Siddhartha Essays: Achieving Enlightenment at the River

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.

To begin with, Siddharthaś journey for enlightenment was served by nature to guide him on his spiritual path. For Example, Siddhartha embarks a relationship with the river. The river then teaches him, Siddhartha, that all are one. The natural world connects all its features and inhabitants in one. ¨the river is everywhere at the sametime”. Being all places at one time

Siddhartha is constantly flowing down the river of life, "Certainly I have learned that from the river too; everything comes back/ You, too, Samana, will come back" (49). He sees that life is never stagnant. It is constantly changing, ebbing and flowing. It takes a lifetime to satisfy Siddhartha's hunger for religious fulfillment. Siddhartha is found relating to the river: "A chilly emptiness in the water reflected the

The ferryman mentions “Everything comes back again” (44), implying that the world is run in a cyclical fashion. He believes that everything is connected, suggesting that Siddhartha and himself, will see each other for they have crossed paths. The ferryman learns about this by studying the river’s water movements.

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.

Comparing the River and the Village of Desires is like comparing peanut butter and jelly, separately they have no relations but when you combine them they create something magnificent and something many can relate to. The village, for example, represents a distraction for Siddhartha. This distraction prevents Siddhartha from focusing on his enlightenment journey but also he eventually comes to a realization which helps guide him on the right path again, "He had finished with that. That also died in him. He rose, said farewell to the mango tree and the pleasure garden. As he had not had any food that day he felt extremely hungry, and thought of his house in town, of his room and bed, of the table with food. He smiled wearily, shook his head and said goodbye to these things" (68). Siddhartha finally leaves the city, leaving lonely and empty with no wealth, nor lover or any belongings where he realizes he hates the

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

The final leg of Siddhartha’a journey leads him back to the river he crossed so many years ago. Here he nearly commits suicide but is saved by the sacred word "om". After a chance meeting with Govinda he looks into the river smiling and sees the river smiling back at him. When he sees this he decides to stay by the river and asks the ferryman to become his assistant. Now Siddhartha will learn what it means to travel between the world of the intellect and the world of the senses, and listen while he does it (Understanding Hermann Hesse 104). The first thing Siddhartha learns from the river is that there is no such thing as time, and this metaphor is central to the theology that Hesse follows. It expresses all of being as an eternal present: "Nothing was, nothing will be, everything is, everything has being and presence" (Understanding Hermann Hesse 104).

“‘You will go into the forest,’ he said, ‘and become a Samana.’” (Hesse 12). Siddhartha’s Father said this to Young Siddhartha which began his new life and new experiences. Life should be learned from experiences not through teaching.

“Silently Siddhartha stood in the fierce sun's rays, filled with pain and thirst, and stood until he no longer felt pain and thirst. Silent he stood in the rain, water dripping from his hair... Silently Siddhartha crouched among the thorns. Blood dripped from his smarting skin, ulcers formed, and Siddhartha remained stiff, motionless, till no more blood flowed, till there was no more pricking, no more smarting.”(14).

Gautama Buddha, a teacher of Buddhism, a religion based off the spiritual founding of the powerful, philosophical, wise Buddha, once said, “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” In Herman Hesse’s “Siddhartha”, the main character , Siddhartha, travels his own path, trying to find what his purpose in life is. Throughout the story, a common motif is shown of a personal journey to find inner peace and one’s true calling. To help explain this journey, Hesse incorporates many symbols such as: the ferryman, the river, and the path Siddhartha travels upon to find himself. Siddhartha goes through very different stages in his life, all in attempt to be a person of true meaning. Whether this be through

Hesse utilizes the symbolism of the river to function as circles in Siddhartha’s journey. Since everything return to the river, Siddhartha needs to return to find enlightenment and identity. Hesse sets this up from the beginning of the novel when Siddhartha’s father asks him to return after he completes his search for meaning (12). Siddhartha’s search for meaning took him on a long circle from the river to the village and Kamala, back to the river. Rivers are also viewed as holy in Hindu religion, and ablutions and funerals take place there. Because Siddhartha was so educated by the writings of the Brahmins and Hinduism, he will always have the belief of holiness of the rivers instilled in

The river in Siddhartha can also symbolize the unity of the self. In the book, Siddhartha's main goal is to find peace and nirvana. He goes far and beyond just to experience the divine of complete mental peace. After years of working hard, Siddhartha finally reaches his goal, “His self had merged into unity... There shone on his face the serenity of knowledge, of one who is no longer confronted with a conflict of desires... Belonging to the unity of the people”(136). As Siddhartha listens and pays more attention to the river, he is going through all the memories of his life and all he heard were the voices of many merge into the voice of one, and that word was Om. This is the moment that Siddhartha’s “self-has merged into unity.” Siddhartha’s mind is much more free of stress and horrors.

A very important quote in Siddhartha states that, "The river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth...in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the

This all begins about Siddhartha; the Brahmin’s son got everything in him. He’s very intelligent in the means of his always thirsty for knowledge; he is very popular one especially for the women for he is a handsome guy. Siddhartha loved by everybody especially his friend Govinda, who became his companion throughout his adventure in finding peace and satisfaction. But then, even he has everything, he is still unhappy for he still not satisfied on what knowledge he’s gaining from his father and from his teachers. Then one