Hermann Hesse's Siddharth The Natural Motion Of A River

Their journey as samanas and students in the stages of life leads them to questioning the path that they were following. Although, Siddhartha did learn and become much more knowledgeable after knowing the teachings from the samanas, he didn’t quite agree with their beliefs in retaining enlightenment. "[Siddhartha] is drawn by his goal, for he does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. That is what Siddhartha learned from the Samanas. It is what fools call magic and what they think is caused by demons...there are no demons...everyone can reach his goal if he can think, wait, and fast." With this new found attitude Siddhartha sets out once again, with many new experiences and lessons waiting ahead for him.

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.

When Siddhartha leaves and joins the Samanas we begin to understand the origin of where his suffering is coming from; which is all seen as the second noble truth. In his search for enlightenment Siddhartha hoped that by joining the samanas that he would be liberated from

Although Siddhartha had previously immersed himself in natural habitats, it is only now that his senses really begin to respond to the outside stimuli. To illustrate the emerging transformation, Hesse utilizes similes to parallel the earth’s daily renewal process with Siddhartha’s growing awareness, “The days were short, the nights also short;

Through writing on more than one level, Hesse has created a literary masterpiece that is

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

Siddhartha & Govinda left to join the Samanas to set themselves free for enlightenment. The Samanas put out the idea that you must eliminate “the self” so one can achieve spiritual fulfillment one day.

But, Siddhartha would always have a part of the Samana in him, and this is relayed by Kamala when she says, “She was not surprised when she learned that Siddhartha had disappeared […] Was he not a Samana, without a home, a pilgrim? She had felt it more than ever at their last meeting, and in the midst of her pain

Similar to Siddhartha's father, Govinda's love for Siddhartha was also denied. For the majority of their lives, Siddhartha had acted as the big brother, and Govinda had been his shadow. Siddhartha expected to be alone when he decided to join the Samanas, but Govinda had unexpectedly determined that he could not part with Siddhartha. Siddhartha finally

Hesse personifies the river creating it into a character of its own which also guides Siddhartha down his final steps to salvation. Vasudeva, the ferryman, who sails his ferry across this river is known to be an enlightened character he is apart of the river who also guides Siddhartha to find himself and to learn from his travelings that it is one’s own discoveries and travels that influence the mind, soul, and body to become one and at peace to achieve Nirvana, an overall inner and exterior peace.

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 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

“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

Insignificant droplets of water plunging to the ground, gradually elaborating into a system which proclaims its existence with such scintillation and momentous significance, the river. The river that carries the same inexorable rate which we live our lives by, parallels to the current of an unstoppable river. Shifted to different directions by the different obstacles encountered, the river finds different routes to get to the destination it desires and life mimics its nature as many avenues close and others open. But the river carries on and does not pass through the same obstacle twice, it does not struggle or brawl the happenings opposed to it, it simply takes another path and learns from its mistakes. The river symbolizes life. In the book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. The river plays a significant role on a reflective surface which redirects his actions into the eyes of the protagonist, Siddhartha.

He sets out with the wandering Samanas to begin his new life of subtraction, giving up food, clothing, and society to live more focused on escaping the world. He decided to seek this new life rather suddenly, overcome with his dissatisfaction with the teachings of the Brahman priesthood in which he was raised. Siddhartha shows this sudden yearning for knowledge when he says to his best friend, Govinda, that “early tomorrow morning, my friend, Siddhartha will go to the Samanas. He will become a Samana.” This hasty change satisfies his needs for a while, but determines that the teachings of the Samanas are flawed and could be learned by a drunkard after a night of indulgence.