Essay Meaning of the River in 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.

Siddhartha was a Brahmin’s son, of the upper class in India. He is loved throughout his community. He is revered by all that knows him. He spends his day in meditation and thought.

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, written by Herman Heese, is a book about a man’s journey to find his inner self beginning when he is young and ending when he is of old age. Siddhartha, while on this quest, searched for different mentors to teach him what they know, hoping to find truth and balance in and of the universe. At the end of the novel, Siddhartha reaches the enlightenment through many teachings.

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

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

This shows that even though Siddhartha is willing to go hear the Buddha’s teachings, he thinks that he has already learned what the Buddha has to say. The methods of searching Siddhartha utilizes in order to become enlightened are leaving the Brahmins to become a Samana and leaving Govinda behind with the Buddha in order to try to learn from himself. Siddhartha and Govinda meditate according to the practices of the Brahmins. After three wandering ascetics pass through Siddhartha’s town, Siddhartha tells Govinda “Tomorrow morning, my friend, Siddhartha is going to join the Samanas. He is going to became a Samana. ...

As we read Huckleberry Finn, I was also rereading Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and I couldn’t help but compare Siddhartha’s journey down the river to Huckleberry Finn’s journey down the river. Both their stories are parallels to each other and many connections can be made through their travels. To both characters, the element of the river served as a protection from the outside world. When both characters are taken by the rivers embrace, they are able to leave the limitations and constrains of their society. Siddhartha and Huck seek independence, away from their homes and away from troubles of society. Siddhartha seeks an escape from his isolation and pampered lifestyle in order to understand more about the world and gain wisdom through

“He looked around him as if seeing the world for the first time. The world was beautiful, strange and mysterious . . . and in the midst of it all, he, Siddhartha, the awakened one, on the way to himself” (Hesse 32). Siddhartha, written by Hermann Hesse in 1922, focuses on the awakening of the titular character, who is on a path to find himself. The novel focuses on his pursuit of attaining enlightenment through finding Nirvana, the balance between asceticism and hedonism. He experiences the extremes of both asceticism and hedonism in order to find balance between the two. Throughout Siddhartha’s spiritual journey, he comes across multiple teachers, including the Samanas, Kamala, Young Siddhartha, Vasudeva, and the river, who teach him

Hermann Hesse's novel, Siddhartha, "is a novel of classical symmetry, a perfection achieved" (Hermann Hesse 25).  It tells the story of a young man who sets out to find his true self.  Throughout his journey, Siddhartha converts to various religions, searching for the one religion that will help him discover his identity.  As his journey continues, the main character is forced to overcome various obstacles in pursuit of his true self.  He learns the ways of reality and its many flaws.  As the story progresses, he comes across a river inhabited by Vasudeva,

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.

He is able to let go of the pleasures of life and live on the bare necessities. Siddhartha and Govinda fit into the group as they are half naked and starved. They gain spiritual progress but even in this practice he is still dissatisfied with life. He learns that stripping away worldly pleasures and material possessions doesn't answer his questions either. The ascetic principles of the Samanas only serve a temporary escape as he ultimately returns to his Self.

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

“He bowed low, right down to the ground, in front of the man sitting motionless, who’s smile reminded him of everything he had ever loved in his life, of everything that had been of value and holy in his life” (Hesse 152) Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, is a novel that demonstrates the spiritual journey and growth of a man named Siddhartha, in the time of Buddha. Siddhartha begins his journey to find himself, first leaving his teachers. Siddhartha becomes a Samana, relinquishing worldly pleasures, eventually seeking the wisdom of Gotma, Buddha. Siddhartha realizes one must find this wisdom through one’s self, and sets out on a new quest. He falls into the desire of materialistic goods, and becomes rich. Realizing his wrongdoing, he leaves and