Comparing Hesse's Siddhartha 'And Kallu'

As with the Brahmins, Siddhartha’s experience with the Samanas is not a fulfilling one. Hesse writes, “he slipped out of his Self in a thousand different forms. He was animal, carcass, stone, wood, water, and each time he reawakened” (Pg-15). Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas, yet he was still unable to reach enlightenment. During his time with the Samanas, Siddhartha never saw or heard of a single person achieving enlightenment. Feeling disillusioned with the teachings of others, Siddhartha decided to leave the Samanas, and seek out the venerable Buddha. Siddhartha seeks out the Buddha and hears his sermon, but he ultimately decides to seek his own path to enlightenment. In leaving the Buddha, Siddhartha begins to follow a Buddhist path. Siddhartha says, “But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced he alone among hundreds of thousands" (Pg-34). In this part of his journey, Siddhartha realizes that no one can teach him how to achieve enlightenment. As Gautama did before him, Siddhartha heads out to find his own path to enlightenment.

Siddhartha was a proactive, self-sufficient young man. He quickly absorbed the Brahmin’s doctrine and decided he wanted to learn even more; he had to become a Samana. Of course, in order to make such a step he needed his father’s permission. When he first requested, his father rejected the idea and said

“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.

Because Siddhartha had finally left the past behind, he was able to move on and continue his path to enlightenment. Had he not heard “om” and decided to spare his life he wouldn’t have met Vasudeva or learned the teachings of the river and possibly wouldn’t have ever reached

Siddhartha resolved that he would first go to the Samanas, ascetics that hard lives of self-denial of all comforts and pleasures in order to rid themselves of desire and those emotions that would hinder them on the journey to discovering Atman. Although joining these extremist monks was a high ambition, Siddhartha knew that he would succeed as a Samana, for he believed that the path of the ascetic would aid him on his journey of self-discovery. As his time with the Samanas lengthened, Siddhartha began to take pride in the knowledge that he was not blinded by the material world like everybody else was; he saw the world for what it truly was -- bitter lies and misery. Despite the fact that Siddhartha was becoming a great Samana, revered by even the older monks, he felt that what he had learned from them he could have learned on his own and in less time. Once again, he was not satisfied with the path that he was on and aspired to achieve even greater heights by parting from the Samanas. This ambition is plainly displayed when Siddhartha’s friend Govinda, who had become a Samana as well, proclaimed that Siddhartha would have learned to walk on water had he stayed with the ascetics. Siddhartha simply says that he would “let old

Siddhartha’s life was more of a journey, a journey filled with whimsical decisions and many questions; Siddhartha simply did as he pleased. After living this capricious lifestyle, he noticed that he felt empty inside. He wondered why he felt this way for a long time and decided to leave his current life. He abandoned all possessions and left his father in a quest to seek peace with the shramanas. Soon the cycle of the nature of Siddhartha was formed. Siddhartha would seek something and pursue that something blindly and by abandoning his previous lifestyle. It was not until he was an old man did he finally reach peace through the guidance of a river. Siddhartha’s life had changed immensely numerous amounts of times by the time he was old, but the change he experienced was not necessarily caused by of outside influences. He experienced change, but every change originated inside of him; of what he wanted to follow next. Of course, this still required Siddhartha to change to his new surroundings in every instance he obeyed new lifestyle. When he followed the shramanas, he left everything he had previously known and owned. When he left for the city, he completely changed his demeanor and became rich. Once again, when he lived by the river, he abandoned all possessions and former values. I believe that Siddhartha

This painting tells a sad story about a general who is willing to die for his citizens. This story also tells a hopeful story about unity between two completely different civilizations.

After three years, Siddhartha realizes that he is not progressing toward his goal. He had learned all the Samanas could teach, and "he lost himself a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in non-being. But although the paths took him away from Self, in the end they always led back to it" (15-16). Siddhartha discovers this was not the path he sought; escaping from one's Self did not bring one to salvation. His wisdom grew when he accepted there was another path and this short escape from Self is experienced by others in a quite different way such as people who drink numbing their senses like he did with the Samanas. He sees that in truth, there is no learning and that his questioning and thirst for knowledge could not be satisfied by teaching. Seeking another path, Siddhartha hears of a Buddha named Gotama, and with Govinda, who also chooses to leave, ventures to see him.

Siddhartha, in Herman Hesse's novel, Siddhartha, is a young, beautiful, and intelligent Brahmin, a member of the highest and most spiritual castes of the Hindu religion, and has studied the teachings and rituals of his religion with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Inevitably, with his tremendous yearning for the truth and desire to discover the Atman within himself he leaves his birthplace to join the Samanas. With the Samanas he seeks to release himself from the cycle of life by extreme self-denial but leaves the Samanas after three years to go to Gotama Buddha. Siddhartha is impressed by the blissful man but decides to lead his own path. He sleeps in the ferryman's hut and

“I will grow tired.” Siddhartha is so bent on reaching Nirvana that he lets nothing get in his way - this is proof. Although he stepped off the right path a few times throughout his journey, it is really the hardships and struggles he faced in his path that were the illuminating events. For example, this quote suggests that

while joining the semanas Siddhartha learns to be patient, as well to abandon the need to own things because materialism wont bring him happiness. The teachings of the Samanas have shown him that to be satisfied is the inner peace. Not only did he leave home, he be faced with new people along his journey.

In the departure phase of his journey, Siddhartha completely shuns both internal and external desires and lives a more than humble life. During Siddhartha’s conversation with his father about leaving home, Siddhartha’s father, “returned again after an hour and again after two hours, looked through the window and saw Siddhartha standing there in the moonlight, in the starlight, in the dark” (11). Hermann Hesse’s use of dark and light imagery, emphasizes Siddhartha’s stubbornness for his desire to go with the Samanas, whose religious ideals are severe self discipline and restraint of all indulgence; he is adamant about leaving home, as his father checked on him countlessly and Siddhartha stood there unwavering despite the many hours and change of daylight so he could earn his father’s blessing to live the lifestyle of an ascetic. Furthermore, Siddhartha travels to the Samanas with Govinda to destroy Self and the multitudinous amount of desire by quelling each desire and all together Self even though he knows it is a difficult goal to achieve, “Although Siddhartha fled from Self a thousand times, dwelt in nothing, dwelt in animal and stone, the return was inevitable” (16). The effect of Siddhartha’s multiple attempted destructions of Self as a consequence of living as a Samana are failure in his attempt to discover Nirvana. Moreover, Siddhartha travels with Govinda to the Buddha after leaving the

“In Siddhartha’s face he saw [...] his eyes were looking into the distance. Then his father realized that by now Siddhartha [...] had already left him.” (Siddhartha, page 6) Throughout the time he has been with the Samanas, Siddhartha and his companion Govinda dedicated themselves to learning everything from general exercise to distinct methods of mortification. Although our favorite character enjoyed being with the so-called samanas, he soon had enough. At this point, his current American dream begins to extend as he converses with Govinda. “We have learned, and we are continuing to learn. [...] it just does not seem to me, my friend.” (Siddhartha, page 9) Quite interestingly, Siddhartha and Govinda both end up leaving the samanas. The only reason Siddhartha gives for leaving is that he can’t truly learn from teacher, in general, nor the doctrines they endorse. It is noticeable that Siddhartha begins to have societal expectations. In order to balance them, this protagonist simply decides to expand his learning capacity. He does this by traveling to Savathi with Govinda. Maybe he may learn something that will satisfy his desire. From the moment Siddhartha left home, he appeared unsure as to

He had already achieved a great deal, but for everything he gave up, he still was not where he wanted to be yet. Siddhartha learned to "think, wait, and fast," but after he still did not attain enlightenment, he meditated and fasted at the base of a fig tree for 49 days until he achieved enlightenment and became “Buddha” ("Historical Context: Siddhartha"). Siddhartha traveled along a long, bumpy path to reach enlightenment, but the outcome was worth it. He was patient and able to fulfill his destiny of becoming a great saint who spread his new religion, Buddhism, throughout the

Siddhartha became enlightened by the sickness and death that surrounded him and gave up his life of royalty for one free of material possessions and full of meditation. Siddhartha became a holy man, The