Exploring Rituals In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

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.

In the novel, Siddhartha, there is a concoction between teachings and his own experiences found in his concept of attaining wisdom. The Brahmins taught Siddhartha every religious aspect of their culture, including all the rituals, mantras, and holy books. Although he gained a significant amount of religious wisdom, he believed this was not enough to become enlightened. As a result, Siddhartha decides to join the Samanas with the goal to reach Nirvana. He became a wanderer with no possessions, in order to stop the body’s desires. From the samanas he learned how to fast and meditate, but this was not enough. Siddhartha says, “What I have learned so far among the samanas, O Govinda, I could have learned more quickly and more simply” (Hesse 16) . In other words, Siddhartha is explaining to Govinda that his transformation to a samana has had no significant effect in his life. He believes fasting and meditating is not his ultimate goal. As a result, Siddhartha leaves the samanas with Govinda to meet Gautama. Siddhartha believes he has not gained the true wisdom needed to reach the state of nirvana or enlightenment; he has only learned how to run away and suppress situation, without really being able to dispel of them.

Although not easily accepted by his father, his goal was not to be like him; he would study the teachings of Atman and meditate on a daily basis, not to mention he was considered one of the most advanced, but instead of living the life through teachers he pursued his future merely focusing on reaching Nirvana. Throughout his journey Siddhartha had many many teachers in completely different forms, however, the one teacher, the river, that was not a teacher at all, made him understand life and enable him to enter Nirvana. Each teacher furthered his knowledge, but the river taught him the greatest message of all: everything connects to one another, there is a reason for everything, and that time is inexistent. Through his journey Siddhartha found his meaning and bliss in his

Govinda is Siddhartha’s childhood friend , and his loyal companion. Siddhartha and Govinda devote their life on a quest for enlightenment and understanding. Govinda benefits from religious community and doctrine and seeks instruction from individuals who have achieved enlightenment. He relies on others to help him determine when he is on the right path. Ultimately Govinda attain enlightenment, showing us that enlightenment has different paths. The similarities between the two characters demonstrate that determination, persistence, and patience are necessary traits for achieving a spiritual awakening.

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

Govinda, Siddhartha dearest friend and confident, is often viewed as his Siddhartha’s follower, or as his shadow. In the beginning, Siddhartha goes with Gotama to hear the teachings of the Buddha, and Govinda remains with Buddha to become his disciple. Siddhartha believes that each person must find his or her own way to

A fundamental practice in Buddhism and Hinduism is to find enlightenment, or complete peace. Though Hinduism does not believe you can accomplish this in one lifetime, it is the same concept. Siddhartha looks to find this by blazing his own path and independently practice Buddhism to achieve this goal. In the quote, “It has come to you in the course of your own search, on your own path, through thoughts, through meditation, through realizations, through enlightenment.”, it is shown that Siddhartha believes in order to achieve this ultimate state, you have to do it on your own, which is why he does not follow the Buddha as Gotama did (Hesse #). In Hinduism, there is something called, “The 14 Guṇasthānas”, which are the 14 phases the soul goes through in order to reach the final destination of moksha. The three main stages of this philosophy are: Belief, minor vows, and right conduct,

He wanted to follow Siddhartha, the beloved, the magnificent. And if he ever became a god, if he ever entered the All-Radiant, the Govinda wanted to follow him as a friend, his companion, his servant, his lance bearer, his shadow." (2)

Siddhartha felt as if he can’t learn by just hearing the Buddha’s experiences. He believes he needs to experience these things himself to truly reach his own self. As Siddhartha leaves the Buddha, he realizes something different inside of him. He no longer needs a teacher. From his teachers, he was able to discover the Self. Siddhartha says “Truly, nothing in the world has occupied my thoughts as much as the Self … that I am Siddhartha" (38) However, he only succeeded in fleeing from it. He was consumed in finding the self, that he lost sight of it. Instead, he realizes that "I [Siddhartha] will learn from myself, be my own pupil; I will learn from myself the secret of Siddhartha" (39).

Siddhartha aimless wanders around for a while, truly seeing the world for the first time. He meets Kamala and asks her to teach him about love. She requires gifts to give her services; so Siddhartha goes to work with a businessman and becomes good at it quickly. After a long time of living in the city he looks and acts live a rich merchant and no longer had any spiritual enlightenment, only a desire for physical objects. He leaves once again, depressed and suicidal. He passes out by the river and wakes

When Siddhartha stays with the Samana for a time, Siddhartha realizes that the Samana’s way could not help and told Govinda “ I have become distrustful of teachings and learning and that I have little faith in words that come to us from teachers.” Siddhartha has little faith in the words of teachers because all he learned from staying with the Samanas was to learning to separate his “Self” temporarily but nowhere close to reaching enlightenment. After Siddhartha finish discussing with Govinda, Siddhartha leaves the Samana to continue on his journey to

As one matures through life he gets wiser and more knowledgeable. As Siddhartha’s long life journey was coming to a close, he too was becoming wiser and more knowledgeable. Siddhartha learned that if you search your whole life for wisdom you will miss many steps along the way. Siddhartha’s revelation between the difference of wisdom and knowledge corresponds with his other discovery which is the difference between finding and seeking. This has been the guide for his way of life. These differences he has discovered are the main reasons for having several teachers and a radical lifestyle. Furthermore, this revelation has made a distinct separation between Siddhartha and Govinda. It highlights the major difference between Govinda and Buddhism

Siddhartha’s journey to enlightenment can be described by three terms that are described in Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. Siddhartha goes through many challenges and suffers in his journey to reach Nirvana. He wants to be enlightened one, one without fear to anything. He wants to keep continue his path to Nirvana. He leaves everything behind and keeps going towards his goal. The terms are very significant in Siddhartha’s life because the word Om guides him to perfection and oneness, he goes through many challenges to reach Nirvana, and the term Samsara makes him keep going in his life.

Siddhartha is a book everybody must read in their lives before turning 30. It is a book about self discovery that leads to inner peace. It is an exciting novel that is filled with optimism and the way of life. We follow the life of siddhartha on his journey of spirituality to find inner peace. The story is told in the author's usual poetic language and postulates that life is a constant journey of understanding reality and that people are born for a particular mission in life. The book center on the spiritual quest of siddhartha who was dissatisfied with the ritualistic spiritual upbringing and so turns to the pleasure of the material world.Eventually he becomes tired with his life and his quest for enlightenment is finally achieved when he

Siddhartha choses to follow his own path continuously throughout his journey. An example of this is when he decides to leave the Samanas and find enlightenment by himself. He knows that other people's teachings cannot give him experience, stating, “That is why I am going on my way—not to seek another doctrine, for I know there is none, but to leave all doctrines and all teachers and to reach my goal alone—or die” (Hesse 27-28). This is also much like modern life in school. There are many different factions within the student body, and they all conform to different standards; however, Siddhartha teaches the reader that you need to make decisions for yourself and do what you aspire to do for you to feel