Jungianism And Hedonism In Hermann Hesse's Sidddhartha

Throughout Siddhartha, Herman Hesse demonstrations the different paths to enlightenment through the use of memorable characters such as Siddhartha and Govinda. Siddhartha and Govinda were the sons of Brahmins and thus grew up basked in the ways of religion. The boys were constantly praying and listening to teachings of the teachers in their town. Because of this, they are closer to enlightenment, or the knowledge of self, sought by everyone around them. Siddhartha believes that life has more to offer than praying and meditating like his father. Govinda, who is less of a leader than Siddhartha, believes that the only way to enlightenment is through following other teachers. Throughout the book it is shown the each person must find their own path to enlightenment.

In the novel Siddhartha, Herman Hesse uses different religions to let Siddhartha grow both intellectually and spiritually. During the course of his journey, Siddhartha encountered many people and experienced different ways of living and thinking about life. He also exposed himself to many religions such as, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Each religion taught him something about himself and the world around him.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse discusses the many paths of teaching that relate to Hinduism that Siddhartha followed on his journey through life and how each path helped him realize what he wanted with his life. Siddhartha follows many teachings or paths in which to reach his spiritual destination, which at the beginning was to reach Nirvana.

Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, is the story of a young man searching for enlightenment. Through his journey, Siddhartha follows several Buddhist and Hindu paths to achieve his ultimate goal of enlightenment. Siddhartha follows the path of the Brahmin, the Samana, the materialistic gambler, and eventually the Buddhist middle path. Being the son of a Brahmin, Siddhartha leads a privileged life, but this isn’t enough for him. Siddhartha had an insatiable appetite for knowledge, and after a time, he leaves his father to find his own path to Nirvana. Although Siddhartha was raised in a strict Hindu society, his path to Nirvana was a combination of Buddhism, and Hinduism.

The novel Siddhartha, written by Hermann Hesse, is about a guy named Siddhartha located in ancient India. His best friend, Govinda, are greatly involved in the elite Braham cast: Braham is an elite group of the highest god of Hinduism, which means they are viewed royalty and loaded with heaps of wealth. Siddhartha is the golden boy of his community: women dream of acquainting with him and men long to have his immense power and abundance. The main direct sight of Hindus focus on devotion to God or several gods. Even though Siddhartha endures meditation practices, takes the form of rituals and practices associated with images and sculptures of gods in home shrines, and participates in holy satisfaction, he still feels the emptiness in him not satisfying his needs. In order to obtain the inner peace that he wishes to seek, he tests new solutions to satisfy him, such as, Enlightenment. Enlightenment is defined as a man’s emergence from one’s self-incurred immaturity. The young Indian is very adapted to the Hindu ascetic, for the pressure the Brahim scholar instructs upon him. The only solution in times like these, Siddhartha and Govinda would mediate under the banyan tree.

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

Hesse they all have finally found what they were looking for. The first effect of this

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.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is a novel about the spiritual journey of a man named Siddhartha whose living in the time of Gotama Buddha. In this novel, Hesse explains in detail what Siddhartha learns as he searches for Nirvana. For Siddhartha to learn, he needs teachers, just like everyone else if they wish to pursue and education. There are four major teachers that Siddhartha truly takes something from, these teachers are Govinda, Kamala, Vasudeva, and the river itself. Another important thing is the aspect of self realization and teaching, which is ultimately what helps Siddhartha put those teachings together and reach Nirvana. This also allows Siddhartha himself to accept his new role as a teacher to his friend Govinda, which is the

“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.

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

Siddhartha By Hermann Hesse, represents the life of Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha, by the main character Siddhartha going through similar lifestyle, struggles and finally reaching Nirvana.

In Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, the four Noble Truths of Buddhism are revealed throughout the journey of Siddhartha. The Four Noble Truths include: Life means suffering, the origin of suffering is attachment, the cessation of suffering is attainable, and the path to the cessation of suffering. Siddhartha discovers that in order to reach enlightenment, one must have experiences and struggle through these Noble Truths firsthand.

Once more Hesse’s own life is evident in his writing since he attended the the theological seminary of the monastery of Maulbronn( Biographical par. 3) but his mother’s father had been a missionary and Indologist (Biographical par. 1) and Western philosophy influenced Hesse far more than Eastern philosophy (Biographical par. 8). In fact, all of Siddhartha is entrenched in spirituality and Western philosophy. Siddhartha leaves the comforts of his Brahmin father’s lifestyle in order to seek enlightenment, as “The proud Siddhartha can never be content in a disciple’s role, but must seek out the truth and wisdom himself through his own experience” (Magill Book par. 4). Siddhartha likewise abandons the father figures of the Samana elders and the Buddha Gotama as they cannot teach him to find nirvana. What Siddhartha truly seeks is the meaning of life, and he realizes that he can only realize this through personal experience, another common theme throughout Hesse’s novels. Just as Siddhartha vacillates between religious groups, Sinclair transitions from Christianity, to adolescent doubt, to the study of Abraxas, “a godhead whose symbolic task is the uniting of godly and devilish elements” (Demian 95). In both cases, it is realized that what they seek must be earned and so Siddhartha studies “the secrets of the river, the simultaneity, unity, and timelessness of all that exists” (Magill Book par. 4) while Sinclair comes to terms with the fact that he could not give Knauer advice “that did not derive from [his] own experience and which [he himself] did not have the strength to follow” (Demian 120). Coinciding with personal experience, both Siddhartha and Sinclair received some vitality through nature. Siddhartha became one with the river while Sinclair stared into the

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse was a very interesting book to read. I found it to be a very interesting way for people, like myself, who are not Hindus, and who do not live in India to learn about the Indian and Hindu culture and religion without being there physically to experience it. This book is about a boy, Siddhartha, who is probably somewhere in his teenage years. He lives with his father, who is a Brahmin, they live together in ancient India. As in many cases, there is an expectation that Siddhartha is going to follow in his father’s footsteps. If this were to take place then Siddhartha would become a Brahmin and do the same types of things in his life that his father has done in his. I particularly liked this book because I felt as though it was something that many people can relate to. While a lot of people, at least not in the United States, do not have the expectation of becoming a Brahmin, there are a lot of children and young adults who are expected to follow what their parents have done in their life, or what if not following their exact path then they are expected to follow the path that their parents have chosen for them. Going back to the book, Siddhartha continues to struggle after he and his friend hang out together, and everything is perfect, but then, all of a sudden he doesn’t feel anything, he isn’t happy, which concerned him because it was something that would normally make him and other people very happy.