chapter 81 is all about thinking about problems. A smart person differentiates between productive and counterproductive thinking and speaking. I try to take positive actions to prevent and solve problems. When in a positive state, i can think more clearly about problems and difficulties. I believe that it is important to not dwell on problems for too long. Being able to focus on things that are possible helps me to come up with plans to combat my

one side to the other. He too has learnt a lot from the river. He

   In Siddhartha's quest for enlightenment, Herman Hesse makes the river the final focal point of the novel. Siddhartha is set on his journey to the river by listening to his inner voice and questioning authority. The river comes to represent the ideas through which Siddhartha reaches enlightenment. The essential concepts of time and how it relates to life are discovered by Siddhartha through listening to the river. He comes to realize that his previous conclusion is correct, wisdom cannot be taught. When he reaches nirvana, he also sees how spiritualism and materialism both have a place in the cycle of life. Acting as Siddhartha's inspiration to his ultimate goal, the river

Unlike many people he treated business as a game and did not stress over his failures and did not praise his success. As a result, Siddhartha was able to go from “rags to riches.” Over time however, Hesse writes, “Gradually, along with his growing riches, Siddhartha himself acquired some of the characteristics of the ordinary people, some of their childishness and some of their anxiety” (77). Though Siddhartha envied them for the one thing he lacked, the sense of importance with which they lived their lives.