While reading Siddhartha there were multiple things that stood out to me. One of which being the mention of the river at the beginning of the story. It reads “The sun tanned his light shoulders by the banks of the river when bathing, performing sacred ablutions, the sacred offerings”. Hesse’s mention of a river is an example of one of our literary maxims “If it's important to the story, introduce it early”. Also having Siddhartha be introduced while sitting by a river is foreshadowing to the end of the book. It is explaining to the reading that his life revolves around the river. His life began in the book while meditating by a river, and it will end with him meditating by the river after his spiritual journey is complete. If Hesse had introduced Siddhartha in his hut or in a town at the beginning of the book at the time it would seem fine to the story line, but once the book is complete it wouldn't give the story or his journey the same sense of completeness that it has. In addition to those points, having the story begin at a river gives the story a mood that is calm and almost relaxing adding to the ideas of meditation and silence that Siddhartha is trying to find, and is trying to explain to the reader, throughout the entirety of his journey in the book. As well as Siddhartha being by the river, he is performing sacred offerings, showing the reader that the story will revolve around Siddhartha's life in which he is focusing on religion.
When rereading Son of Brahmin, one scene stuck out to me in particular. After the reader first is shown Siddhartha’s doubts, Siddhartha and Govinda practice meditation. The details in this section have a significant impact because they foreshadow Siddhartha’s and Govinda’s friendship. The first line talks about a Banyan tree. A Banyan tree is a tree that grows on top of another plant without harming it. This symbolizes Siddhartha’s and Govinda’s friendship. Throughout the first half of the book, Govinda clings to Siddhartha and grows with him, just like a Banyan tree. Another foreshadowing detail is where the friends sit. Siddhartha sits ‘right here’ while Govinda sits twenty feet away. Siddhartha is farther ahead and in a way leading Govinda. This reaffirms to the reader that Siddhartha’s and Govinda’s relationship is one of a leader/follower one more than peers. Later in the scene, Siddhartha recalls his first impression of the Samana’s. He remembers that “behind them blew a hot scent of quiet passion, of destructive service, of merciless self-denial’. While the word ‘blew’ could be seen in a metaphorical way, I saw it in the sense of wind. Wind is a symbol of change. This is right before Siddhartha uproots his whole life to go to the Samana’s, so it’s fitting that words like ‘blew’ are used. One last important detail is the time. During this interaction, the evening is just beginning. Evening or night can represent the end of something. This is right before Siddhartha and Govinda leave their hometown for the samana’s. The evening is a parallel for the end in their hometown lives. The trees, time, distance and words in this section may seem like small details, but when looked at closer, they have great significance. Without them, our knowledge of Siddhartha’s and Govinda’s friendship would be immensely less.
"Govinda," Siddhartha spoke to his friend, "Govinda, my dear, come with me under the Banyan tree, let's practise meditation." They went to the Banyan tree, they sat down, Siddhartha right here, Govinda twenty paces away. While putting himself down, ready to speak the Om, Siddhartha repeated murmuring the verse:
Om is the bow, the arrow is soul, The Brahman is the arrow's target, That one should incessantly hit.
After the usual time of the exercise in meditation had passed, Govinda rose. The evening had come, it was time to perform the evening's ablution. He called Siddhartha's name. Siddhartha did not answer. Siddhartha sat there lost in thought, his eyes were rigidly focused towards a very distant target, the tip of his tongue was protruding a little between the teeth, he seemed not to breathe. Thus sat he, wrapped up in contemplation, thinking Om, his soul sent after the Brahman as an arrow. Once, Samanas had travelled through Siddhartha's town, ascetics on a pilgrimage, three skinny, withered men, neither old nor young, with dusty and bloody shoulders, almost naked, scorched by the sun, surrounded by loneliness, strangers and enemies to the world, strangers and lank jackals in the realm of humans. Behind them blew a hot scent of quiet passion, of destructive service, of merciless self-denial. Page 7 Hesse
One of the things that stood out to me in this chapter was one of Siddhartha’s replies to Govinda. As Govinda and Siddhartha are discussing the idea of Nirvana he scares Govinda with his words, “....one can learn nothing. There is….something that we cannot call learning. There is….only a knowledge….and I am beginning to believe that this knowledge has no worse enemy than the man of knowledge, than learning.” (Hesse, 15). This foreshadows Siddhartha’s later belief after he reaches enlightenment. He tells Govinda that enlightenment is not something that can be taught. It is something that can only be learned. Each person’s perspective and journey is their own and each must go through their own hardships before they can achieve self-actualization. The knowledge of enlightenment is lost in translation and the efforts of man to teach enlightenment only make the student more confused. What Siddhartha is trying to tell Govinda is that one can be taught about enlightenment, but only through his own experiences and journey can one actually learn enlightenment. This ties the story together and brings it around to a full circle. Siddhartha proves his own words true at the end of his life, after he has found peace. He realized that no doctrine that he followed could have taught him what it was he wanted to know because each doctrine is biased to the people who created it. I found this statement to be extremely wise for someone so young, and it reflected the ideas we are being taught in ToK. That one’s own experiences perspectives can color their version of the truth, and that no two truths are exactly the same because no two people are exactly the same. This theory can be applied to the efforts and desires of others to achieve enlightenment or self-actualization, because everyone is different, enlightenment is different for everyone.
After re-reading Siddhartha’s first two chapters (‘The Brahmin’s Son’ and ‘With the Samanas’), I noticed that Hesse had kept a constantly recurring motif under our noses the whole time; water and thirst. Hesse uses words and phrases with connotative meaning relating to water to describe Siddhartha’s quest for knowledge. In ‘The Brahmin’s Son,’ Siddhartha thinks “Was he not also a searching man, a thirsty man? Did he not, again and again, have to drink from holy sources as a thirsty man...Why did he...have to wash off his sins everyday...was not Atman in him, did not the pristine source spring from his heart…(4% on kindle)” On your first read of the book, all this water imagery might appear to have little meaning. But, as with all books you have to read in an english class, it holds deeper meaning. He likens his search for knowledge unto finding water, giving the impression that he must find this knowledge in order to survive. Even though Siddhartha calls his daily routines and worship drinking “from holy sources as a thirsty man” it is clear what he is trying to live off now can’t quench his thirst. He knows that the way to the knowledge and bliss he is seeking is inside of himself, calling it “the pristine source spring.” Siddhartha has a thirst for knowledge and for bliss. He knows the water he seeks is found within himself, like a small spring in the middle of the desert. But the exercises and life he is living now isn’t helping Siddhartha find his way to that spring. At the end of Siddhartha, Siddhartha, after much searching, finds the knowledge and state of nirvana within. And how does he do this? From the river and the man who ferried him across the river. By metaphorically (and probably literally, too) drinking of the river, learning from it, and listening to it, Siddhartha finds tranquillity, peace, and happiness. Because Hesse chooses to use water and thirst as a motif, Siddhartha obtaining what he has sought after his whole journey from a source of water creates a tone of wholeness and completeness.
I find this comparison very interesting as well, but I feel that the metaphor can be expanded on even more. The river Vasudeva ferries on is reintroduced as inspiration for a pure and lasting enlightenment, for rebirth when an old and suicidal Siddhartha sees it after abandoning his life with Kamala and the Kamaswami. It is from this river (and Vasudeva’s conversation) that Siddhartha rediscovers the Om, and begins to understand that his journey was not worthless, and that it and he exist like the river, all at once in their many locations and identities. Most importantly to me, the river symbolizes a powerful unity of all things living and dead and without consciousness all at once and not at all; The river embodies the most basic underlying principles in Siddhartha’s Nirvana.
As I was reading through the passages we received in class (focused on showing us how translations can affect meaning and word choice), I found that this theme is not just shown in the first two chapters, but is present even within the first paragraph! "In the shade of the house, in the sunshine of the riverbank near the boats, in the shade of the Sal-wood forest, in the shade of the fig tree is where Siddhartha grew up..." (Hesse, 3). I feel as I may be pushing it a little, but what really stood out to me in that quote was how the use of "shade" applied to the places where Siddhartha tried to reach enlightenment, but failed (house would apply to when we was growing up among the Brahmin, Sal-wood forest is when he joined the samanas, and the fig tree represents his meditation, which he often did under the trees). In contrast, the river, which is often regarded as the deciding factor in Siddhartha's journey, is described with the word "sunshine." Although it was too early to note that difference as we read the book for the first time, this very first line of the story provides insight both to the beginning and the end.
The theme that stood out to me most in the two chapters of assigned reading was relating to the nature of the self in the search for bliss, that both the Brahmins and the Shramanas believe to some degree that the self is inherently profane. The Shramanas walk “the path of self-distancing through pain, through voluntary endurance of suffering and vanquishing of pain, of hunger, of thirst, of exhaustion.”, while a Shramana, Siddhartha believed that “life was affliction” (Hesse 14, 13). Though less extreme, the Brahmins also practice this self mortification, even the ‘purest’ must “wash sin away daily, take pains to purify himself every day” (8). In the end of the story, Siddhartha realizes that he carries within himself Atman, and therefore bliss, but he also realizes this very early on. He asks himself of his father, "Did not Atman dwell inside him, did not the primal source flow within his own heart? It had to be found, the primal source within the individual I, one had to possess it oneself! Everyone else was searching, sidestepping, going astray." (7). Later in the story, an enlightened Siddhartha realizes that he had known this- that the innermost self should not be shunned or tortured to find nirvana- all along. However, a young Siddhartha seemingly goes against his own words and begins searching, his path astray, the disquiet and restlessness he felt internally living amongst the Brahmins was mutated into something exponentially more bitter when he began living amongst the Shramanas. He tortured the I physically and mentally, in an effort to find bliss, all the while he begins to lose all faith in the world. Why then- knowing that the self contained that primal flow, contained Atman- would Siddhartha chose that bitter world? In my very rough-formed and mutable opinion, I believe that the answer can be informed by a passage later in the book when Siddhartha converses with Kamala and reveals his theory of life (informed only by his cushy experience among the “child people), that a few people were like stars, answers to life’s problems latent within, while most others were like falling leaves, bumbling around without purpose. This pretension may serve as irony, because it can be used as a lense by which to view Siddhartha’s actions and progression of thoughts. It is clear that though he meant that he was a star, he also unwittingly carries characteristics of the falling leaves, and therefore he, and all people, is both and neither simultaneously. This basically means that he, like everyone else, must bumble around, seemingly aimless, in order to find his personal bliss.
Reading the first two chapters of Siddhartha again really made some new things prevalent to me personally. Firstly the amount of times Hermann Hesse makes references to water or "thirst" is so consistent (especially in the first chapter) that reading it again almost seems annoying, since I now know what the significance of water and the river specially is to Siddhartha. Because of this it almost felt like Hesse was pushing the concept of water, but when you first read it, you don't notice the consistent reference to water whether it be in the form of being poured over Siddhartha's body right in the second sentence of the whole book or the metaphorical thirst of knowledge he mentions over again in the first few pages. I counted and Hesse uses these references to water about 21 times within 20 pages. This use provides further context in one of our classroom maxims of "If it's important to the plot, introduce it early". As we all know the river becomes a very significant motif in the story later on to Siddhartha's enlightenment, and by making these subconscious messages to the reader of the idea of water and thirst, it enhances the ending of the novel to become far more satisfying. Another thing that I found interesting is that when I read the first chapter for the first time, when Siddhartha is standing there all night waiting for his father's approval, I initially thought to myself "wow, this kid thinks he's all righteous". He reminded me of a little stubborn kid that was taking it too far. Reading it again, Siddhartha's determination shone through, rather than stubbornness. It really helps set up the reader into acknowledging the resilient and purposeful side of Siddhartha as a character. When reading the first two chapters again, I really did not realize what a time jump Hesse choose to make. It goes from Siddhartha being a good student in brahmin to Siddartha letting them go in order to join the shramanas, only to leave them when hearing of the teachings of Buddha. This fast pace almost makes the reader think that Siddhartha can't make a decision and stick with it, but in reality he stayed with the shramanas for three years and previously with the brahmins for his whole life up til that ponit. I just found the pacing rather fast and an interesting choice on Hesse's behalf, because I feel like in many stories the beginning is what is often dragged out, but Hesse got straight into the retelling of this story, which I think can be somewhat remnant of Siddhartha's attitude in looking for the answers he desires. He gets straight to the point and is committed once he thinks he found a good path to be on. Hesse gets to the point and expands when it proves more vital to do so in a similar fashion.
As I re-read “The Brahmin’s Son,” and “Song of the Samanas,” I noted something that stood out to me above all else: Siddhartha’s views of self-superiority. While to me, that sounds like something that is hard to miss, I somehow overlooked that fact as I was first reading these chapters. These two chapters, while mostly focusing on introducing the characters and the issue at hand, also have a large amount of information that may account for why Siddhartha has such a tough time connecting and understand other people, so much so that he can only do so when he begins to live like them. One strange phrase that I noticed throughout the book was Siddhartha’s use of “child people” in reference to everyone but those he strongly respected. This was always confusing, and while I had always wondered where this belief of superiority in Siddhartha’s mind stems from, I was not expecting the answer to be in the very first paragraph of the book: “...In the shade of the fig tree, Siddhartha grew up- the beautiful son of the Brahmin, the young falcon, together with his friend, Govinda, son of the Brahmin” (Hesse, 3). As the author introduces Siddhartha, he does so in such a way as you would introduce a king, with words such as “beautiful,” in comparison to presenting Govinda simply as “the son of Brahmin.” This readily establishes the idea that Siddhartha is a man of much importance and power, even as a child, when his father sees him “growing up to be a great sage and priest, a prince among the Brahmins” (Hesse, 3). Without even delving further into the chapter, it is already noticeable that with this amount of pampering and attention, anyone would believe themselves to be superior to everyone else. This idea is then upheld in the scene where Siddhartha decides to join the samanas, and returns to tell his father. When his father disagrees and tells Siddhartha that this is not a matter which will be pursued again, Siddhartha remains at his post, hands crossed symbolically in a way I once recognized as strength and power, but now find to be stubbornness stemming from his own belief of superiority. As his father entered the room hours later, “The Brahmin saw that Siddhartha’s knees were quivering slightly. He saw no quivering in his face, SIddhartha’s eyes gazed far away. Now the father realized that Siddhartha was no longer with him and in his homeland, but that he had already left him” (Hesse, 11). With this, Siddhartha’s father let him leave and join the samanas. The one peculiarity about this scene that always stood out was the way that Siddhartha seemingly knew the answer before he even asked his father, thus not wanting to leave. In my opinion now, I believe that Siddhartha knew of how people saw him, the strength that people gave him, and felt himself superior even to his parents, refusing to leave his post until he got his way.
I definitely agree on this, Siddhartha’s self-importance seems to be the root of many of his issues and a major driving factor in Siddartha turning to the extremes of asceticism and hedonism. During his childhood among the Brahmins, he is constantly drawn as a superior character, a few steps ahead of everyone else (as you described), and his actions, his very posture indicate that he knows and believes that he is indeed better than everyone else. This toxic thought follows him into his time with the shramanas, he believed himself to be the only person with any capacity for understanding the world around them, he says of the pedestrian passersby in a city that they “all feigned significance, good fortune, and beauty” (Hesse 13). Yada yada, you get it, I’m writing too much now; Basically, this pretension ends when he reaches Nirvana and understands that all people are worthy and valid in their experiences of life.
Siddhartha's journey represent the journey we all seek to find the path of enlightenment. However, when re-reading the beginning of Siddhartha, I noticed the brash, proud ego that thrived in Siddhartha's chest. While I do not doubt that Siddhartha was spiritually and intellectually superior to his peers, Hesse's surpassing and almost aloof diction impresses upon the reader a regal image of the son of the Brahmin. Siddhartha appears to us as invincible and already far along his own path to Nirvana. Therefor, when he leaves his aesthetic path and retrogresses to a life of greed and sloth, the reader is appalled by Siddhartha's self-destruction. I became weary along with Siddhartha, sluggishly turning the pages as he struggled to rise each morning, feeling myself age as Siddhartha gazes at his graying hair in the mirror. Hesse's simplistic yet exquisite portrayal of Siddhartha's soul drowning in his pursuit of pleasure relates to every kind of reader, but we feel more hopeless than Siddhartha does to see his life decomposing. If a soul that was destined for enlightenment and so diligently followed his noble path could fall so far, what hope was their for our own path? Siddhartha realized from a young age the difference between knowledge of a teaching, and full acceptance of this teaching into life. An example of this is Om, a lesson he had been taught from a young age. The meaning of Om was understood by all the intellectuals surrounding Siddhartha, but none could embrace the energy of Om in their own lives. His search for the ability to harness the energy of Om, and the ultimate end to destroying his ego led him to the Samanas, to the Enlightened One, to Kamala and his 'well cushioned hell', and ultimately, back to the river he had crossed long before. When I first read Siddhartha, his journeys seemed, while spiritually and intellectually nourishing, fragmented and nonlinear. Upon second analysis and thought, his journey begins paints a different picture, where a passing tree was once merely a tree, it now represents removal of roots an attachments, and Siddhartha's self- destructing search for trivial pleasures now a means to destroying his ego. Siddhartha's path is one he took alone, for it was the only way he could find the meaning of Om in his heart, but he is not alone in his search for truth. He contained all the knowledge of spirituality and enlightenment in his head, but only once he discovered this information in his own soul could he live his long dreamed of path. He was not content to gaze longingly at a masterpiece, he was driven to create his own.
Ps I'm so sorry Ballard I thought this was due tonight and not yesterday
Once again, a quote about learning drew my attention. This quote in particular I found moving. It’s from the fourth chapter Awakening when Siddhartha is talking about starting his life and his journey anew,“I will no longer devote my thoughts to Atman and the sorrows of the world. I will no longer mutilate and destroy myself in order to find a secret behind the ruins. I will no longer study Yoga-Veda, Atharva-Veda, or asceticism, or any other teachings. I will learn from myself, be my own pupil; I will learn from myself the secret of Siddhartha.” (Hesse, 32). What really resonated with me was his declaration that he was going to learn the secrets of Siddhartha from himself. I find that nowadays, we tend to focus more on the outside world and other people and problems as opposed to taking the time to truly discover ourselves. We place so much emphasis on understanding one another that we forget that we must first understand ourselves. Siddhartha has come to this realization. That before he can reach enlightenment and find peace he must first understand himself. He must focus only on Siddhartha, instead of ignoring his inner self and focusing only on the outside world and what lies beyond it. The few people in the world who have found peace found it not through looking outwards, but looking inwards. In order to be selfless, you must first be selfish.
I also saw this quote while reading and it made me stop and think about Siddhartha's life in comparison to my own, as well as others. Your point about focusing on the outside world too much is very interesting and I strongly agree, but do you think this is because to society we live in today forces us to focus on the outside world? With social media, as well as just the electronic boom that has happened in the last ten years, do you think that the outside world is so easy to excess that we would rather focus on others and their problems, like you stated, because it is easier? Which brings another question, do you think that people do not focus on themselves as much because they don't want to? Or is it because they are just lazy and it is easier to see what other people are doing instead of what you need to do?
When reading Siddhartha many things may stick out to you. One of those things may be the comparison between life and a chain. In Buddhism this is one of the main principles, the idea that all life is a cycle, so it is used heavily in Siddartha. This idea is first introduced when Siddhartha says “You show the world as a complete, unbroken chain, an eternal chain” (Hesse 26). Every character in the story is joining Gotama and following this idea, even Siddhartha's friend Govinda, but why not Siddartha? Siddhartha doesn’t want to follow Gotama because he doesn't want to be like everyone else. One reason for this may be because he grew up his entire life following other people, due to the fact that he grew up as a Brahmin’s son. He learned from other people since the day he was born so by now he was fed up with it. Siddartha states “I will no longer study...any other teachings, I will learn from myself, be my own pupil” (Hesse 32), showing that he is done listening to what other people think you need to do to find salvation and he just wants to find it by himself. This later is changed when he lives with Vasudeva, but as of now Siddartha wants to go out on his own path and no longer wants to be taught, he wants to learn. Another reason Siddartha may not have chosen to follow Gotama and the “Unbroken chain” idea is because of his friend Govinda. Govinda has always followed Siddhartha, so when Govinda chose to follow Gotama, Siddhartha may have seen this as an opportunity to separate from his friend. The unbroken chain can also be seen as a comparison to Siddhartha life. He has lived his whole life doing the same things over and over again. He is taught the he leaves, then he is taught again. Siddhartha's life up to this point is an unbroken chain, but his choice not join Gotama may be his way of breaking this chain that he may feel like is strangling him, and not allowing himself to find salvation.
I really like this comparison, that Siddhartha's life is like a chain. He feels as if he breaks the chain, finding something that speaks to him, but he really is on the same path as he started. Like you mention, he goes and learns and finds what he learns isn't right and leaves. Each time he finds something new (like Kamala teaching him love, or the Samanas attempt to remove the human and the Self from within him), Siddhartha expresses relief that now he is on his way to nirvana and salvation. But he keeps repeating the same steps, the same links in the chain, never actually breaking it. Which brings up the question, by the end of Siddhartha's story, has he broken the chain and found something truly unique? Or does his enlightenment and understanding allow him to see the chain and accept that it will never be broken, and is able to live in peace with that knowledge?
I agree and personally I think another reason he didn't follow Gotama was because of what Gotama was teaching.Gotama wanted to teach people how to achieve Nirvana. However, Siddhartha didn't want to achieve nirvana instead he wanted to find peace in himself.
I just had an epiphany with this book. You know trees? Those tall things that come out of the ground? Anytime a character is mentioned to be “in the shade of the trees” or “in a grove” or somewhere relating to a tree, something important happens. For instance, when Siddhartha and Govinda hear the Buddah’s sermons and split up, it is in a grove of trees(19-21% on kindle). Where is Siddhartha meditating when he decides he want to leave his home and family? Yep, under a mango tree. Kamala teaching him the art of love? In a grove. When he realizes that living in the city and investing in material things hasn’t got him anymore? Under a tree in his garden. I could keep going, but I have to analyze what this means. The real Siddhartha (the actual, once-living person), who became the Buddah, also had his roots with trees (see what I did there ( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°)). Sheltered and raised like a prince, this Siddhartha had never seen suffering in the world. Then, one day, he beheld the suffering of peasants and poor folk, and realized there was more to life. And wouldn’t you know, he came to this epiphany under a tree. He then went and meditated under a peepal tree for six years. By Hesse placing trees in major scenes, he creates a connection between both Siddharthas. Trees are most often used as symbols of strength, peace, resilience, connection, and community. However, trees can also be used to represent new growth (like a tree blooming in the springtime), which both book Siddhartha and real Siddhartha experience more than once as rebirth; at least once each Siddhartha comes to himself and realizes nothing is as they think and that they need to change. And, conveniently enough, these rebirths and new growth occurs under trees.
Your analysis is really interesting and it caused me to think deeper about trees. I completely agree that trees represent important things happening, and can show the importance of the event even more. This idea made me think about the types of trees. I'm the daughter of an arborist, so it's not like I have a choice to NOT comment about the types of trees. For example, in one of the first scenes where we see Govinda and Siddhartha together is under a banyan tree (5 Hesse). A banyan tree is a type of tree that grows on another without harm. This can represent the friendship between Gov and Sidd. Another interesting type of tree reference is the fig tree. When the reader first is told of Siddhartha's doubts, he is wandering around a fig garden (3 Hesse). A fig tree is best known for what it stands for. The most association is the 'Cursing of the Fig Tree'. Basically the story is that Jesus was doing his thing and then he saw a bare fig tree. He cursed it for being bare, and the next day it withered. You can draw a few lessons from this. One, don't be rude to people, or fig trees for just doing their best. More importantly, watch your words, or be careful what you wish for. SIddhartha is always seeking more, he wants more knowledge, more experience, and it never really bares fruit for him. It's very fitting that Hesse places Siddhartha by fig tree when his doubts are first expressed. Important things do happen by trees, but knowing the type of tree can help you dig even deeper into the story.
The similarities between Siddhartha and the Buddha are eerily present in chapters Gotama and Awaking. When the reader first meets The Illustrious One, we immediately know that he is enlightened and has reached Nirvana. Almost the whole story tells us the exact opposite about Siddhartha. He is not enlightened and has not reached Nirvana, but he craves it so violently. A few recurring ideas or symbols throughout Gotama and Awaking really made me think. The first is a snake. In the beginning of Awaking, Siddhartha feels as if he was a snake that has shed his skin (30 Hesse). Siddhartha’s act to stop being a student of others and find himself is an empowering moment. He feels freer. Like Siddhartha, the Buddha must have felt this way when he finally shed a skin of his own. The difference is that the Buddha goes on feeling enlightened and empowered, while Siddhartha is confronted with the snake again only a few steps later. When Siddhartha realizes just how free he is, he stops, as if a snake lies in his path (33 Hesse). This snake could be a reminder of what Siddhartha has left behind. This terrifies him, the thought of being all alone terrifies him. By allowing our past decisions to come back and bring fear into our future ones, we lose a little of our freedom. “A star in the heavens” is said twice between the chapters of Gotama and Awaking. First to describe the Buddha’s teaching, which was the very positive simile of “like a light, like a star in the heavens”(23 Hesse). We think of a holy light that shines down on others from the heavens, from the gods. A complete opposite connotation is when the phrase is used with Siddhartha. When Siddhartha truly realizes that he is now all alone in the world, he stands “alone like a star in the heavens” (34 Hesse). Siddhartha feels alone, far away from anyone he knows. He’s floating in a black abyss of life, which can be freeing or frightening. I believe Hesse is trying to make all the similarities and differences of Siddhartha and Buddha show that the same thing can happen to different people and they will get different results. It’s not always what happens to you, it’s how you deal and move on from it.
As I read “Guatama,” and “Awakening,” I found evidence for an idea that has been bouncing around in my head for a while. When the Hinduism and Buddhism groups presented their topics, I found the idea of reincarnation and the Four Noble Truths tugging at the back of my min. As I read the line,
“The Buddha has robbed me, thought Siddhartha, he has robbed me, yet he has given me more. He has robbed me of my friend...but he has also given me Siddhartha, has given me my self” (Hesse, 34).
I realized that the idea of reincarnation is an active part of the story. As Siddhartha moves from his home to become a samana, from being a samana to a merchant, and finally from being a merchant to reaching enlightenment with help from the river, we actively see a different Siddhartha appearing, each different from the last. The first Siddhartha was a child, unaware of the ways of the world, but upon leaving home and becoming a samana, we see a new Siddhartha emerge, one that, upon discovering the world around him, is bitter towards the people he sees,
“He saw dealers dealing, princes hunting...- and everything was unworthy of his eyes, everything lied, everything stank, everything stank of lies, everything shammed meaning and happiness and beauty, and everything was unacknowledged decay. The world tasted bitter. Life was torture” (Hesse, 13).
As we had learned from the presentations of the Buddhism group, the ruling parts of life are the Four Noble Truths. In this moment, Siddhartha leaves his sheltered life to become a samana, and effectively lives the first part of the Four Noble Truths, Dhakka. He sees how people truly live, and thus, that suffering exists universally, which fulfilled the first part of the Four Noble Truths. As we go along, Siddhartha’s journey joins closer to those Four Noble Truths. After meeting Kamala and Kamaswami, Siddhartha falls into a cycle of greed and gambling, trying to feel alive again, “The world had captured him: pleasure, lustfulness, sluggishness, and finally the vice that he had always scorned and scoffed at most as the most foolish vice: greed” (Hesse, 70). When he realizes that this is wrong, he decides to begin his life again, and effectively transitions into Samudaya, the second level of the Noble Truths, which states that suffering has meaning, and is often caused by greed. This understanding that his life was ruled by greed allowed Siddhartha to break away from his ways, and move forward. Siddhartha reaches the third level of the Four Noble Truths as he chases after his son when the latter runs away, and realizes that the pain of his son’s leaving will go away,
“After standing and standing at the garden gate, Siddhartha realized how foolish was the desire that had driven him to the place; he realized that he could not help his son, that he must not cling to him. He felt deep love in his heart for the runaway, it was like a wound; and he also felt that the wound was not for wallowing, that it must become a blossom and shine” (Hesse, 111).
Siddhartha then has the chance to consider how foolish he had thought those “child people” who suffered on the account of others, and how he was feeling the same. This realization that pain and suffering ends fulfilled the requirements set by the third Noble Truth, which states that to continue, one must understand that everything has an end. To complete the cycle and reach Nirvana, Siddhartha had to complete the last level of the Four Noble Truths, Magga. Magga states that a person will end their suffering and reach Nirvana when they complete the 8 Fold Path. Siddhartha learned the rightful ways along his journey, such as right livelihood by discontinuing his life of wealth and greed, right understanding from his meeting with Siddhartha Guatama, and right mindfulness (bodily sensations, feelings) from his meetings with Kamala. From his journey, Siddhartha completed the steps of the Four Noble Truths, and the 8 Fold Path, thus becoming truly enlightened.
After a lot of indecisiveness and re-reading, I have decided that the thing I like enough to write a paragraph about is the symbol of a snake, which first appears in the first pages of Awakening. Hesse first compares Siddhartha to a snake that has shed its skin: “He was aware that he had been deserted, as the snake is deserted by its shed skin, that something was no longer available to him” (Hesse 33). This seems a simple metaphor for Siddhartha losing his former identities as a Brahmin’s son and a Shramana, he shed his old selves like a snake does old skin. He doesn’t realize this immediately, but feels liberated by suddenly knowing himself, realizing that he contains Atman, himself, the key to Nirvana. Like never before, he is hit, full speed by a love of the world and its beauty and a realization of its basic truth. But “While Siddhartha was thinking these thoughts, again he suddenly halted, stopped still, as if a snake lay on the path ahead of him.” (35). This is when he truly realizes that he has lost his identity. This revelation is both freeing and daunting for Siddhartha, and it reflects the existentialist view that “existence precedes essence” (in the words of Jean Paul-Sartre), that there are no qualities- good or bad- inherent to any human being. There is also a notable change in language from this point on, from diction connoting freedom to using words pertaining to anxiety and impatience. The symbolic meaning of the snake can be further uncovered by arguably the most important occurrence of the motif in the novel, when “...a small, black adder, which had bitten Kamala, escaped from under her dress” (88). This snake actually kills Kamala while she is walking with the hoards of pilgrims following the Buddha, and clips short her search for enlightenment and peace, instead she finds it unexpectedly on her deathbed with her old love, Siddhartha. She had wanted to “make a pilgrimage in order to see the face of the one perfect man, to inhale his peace, but instead of him, she had found Siddhartha, and it was good, just as good” (90). In some forms of the story of the Buddha’s enlightenment, the King of the serpents, Naga Mucalinda was said to curl up around Gautama while he sat under a mucalinda tree during the sixth week of his meditation. Naga Mucalinda wrapped around Gautama and covered his head with his hooded face to shield him from the rain and cold. This snake represents a guide in the search for bliss, though it may seem like a rude awakening or even cause the death of the seeker, in both cases in the novel, the snake served as an omen to redirect the seeker to a better path towards their bliss.
One thing I found interesting in these chapters was Siddhartha's comparison of himself to a stone in water. He states “when you throw a stone into water it will always find the fastest way down” (Hesse 50), literally meaning that when a stone or rock hits water it will sink as fast as it can. Then he says “Siddhartha...Through the affairs of the world like a rock through water” (Hesse 50), stating that on the case of things happening in his life he would compare himself to a rock in water because when he wants to get something done, or attain something, he will always find the fastest way to do that no matter what it takes, in this case it was being able to be taught the art of love by Kamala. I think the comparison of Siddhartha to a rock can be further explored. Other than the example of the rock being thrown into water i think Siddhartha is similar to a rock in other ways. One way is that he is tough, this is because he has lived with the Samanas for three years, this makes him physically tough and able to withstand almost any physical extreme that he may be faced with, but this also makes him hard to the things happening outside of himself. Another way Siddhartha is like a rock is that he is tough to break, but when he does he shatters into many different pieces. At first before meeting Kamala trying to break him down it isn't working, but once he finally meets Kamala and he gets into him he “explodes” and only wants to be with her and tell her everything and learn everything from her. So in a way Siddhartha is a rock on the inside and out.
I agree with the idea that Siddhartha is a rock through and through, but I think there is even more evidence to explore. The quality of being tough, or objective can be seen when Kalama tells Siddhartha, “You do not really love me- you love nobody” (Hesse 59), and when Siddhartha agrees. Stones are indifferent to most everything, this quality is a major part of Siddhartha. He can’t engage or feel enough to be in love, even with someone who knows him as well as Kamala does. Even though he is looking at the world with different eyes, seeing all the beautiful things, he hardly ever truly engages. Siddhartha even refers to the people’s life as, “this game’ (Hesse 57) which he plays. Siddhartha never lives the people’s life, he just plays. Another quality of a rock I think resembles Siddhartha is it’s ability to morph and change. When a rock is in water or wind or a major element, it will change it’s shape depending on it’s environment. We see Siddhartha do this in every new situation of his life. When he lives with the Samanas, he has to harden himself. When he is with Kamala he has to open up more. Siddhartha’s environment changes his outward appearance. Although, like a rock, Siddhartha’s inside never really changes, like a rock all the same stuff is still on the inside.
In the Chapter Kamala, the major part that stood out was the young women across the brook. After Siddhartha leaves his one night home at the ferryman’s straw hut, he runs into a woman. Siddhartha finds “at the edge of the brook a young woman was kneeling and washing clothes”(41 Hesse). The mention of a brook, a smaller section of a river, maybe even the river that Siddhartha reaches enlightenment on. Whenever a river, brook, or stream is mentioned, we know this moment is important. If Siddhartha had gone through with his urges and had sex with this young women, nothing would be the same. Hesse then brings our attention to the fact that Siddhartha has never been with a women sexually. This is a maxism we learned in class, if it is important, introduce it early! The fact that Siddhartha never was with a women is a major catalyst for him to become a student of Kamala. He is wanting to experience something he never has. The sexual diction really draws the reader in. There is a lot of it, which isn’t surprising considering this is describing Siddhartha’s first encounter with sexual desire. Short sentences add a fluttering feeling to the sexual diction. “Looking up at her face smiling, full of desire and her half-closed eyes pleading with longing” (41 Hesse). This conveys anxious desire so well, I almost forgot I was reading Siddhartha and thought it was a Young Adult Romance novel. Words like desire, pleading and longing really drive home the message that Siddhartha is ready to explore this new world of love, or love-making. Another sexual phrase that brings in the ancient feeling is “ascending the tree” (Hesse41). A quick search reveals that it’s basically when you initiate sex from the feet up. This explains the weird footsy game they played upon meeting. If Siddhartha had sex with this woman, he would not have become a student of Kamala, then became a merchant, then became dissatisfied with that life and leave for the river, where he reaches enlightenment. The story would not be the same.
I also agree, sexual diction is very common in the chapter, I think the first mention is actually of Siddhartha watching “a ram trail an ewe an mate with her.” (Hesse 40), and I think it can be taken to represent, in a much broader (and considerably heteronormative) sense Siddhartha’s new view of the natural world, particularly reproductive sex as something divinely beautiful- rather than illusion waiting to be ripped to shreds by ascetic discipline and philosophy. However, what’s even more interesting to me is how the language doesn’t seem to only foreshadow sex with Kamala but also reflects his rebirth in the previous chapter as a truer version of himself. This rebirth is transformed into something much more literal, the “sex dream” with Govinda can be dually interpreted, with the focus instead on the nourishing function of the breast, the “taste of woman and man, sun and forest, beast and blossom, of every fruit, of every desire” in the milk could be seen as Siddhartha’s first introduction to life after his birth as a new self (41).
While reading this chapter I also noticed that her meeting this girl right before she went into town was direct foreshadowing to him meeting Kamala. I liked your use of the maxims, I didn't realize that this applied scene applied to that scenario. As well as that I think that the sexual diction used throughout the chapter was extremely important to the development of Siddhartha's character. I liked how you showed and explained the effect that the sexual diction has on the reader because it is extremely prominent while reading. Do you think that this extreme desire Siddhartha has for women now is due to the fact that he is inexperienced, or due to the fact that he has always had to hide his feeling and how he felt about people, so with his new found freedom he is free to do so?
“He was open to everything these people brought to him… he listened with interest and good cheer, was surprised at him [them], let him [them] have his [their] way a little, just as much seemed absolutely necessary, and turned away from him [them] to the next person who demanded his attention.” (Hesse 58). In this passage, Siddhartha describes how open he was to the experiences other people shared with him, and it seems to imply that he felt very accepting and willing to learn about experiences outside of his own, the experiences of the so-called ‘child people’. However, this passage’s intended (I say intended, but, you know) message about Siddhartha’s open and curious new attitude is outright contradicted by quotes in the same chapter, even subtly within the passage. Hesse writes that Siddhartha “let him have his way, just as much seemed absolutely necessary”, this subtle manipulation is a sign of a much deeper issue within Siddhartha’s attitudes towards others (58). It shows that he sees other people as less than him, to be pitied and protected, looked down upon. This pretentious and self-important attitude is pretty much summed up on the next page by his elitist theory comparing people to falling leaves versus stars in a fixed orbit. He regards himself as one of the elite, a star, after revealing this to Kamala, he says insensitively to her “ People of our kind may not be able to love. Child people can love; that is their secret” (60). Despite his portrayal as a reasonable and open person, he holds within himself a toxic pride with which he disregards and manipulates others, like always. This superiority complex is visible as early in the story as when his and Govinda’s relationship is first introduced in the novel, it is clearly a heavily one-sided relationship, Govinda is Siddhartha’s “shadow”, Siddhartha is even physically avoidant towards Govinda, Siddhartha places himself “...twenty paces further Govinda” (6, 9). Even his action of standing, arms folded (while asking his father for permission to join the shramanas) can be interpreted as a dominant, even hostile gesture. This behavior continues until the very end of the novel, when he truly opens himself up to the experiences of others by listening to the river personified as the many voices of all humanity.
I agree with your statement a lot. Another analysis I think could go with the idea of Siddhartha’s infuriating superiority complex is also in the chapter Kamala. During Siddhartha’s meeting with Kamala, as a response to Kamala almost rejecting him because his appearance and manner, he says “ Oh, the Samana is strong and afraid of nothing. He could force you, fair maiden, he could rob you, he could hurt you” (Hesse 45). Not only was I super uncomfortable by this comment but I finally recognized the mindset that Siddhartha lived by. His pride is so large that when he is threatened, the first thing he does is threaten back. It reminds me of the very real, very scary situation many people face today. Someone who needs control and is so prideful they consider taking away someone’s freedom. Although, I do believe that Kamala was awesome and snapped him out of his abusive ways of thinking, Siddhartha’s need to feel in control and get his way drives him over the edge. It is his hubris.
“During the night he slept among the boats on the river, and early in the morning, before the first customers arrived in the shop, he had his beard shaved off by the barber’s assistant. He also had his hair combed and rubbed with fine oil. Then he went to bathe in the river.” (Hesse 43). This passage uses the symbol of the river twice. I believe that the use of river is symbolic of Siddhartha washing away his past and entering a new stage in his life. He is starting over. It also foreshadows where he will live out the remainder of his days. He sleeps on the river among the boats, and he washes himself in the river. This subtly prepares the reader for the next stage in Siddhartha’s life. It also punctuates that he is about to start the next leg of his journey because any time Siddhartha has made life altering decisions in the past he has usually been either at a river or near a river, which also symbolizes cross roads. This passage is also where Siddhartha really makes his transformation from Samana to “regular” man because he is shedding the things that identify him as a Samana and he is taking some of his first steps towards a privileged life, symbolizing his rebirth as yet another version of Siddhartha. One in which he no longer relies on religious teachings but instead follows his impulses and listens to his inner voice in the hope that it will lead him to what he is looking for.
My thinking about the metaphor of the river, or just water generally complements yours, I think. The river, to me, almost seems to be like a massive pool of all humanity’s experiences and identities. Near to the end of the story, when Siddhartha finally owns up to his hubris and acknowledges other people as actually worth a damn, he says to Vasudeva: “Is it not true, O Friend, the river has many voices? Has it not the voice of a king, and of a warrior, and of a bull, and of a nightbird, and of a woman giving birth, of someone sighing, and still a thousand other voices.” (Hesse 86). It reminds me of one of the quote that Griffin showed in class today (something about a person being a drop of water in a n ocean, and an ocean being nothing more than a collection of drops). But it basically shows water as a symbol for the collective pains and joys of humanity, and contact with water could be interpreted as a symbol for change of identity (other examples include Siddhartha spending the night at the ferryman’s hut after leaving the shramanas and Govinda and again after leaving his life as a businessman).
Siddhartha is an incredibly strong book, full to the brim with quotes you find layered on top of out-of-focus “artsy” pictures of flowers and Buddha statues, stuck all over everyone’s “inspirational” board on pintrest. The majority of these quotes never stick out to me- like, yeah, “We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps,” (Hesse and no page number because I literally just pulled that off of pintrest) sounds cool and all, but if I want something semi-inspirational and cryptic, I could just ask my Norwegian Great-Grandma for advice on finding love or making fattigmann. That being said, I found something actually interesting and applicable to a 16 year old white mormon girl. In the chapter “Kamala,” as Siddhartha is seeming to experience the beauty of the world for the first time as part of his rebirth, he thinks, “All this had always existed, and he had not seen it; he had not been with it. Light and shadow ran through his eyes, stars and moon ran through his heart” (Hesse 29% on kindle). Preceding this is an enormous paragraph of gorgeous visual imagery that I really loved but I didn’t want to have to type up. Anyway, my point is, this quote is really awesome. I’m sure there’s some great symbolism and foreshadowing or something like that, but I want to talk about how this quote makes me feel. From about 7th grade to 10th, I lived (not to sound overly dramatic) in fear. I was afraid I wouldn’t get an assignment done, wouldn’t get an “A”, wouldn’t be liked, wouldn’t have friends, would never amount to anything, and most of all, afraid I was going to fail and never be able to get up. I know I’m no anomaly. Everyone feels like that at some point or another. But I wasn’t able to give myself a break. I knew I was running myself into the ground, but I never did anything about it until I crashed. I’d take time off, tell myself that my best is enough, and try being a part of the world again. But that lesson would never stick and I’d do it all over again. In that sense, I connect with Siddhartha. I had never looked up, or bothered to really enjoy things around me. Now that I do, I can’t believe I made my life miserable when there were so many beautiful and important things around me. Yeah, I see more bad things and shadows around me, listening to the things people say and do to hurt each other, and how our planet is going to fail us, and of violence committed out of hate. But I also get to see the light, the good in people, the things I can accomplish. So yeah. This quote is super cool because I actually connect with it.
I completely agree with your idea! I think that this time of exploration for Siddhartha is really important, and I believe Hesse decided to highlight this new part of Siddhartha's life by making these two chapters the first of "Part Two" (in my book, at least). Siddhartha starts appreciating the life around him more, but we still see several flaws, such as when Siddhartha is taken across the river by Vasudeva. In that moment, I thought I saw some promise in Siddhartha, with his excitement about Vasudeva not taking payment for the trip, but was deeply disappointed by how Siddhartha classified him as a "child person," thus proving that he still considered himself superior.
As I re-read “Kamala,” and “Among the Child People,” I found that these chapters held several moments when Siddhartha made progress to reaching Right Conduct and Right Mindfulness. The former, a large part of the Eightfold Path, deals with teaching a person by acting in a proper way without hurting or killing another human being. This principle is shown by Kamala’s first talk with Siddhartha, where Siddhartha questions her lack of fear of the men that she sees. Kamala listens to this question, and replies with a statement that is very similar to the description of Right Conduct:
“Red and beautiful are Kamala’s lips, but try to kiss them against Kamala’s will, and you will not get a drop of sweetness from the lips that know how to give so much sweetness! You learn easily, Siddhartha, then learn this too: One can get love by begging, by buying, by receiving it as a gift, by finding it in the street, but one cannot steal it.”
This idea, that one cannot obtain love by taking it by force, is thus upheld in Siddhartha’s mind, which is a helpful lesson considering that Siddhartha’s contact with women in an intimate setting prior to this moment was limited. By learning that one can only give and take with permission, Siddhartha furthers his understanding of the Right Conduct, thus bringing him closer to understanding the world around him. In addition to learning about Right Conduct, Siddhartha also has his first intimate encounter with another being, which starts to extend his understanding of Right Mindfulness. The function of the Right Mindfulness clause acts to encourage a person to connect with his body and feelings, which Siddhartha is only able to do with Kamala. While with Kamala, Siddhartha learns how to give and take pleasure from another body, while learning about his own:
“In regard to love, he was still a boy, and he tended to plunge into pleasure blindly, endlessly, insatiably. So she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it...Here, with Kamala, lay the purpose of his current life, and not with Kamaswami’s business.”
By following Kamala’s ways, Siddhartha was able to connect with himself on a physical level, and learn that one must always be conscious of their body. This idea, which mirrors that of the Right Mindfulness, allows Siddhartha to get one step closer to enlightenment.
In Part 2 of Hesse's Siddhartha, I noticed that the concept of Reincarnation was presented in very subtle manners. In the first part of the book, the way that Hesse writes is very blunt and when Siddhartha speaks it becomes much more lengthy and philosophical, however when the second part of the book begins, it is like the story has been reincarnated. Hesse chooses to use phrasing that indicates a more physical description which satisfies the reader’s want for visual imagery. Within these visuals, Hesse uses words of desire. Siddhartha is changing his path to be one of physical fulfillment, which can be reflected in Hesse’s word choice. Ex. “Siddhartha saw a pike hunting in a reedy lake in its evening hunger, and the fearful young fish propelling themselves out of the water, fluttering and flashing, swarms before him. And force and passion rose urgently out of the rushing whirlpools the impetuous hunter created” (Hesse 38). This passage contains words like “hunger”, “passion”, and “hunting” which are associated with some form of a physical need. As the words chosen make a shift in connotation, the reader can get the sense that Siddhartha is not only changing but being reborn in a way because of Hesse’s comparison of Siddartha to a child. Siddhartha's inner dialogue compares himself to a child discovering the elements of the world around him. Siddartha does take on a child like curiosity on this path of physical discovery and of the realization that in order to understand yourself, one must acknowledge their physical self instead of disregarding it. This also falls in line with Rightful Mindedness which was discussed in class. Another example in which Siddhartha's lack of experience in the world is prevalent, causing him to seem even more like a child is when Kamala and him kiss for the first time. Siddartha really knows nothing of what it means to have and then satisfy physical desire, so when he and Kamala kiss for the first time new realization floods that there is still things to be learned as “...the abundance of knowledge and things worthy of learning had been revealed to him” (Hesse 46). Siddhartha then proceeds to blurt out that Kamala kisses well, which in itself reflects how little Siddartha knows of intimate matters and how like a child he truly is to this new world. These subtle choices in the shift of the writing and Siddhartha's new outlook on the world provides the idea of reincarnation to become relevant.
I think this idea and these examples can be expanded beyond just reincarnation. You can look at Siddhartha's pride; like you pointed out, he is very much like a child, yet continually refers to those around him (sans Kamala) as child-like people, putting them below him. Clearly quite the hypocrite, being so unto a child himself. You can also simply look at the symbolism of Siddhartha's travels before he becomes employed by Kamiswami. Hesse uses color (red), word choice (words of passion and hunger), and imagery symbolism to convey a theme of passion and hint at Siddhartha's next step in his journey (him losing himself to pride). Nice examples!
One thing that stood out to me during the chapter “Samsara” was the idea that Siddhartha places himself higher than other people. After awaking from his dream he explains samsara and say that it is “ a game for children” (Hesse 75). One thing this could mean is that the game in itself is childish and presents itself in a way that is easily understood by children. Another thing this could mean is that children are seen as innocent, so the idea that life is a constant circle is an innocent idea that doesn't take many risks. A third way, and the most realistic way, is that Siddhartha sees himself as an “adult”, whereas he sees everyone else as children. Meaning that he thinks he is the only one that is grown up and really knows what is happening, so most people will follow this idea, but him being better than everyone else, he doesn't want to follow it. This may be because he feels the constant need to be better than everyone els. This is why he gets so deep into anything that he is doing. He wants praise from everyone, and he feels that the only way he can do that is by being better. This is also the reason that he has such high stakes when he gambles. He knows that if he wins he will be considered better, and the more he wins the better he seems. So with samsara he thinks that if he accepts the idea that life is a cycle than he will be no better than anyone else, and he will therefore lose is elevated status that he has put himself and Kamala on. His quest for an elevated status may be the reason he goes after kamala so strongly. He saw a beautiful woman and knew that every man would want to have her, so if he got her it would elevate his status. Therefore making him feel better about himself and gaining him praise from the people he sees as under him and the social hierarchy.
I agree with you up to a point in this. Yes, Siddhartha is definitely very vain and concentrated on validating himself constantly, he can only ever find fault in others until he finds the middle path- Buddhism even after turning down the Buddha as a teacher. This is easily found in many parts of the text, some supporting quotations below: “Siddhartha knew many venerable Brahmins, his father best of all” yet inferior to Siddhartha in his own conception of himself (8 Hesse). Some, like the Buddha “are like stars, they travel in fixed orbit, no wind reaches them, in themselves they have their law and their course”, and Siddhartha declares himself one of these- at least in action, by turning down the Gautama’s teachings, finding fault in them- (59). He also describes himself in a similar way, comparing himself to a rock falling through water (you wrote about it in one of your previous blogs). But, I don’t believe that he is looking for that validation from other people- or at least not from the masses, the “child people”, maybe from Kamala, but for the most part- I think that his arrogance comes from a deeply held insecurity that has been exacerbated by people around him during his childhood (especially Govinda) constantly praising him, greenlighting him on the notion that he is better than the people around him, even the praisers. Therefore allowing Siddhartha to see himself as the only person truly deserving of his own respect enough to dole out moral judgement. This, of course only perpetuates the notion inside Siddhartha’s head that he is the best, with no outside criticizers there to check his ego.
The most interesting thing to me in these assigned chapters is the radical turnaround in the characterization of Siddhartha; He reveals to himself the error of his ways in this chapter. He understands that the very cornerstone of his suffering had risen from arrogance and he finally defeats. Like a phoenix, rising from the ashes of his prior self, Siddhartha accepts his past selves and his rundown and hungry current state with a thankful smile. “He was dead, a new Siddhartha had awakened from sleep. He too would grow old, he too would one day have to die, transitory was Siddhartha, transitory was every form. But today he was young, the new Siddhartha was a child, and he was full of joy” (Hesse 78). He finally addresses the deeply rooted arrogance that had defined all of his actions on the path to bliss. How he constantly snubbed Govinda, abandoned his family, crawled into his little spot of all-reaching hatred of the world as an ascetic and continued this until he met Gautama. When he met Gautama, he seemed to miraculously forget his arrogance and learn to listen to his inner self, his I, this of course led him astray. His curiosity spun out of control into an endless (in some ways- think of the river metaphor for time) cycle of indulgence and pity for those which he determined were his lessers which outlasted the other good traits like piety or waiting like he had learned from his earlier periods as a Brahmin and an ascetic. This indulgence and pity both came from the belief that he was superior to everyone else, that he was above the child people in some essential way, making him both better and more important. “He had always been full of arrogance… into this intellectuality his I had crept in and holed up, it sat there and grew, when he meant to kill it [as an ascetic]… Now he saw it, and saw that the secret voice had been right, that no teacher yet had been able to save him.” (78). From this realization, Siddhartha is able to grow past his arrogance, all the while preserving the childlike and vital inner voice that he does not starve or glut, he (like Buddhists strive for) finds the effective “middle path” to enlightenment. He remembers the virtues of his past philosophies and understands how he had been incorrectly practicing them. For example, the holy word Om which he hears from the river reawakens something in him from his childhood and saves him from the abyss the Brahamic chant which he sings instinctually when Kamala dies. The memory of the good from his past comforts him and young Siddhartha. However, he also recalls how restrictive the weight of “too much knowledge… doing and striving” was. With this new understanding of his self and his past, Siddhartha is able to give himself to love wholley. I find this new skill of Siddhartha’s to be the most intriguing and the most valuable. Though it bring him great pain, it also brings him new understanding of his own wrongdoings, how his arrogance and abandonment gave his father the same sadness that Siddhartha now felt and young Siddhartha’s spoiled abandonment.
“The bird, the fresh wellspring and voice was still alive within him; this made him feel joy, this is why he laughed, this is why beneath his grey hair, his face was radiant… [he] listened to to the bird, how it sang for joy” (77). < just cause i like this quote
I like it, too! :) Would you say, though, that this is something which has happened before? Doesn't he have a tendency to do quick about-faces? Why do you think that is? Ms. Ballard
“There slowly bloomed and ripened in Siddhartha the realization and knowledge of what wisdom, the object of his long quest, really was. It was nothing more than a readiness of the soul, a mysterious knack: the ability at every moment in the midst of life to think the thought of unity, to feel and breathe unity. Gradually this blossomed in him, shone back to him from the ancient child’s face of Vasudera - harmony, knowledge of the eternal perfection of the world, unite - a smile.” (Siddhartha, pg 101)
In this passage, Siddhartha finally reaches the answer that he has been searching for the entire book. I liked the wording of “slowly bloomed and ripened” because rather than comparing his realization to a very artificial, man-made analogy such as “like a light bulb flickering on,” Hesse uses an analogy that reminds me of the slow spread of water, or the first blooms of the day. It represents how his enlightenment is something beyond the petty, fleeting thoughts of the rest of mankind, and yet something that is, at the same time, closer to the primitive instincts of an animal. The answer has been within Siddhartha the entire time, and yet it is something that he has to learn from outside sources, like the river. “The thought of unity, to feel and breathe unity” is a part of the passage that explains the enlightenment that Siddhartha feels in that moment, and though mankind is usually seen as an enemy of nature, in this passage they are both seen in a sort of unity.
I never noticed that quote (we must have different translations, because I can’t even find something that sounds similar in my book), but I really do like it too. Bloom and ripen are both words that really stick out to me as visceral, but not in a gross way, in a very deeply moving way, especially in this usage, describing some divine unity of all things (Thanks for sharing the quote). However, I do draw conflict with the sentiment behind the phrase: “beyond the petty, fleeting thoughts of the rest of mankind”. One of the most important things I got from this novel was the message about Siddhartha needing to lose his arrogant mindset and accept his mediocrity. Now, I don’t mean that Siddhartha is mediocre when it comes to study or ability to learn quickly the tools of whatever trade he picks up, as he’s shown himself to be proficient when it comes to surface skills like that. But, I mean that Siddhartha needs to learn humility and understand his own multitude of flaws in order to see how he is truly one with all humankind, the Earth, and all other realms. To see that he is burdened with the same struggles and same spirit and same thoughts as everyone else.
After Siddhartha had spoke the Om and been enlightened on the river bank, he realizes he had been keeping himself from enlightenment; “Too much knowledge had held him back, too many holy verses, too many sacrificial rites, too much self-castigation, so much doing and striving for that goal!” (Hesse 64% on kindle). By jove, I love this quote. I love it so much. I love the truth it tells- trying to make decisions and searching for understanding on spiritual and emotional matters isn’t helped by an abundance of facts and knowledge. Being unable to see past what we are told is truth and what is right is often a hindrance to growing in spiritual ways. Because of my faith (I’m LDS, which is the same thing as a mormon), this topic is very near and dear to my heart Another reason I found this quote of interest is that it’s something Siddhartha was warned about this very issue by Buddha much earlier in this journey. When Siddhartha informs Gotama of the apparent error in his teachings, Gotama responds, “You’ve found a gap in it, an error. You should think about this further. But be warned, seeker of knowledge, of the thicket of opinions and arguments about words. There is nothing to opinions” (Hesse 22% on kindle). Siddhartha, being too prideful at this time, brushes off this warning, and continues on journey to find the right knowledge, the right way to do things. It took years of Siddhartha living a useless life to realize that “the right way” didn’t actually exist, but that it was something that you define yourself.
I too found it interesting that it took this long for Siddhartha to find "the right way", it seems like a person in his type of culture would have found it much sooner, but maybe thats just it. Maybe because of the culture he lives in it was so hard for him to find this right way because everyone thinks there way is the right way so with each new thing he did he was blinded to finding the way in which he felt was the best. This brings me to the question, do you think there is a right way of life? Is there one right way or can it be different for every person?
I think that regardless of faith, the journey it takes for one to to find the answer to their purpose in life is a difficult one to embark upon. What the added faith does I think is hold you back in that (and I realize I can only speak for myself here) is that you want to trust and believe with all your heart the teachings to your faith and not question it. The questioning that Siddhartha participates in is a very hard thing for a regular person to go through. The realization of one’s faith and accepting/denying it in correlation to how one as an individual is meant to be provides as interesting experience, I will agree. I think that is mostly due to how one of the functions of having a faith is that it gives you a purpose. To go beyond that can be very difficult indeed. I think that this "right way" "wrong way" thing is something completely arbitrary as well. Right and wrong don't exists in it's entirety if you really think about it. How sure are we of what we know that qualifies as "the truth" or "facts", really?
When rereading the chapter The Ferryman, Kamala’s death scene really stood out. Kamala’s last impression filled me with such intense sorrow, I might have shed a tear(or twenty thousand). As Siddhartha sits, “looking at her dead face” (Hesse 93), I couldn’t help but think back to the first mention of Kamala. The comparisons between the beginning and the end are what made Kamala’s ending so saddening. When we first meet Kamala, Siddhartha mentions her “bright, very sweet, very clever face” (Hesse 42). After Kamala has died, Siddhartha looks at her “pale face, at the tired wrinkles” (Hesse 93). Another important element of Kamala that has changed over time is her mouth. Siddhartha notices that Kamala was gifted with “ a bright red mouth, like a freshly cut fig” (Hesse 42). When Siddhartha watches Kamala now, he sees “ an old tired mouth and shrunken lips” (Hesse 93). The idea that Kamala was so bright and so alive at the beginning and now is so used up and weakened may seem unnecessarily sad, but I chose( after about ten minutes of ugly crying) to see it in a hopeful way. Kamala was a star, a shooting star. She was vibrant and alive as she went through the atmosphere, or life, but in the end, everything has to end, and so the flames stopped and her journey stopped along with it. Siddhartha and the Buddha may have been seen as ‘a star in the heavens’, but Kamala was the true one.
I thought that part was really sad too. And I agree with your assessment of Kamala, but I'd also like a little more explanation of how you think this impacted Siddhartha. I almost fell like her physical appearance at the end is a symbol to Siddhartha of the poisonous life he was leading. I think that at this moment he realizes just how worn down that life made her. I think he also feels some regret for leaving her. I also think that their interactions with each other at the beginning are very different than at the end.
I agree with Epiphany. When I first looked at the same pieces of evidence as you, rather than seeing it in a more hopeful light, I can't help but see it as a symbol of how Siddhartha has almost "sucked" the life out of her with his lifestyle. He used her and after he was done he discarded her. However, after reading your analysis, I do agree that she also symbolizes the cycle of life and death, and she was a sort of star by herself.
As I read, “By the River,” one symbol that always stood out to me was the mention of the bird, both as when Kamala was releasing her songbird after Siddhartha had left. “When she first heard the news of Siddhartha’s disappearance, she stepped over to the window, where she kept a rare songbird in a gold cage. She opened the door of the cage, took out the bird, and let it fly. She watched and watched it, the flying bird” (Hesse, 76). This instance reminded me of the literary maxims that we discussed in class, particularly, “Flight is freedom.” As described in the quote above, Kamala allows her songbird to leave the cage, an action which is often considered to be equated to her letting go of Siddhartha. Both the bird and Siddhartha are granted leave by their owners, the physical owner of the bird being Kamala, and the metaphorical owner of Siddhartha being the temptation that he faced from wealth and lust, which he beats when he discovers that it is leading him away from his path to enlightenment. Thus, as both the bird and Siddhartha are leaving, we see that both gain freedom by fleeing from the things that held them captive, either being a cage, or an endless cycle of greed and temptation. After Siddhartha fled from temptation, he gained both a freedom from the things holding him back, as well as from himself, “But today he was young, was a child, the new Siddhartha, and was full of joy” (Hesse, 88). Prior to leaving Kamala and Kamaswami, Siddhartha had been a prisoner to his own self, constantly fighting a cycle in which temptation and greed played the leading roles. By looking into his own self and recognizing that greed was obstructing his path to self-discovery, Siddhartha was able to break samsara, and start again at the beginning. This is denoted by the use of word like “child,” and “young” in the quote above, which all have a connotation of new and fresh beginnings.
In the beginning of “By the River” I noticed that as Siddhartha begins to question his physical existence in the world, he approaches a coconut tree along the riverbank. As the realization that such thoughts were treacherous grounds to tread on, Siddartha takes a rest underneath a coconut tree. It appeared peculiar to me as to why Hesse choose to make this little crisis occur specifically as Siddhartha is looking at the river and underneath a coconut tree. The river as seen throughout the book is the ultimate symbol to Siddartha finding enlightenment, as it is where Siddhartha is about to reach that knowledge, so it makes sense that the pain of betraying one's own mind with suicidal like thoughts is to occur there, since that is where the hurdles is to be overcome. However why a coconut tree? Some believe that coconut trees are very dangerous for they have the capability of killing a person by being hit by a falling coconut at a high enough velocity. In Indian cultures, the coconut is often used as a cleansing tool for one who is accomplishing or getting rid of desires. It is said that the coconut represents forgiveness by the divine one and has the ability to cleanse and purify the mind of those with large egos (or those too blessed with the commodities of the world). Taking on this outlook on the capabilities of coconut in terms of healing, one can make the inference that Hesse choose for Siddhartha to have the crisis of whether or not it was worth living (and then realize it was) under a coconut tree because coconut have been associated with the cleansing of the mind and soul. As soon as Siddhartha subconsciously utters the sound of “OM” his mind does a complete 180 and goes from considering death (the attacking ability of coconut trees) to the clam realization of his hesistiness (the purification brought onto by coconut trees). Another point within these first few pages of “By the River” is that just by uttering “OM” Siddhartha snapped out of the spiral of negative thoughts and started to beat himself over having/letting those thoughts invade him in the first place. Despite Siddhartha's attempt to live a life of material object, that is not who Siddhartha is. He cannot be content with simply living, his Path of Truth is towards higher enlightenment that which cannot be explain in mundane terms. Similar to how the simplistic “OM” has an impact on the person making that sound.
I didn't know that about coconut trees. Thank you for pointing that out. It's really interesting and I definitely agree with your analyses. The river is also a place where cleansing and death can occur, and later when Govinda comes along, he warns Siddhartha that sleeping there is a dangerous place because of snakes and other animals. It's like a triple whammy. The coconut tree, the river, and Govinda and the snakes. Hesse really wants to emphasize that this is a major turning point in Siddhartha's life that could have gone very wrong if Siddhartha didn't cleanse himself of all of his regrets/ past sins. He first cleanses himself of his materialistic sins, and then of his regret of leaving Govinda behind. Later, at the river, he cleanses himself of his regret for not seeing his father sooner as well as his beliefs that everything in the world is separate.
“Kamala did not try to find him. She was not surprised when she learned that Siddhartha had disappeared. Had she not always expected it? Was he not a Samana, without a home, a pilgrim?” (Hesse 68). This passage really demonstrates the complexity of Kamala’s character. She has always understood exactly who Siddhartha is, even when he didn’t understand himself. She is an integral aspect of Siddhartha’s path to enlightenment. She is almost like his keeper or mentor during this period of his life. She helps to guide him through the ways of the child people, while keeping the truest version of himself in her heart. Possibly without even realizing it. She helps Siddhartha to grow and to understand, and therefore helps him along his path to enlightenment. She always knew that at heart he was a Samana, even when he didn’t fully realize that himself. She always knew that one day he would leave her, but she opened her heart and accepted him anyway, even if it was unintentional. Kamala understands his desire to keep moving, because she is trapped. I believe that when she sets the songbird free, she isn’t just letting go of and setting Siddhartha free, she’s setting her heart free. In a way, when he leaves she goes with him. Even as she locks herself away, she opens up.
Siddhartha and Govinda’s relationship is complicated to say the least. From the unhealthy shadow to nonexistent, Govinda has always had an important role in Siddhartha’s journey. When Govinda is first shown with Siddhartha, they are meditating. Siddhartha recites “ Om is the bow, the arrow is the soul” (Hesse 5). This is the first mention of an arrow, which begins the change in Siddhartha’s life. The second mention is only a few moments later, when Siddhartha remembers the Samanas and shows the reader his desire to become one of them. He felt “lost in meditation, thinking Om, his soul as the arrow directed at Brahman” (Hesse 6). At the time I didn’t pay much attention to the mention of an arrow. I thought it symbolized change, but I never fully realized it’s true meaning until the last page. Siddhartha has reconnected with Govinda for the second time since they parted. Govinda longs to know the secrets of Nirvana, which Siddhartha has reached. When he finally realizes it, he feels “ wounded deeply by a divine arrow” (Hesse 122). The arrow mention completes the cyclic feeling of part two. Siddhartha’s adventure started with an arrow and so it must end with one as well. Reaching Nirvana was their destiny. An arrow is made to find it’s target. Their target was enlightment. Together, they started the journey and together, they finished.
WOAH OKAY I NEVER REALIZED THAT THAT IS COOL I don't have much to add to this, but re reading that chapter, I noticed that, as a reverse of the last time they met by the river, Siddhartha is one step ahead of Govinda, just like he used to be. Govinda is seeking answers from Siddhartha, answers to enlightenment. Govinda thought that when he began to follow Gotama, he was surely on the path to Nirvana. But Siddhartha, to whom Govinda hadn't been much more than a shadow, still beat him to it. Most people liken Siddhartha and Govinda unto being friends, but their relationship (in my eyes) seems to switch between master-servant and celebrity-adoring fan out of thousands. To put it bluntly, Govinda has never been on the same playing field as Siddhartha. And throughout the entirety of "Siddhartha', this relationship never changes. Does Sidd. feel more love for Govinda at the end? Yes, but he loves everything the same at that point- even rocks and trees and such. The book literally ends with Govinda bowing down before Siddhartha, bowing so low he reaches the ground. Even when the two of them are at the end of their lives, Sidd. is always "better" than Govinda.
I also noticed the reference to that earlier part of the text, I can’t think of another example of an arrow in the text, I think why it stuck out so well. The usage, like the arrow is, was clearly deliberate and carefully aimed, I also think that the arrow can serve as a metaphor for the path to enlightenment. Though it is interesting how the skill of archery can be learned as a skill, with specific rules and guiding techniques, whereas it is repeated throughout the end of the novel that nirvana couldn’t not be learned or taught, could not be acquired like the learning of knowledge and skills like Siddhartha had focused on in his earlier life.
One thing in the chapter “The Son” I find very ironic is that Siddhartha is unwilling to let go of his son in the same way his father let him go. Yes, Siddhartha sr. loves Siddhartha jr. so much that it would be incredibly difficult to let him leave. However, had Siddhartha sr. ‘s father not let him leave home, Siddhartha never would have found enlightenment and inner peace. It’s even more ironic because part of Siddhartha’s philosophy was that in order to find enlightenment, you had to gain experience and learn from the world around you. Even though SIddhartha sr. wishes to keep Siddhartha jr. from harm, he also knows that Siddhartha jr. won’t be able to make mistakes and grow if he stays in the hut by the river. Commenting on Siddhartha sr.’s action (or lack thereof) taken with his son, Vasudeva says “Oh yes, he too is called upon, he too is of the eternal life. But do we, me and you, know what he is called upon to do, what path to take, what pain to endure? Not a small one, his pain shall be; after all, his heart is proud and hard, people like him suffer a lot, err a lot, do much injustice, burden themselves with sin” (Hesse 77% on kindle). Not only did I like this quote because it is incredibly similar to my own philosophy, but also because Vasudeva gives a description of Siddhartha jr. that, if used earlier in the book, would have fit Siddhartha sr. to as well. The effect of what Vasudeva says helps the reader to understand both Siddharthas better, as well as puts SIddhartha sr.’s journey and attitude at the beginning of the book into perspective.
I agree that there is a whole lot of irony in the Siddhartha and mini Siddhartha situation. I think there is more to be looked into. The fact that Siddhartha’s son left, even though Siddhartha only had love for him, is eerily familiar. It reminds me of the chapter Brahmin’s Son. “That was how everybody loved Siddhartha. He delighted and made everyone happy. But Siddhartha himself was not happy”(Hesse 2). Love was all around Siddhartha and it wasn’t enough for him. At the time, I felt I could understand Siddhartha’s situation, but when mini Siddhartha left, I felt hurt. The perspective of an event matters. We understand and sympathize with Siddhartha when he leaves because we see it from his perspective, but when mini Siddhartha leaves, we feel heartbroken and wronged because we see it from the grieving father’s perspective. If we had seen it from Mini Siddhartha perspective, we would have felt the same as we did with his father. Perspective matters.
Yes! Perspective is huge! (sorry I read that and got really excited) For instance, when Siddhartha encounters the woman by the well, and things get a little ~steamy~™, the language used and the more vulgar diction their interaction is described with maybe makes the reader a bit uncomfy. So when Sidd. calls her "a damp female animal in heat", the reader can sort of understand where he is coming from (I mean, it's pretty harsh, but at least he didn't say it out loud). They, too, may be slightly repulsed by this woman. But when Sidd. meets Kamala and things get equally and even more ~steamy~™, the emotions felt and the way Kamala is described is much more artful, even describes their interactions and sex as art. Siddhartha's perspective puts Kamala as an equal, where well-girl is just and animal.
“Siddhartha tried to listen better. The picture of his father, his own picture, and the picture of his son all flowed into each other. Kamala’s picture also appeared and flowed on, and the picture of Govinda and others emerged and passed on. They all became parts of the river. It was the goal of all of them, yearning, desiring, suffering; and the river’s voice was full of longing, full of smarting woe, full of insatiable desire. The river flowed on towards its goal. Siddhartha saw the river hasten, made up of himself and his relatives and all the people he had ever seen. All the waves and water hastened, suffering, towards goals, many goals, to the waterfall, to the sea, to the current, to the ocean and all goals were reached and each one was succeeded by another. The water changed to vapor and rose, became rain and came down again, became spring, brook and river, changed anew, flowed anew. But the yearning voice had altered. It still echoed sorrowfully, searchingly, but other voices accompanied it, voices of pleasure and sorrow, good and evil voices, laughing and lamenting voices, hundreds of voices, thousands of voices.” (Hesse 110).
So this is a really long passage, and I’m sorry for that, but I felt like this was a paragraph that couldn’t be shortened or condensed because the syntax is supposed to give a long winding feeling, taking you leisurely along the path of life. Obviously this passage demonstrates the idea of rebirth and the cycle of life, but I also think that it means unity. Siddhartha has gone through life viewing everything as disjointed and disconnected. It isn’t until he reaches the river that he realizes that everything is connected and everyone is going to the same place no matter the path they took to get there. They are all similar and must all go through their own journey. It also demonstrates the loneliness of humans. The beginning of the paragraph uses woeful diction to demonstrate the isolation that individuals feel throughout most of their lives. They are surrounded by people yes, but they are striving for their own goals and they have their own dreams in life. However, the end of the paragraph is filled with hope. The voices of the river meld together, and become harmonious. This signifies the end of your life or the periods of understanding that you have throughout it. It’s when you realize that while yes, you are alone in your thoughts and your path, you are not unhappy. You have lived a full life filled with people who were willing to stand by your side even if it was for just a little while. It’s when you realize that you are all going to the same place and you are all human. No one is perfect, and everyone feels alone.
Reading your explanation of this passage made it make so much more sense to me. This passage fits extremely well with the end of the story. Siddhartha is caught up in Samsara and can not figure out how to get out of it, but once he realizes that he isn't that much better than everyone else he finally figures out what life means. While he thought it was being elevated from everyone else through superior meditation, he realized everything is about listening, you can never learn anything without listening. How do you think Siddhartha's life would have been different if he had learned this from Gotama? Aside from the fact that the story would have never taken place, I don't think he could've learned this any earlier. His mindset throughout 90% of the story made it impossible for him to learn this lesson, which is just the magic of the story.
I also found your interpretation to speak really well for the passage (for whatever reason,probably because of the repetition of absolutes and “no”s, it reminded me of the quote from Rick and Morty: “Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s going to die, come watch TV”; yup, very constructive thought). This idea of unity is extended to deconstruct some of the binaries so prevalent in both Western and Eastern thought, specifically that gaps between “world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between evil and good, also is an illusion.” (112). Think of the juxtaposition of sinner and saint in European Abrahamic religion or the clear contrasting between yin and yang (feminine versus masculine or rainy versus sunny). I believe that deconstruction of such concepts- of scales on which to judge people and justify poor treatment or behavior on the part of those who ceremoniously judge others with little other authority than the agreement of other people (not exactly a great measure, just think about how slavery was collectively justified or at least tolerated by European colonists for centuries or how a majority of Germans elected Hitler into power, on a platform of paranoid ethnic nationalism)- are necessary for people to live harmoniously with others, at least what I’ve felt is necessary for me.
One thing that stood out to me was the significance of the kiss that Govinda put on Siddhartha’s forehead. After the kiss occurred it was as if the entire world opened up to Govinda. Hesse writes “something wonderful happened” (Hesse 121) and then goes on to explain how Govinda finally see’s everything that Siddhartha was telling him as well as thousands of different faces. This got me thinking, could you have a event as small as this really open up your life like it did for Govinda? I think that it could but only if there was extreme background to the situation. For example, if Govinda hadn't grown up with Siddharth and been in love with him up until the point where they separated, the kiss wouldn’t have had such a profound impact. Since there was the background, this event had an extreme impact of Govinda and provided for an excellent closing to the book. In real life the event that changes your life will probably not be a kiss. It may be a book or meeting a certain person, who just completely changes your entire view on life. As well as this change may take longer than a few moments. The chance that your views on life will almost completly change at a moments notice is very unlikely, but the chance that your views may change for a period of time because of an event are high. So as I go on with my life now I will look for this one person or event that is destined to change my views on everything. But if I’m looking for it doesn't that make me more likely miss it.
As I read that kiss that Govinda gives to Siddartha, I also had similar thoughts of how Siddhartha's attitude is so contrasting to who he was previously. Him on his search to his answer vs. finally getting his answer. I agree with your idea on how a single insistence can warp your outlook and considering whether that is determined by the circumstances of those events or the event itself. Your last statement, however, got me thinking that maybe the reason that it took Siddartha such a long time to find the thing that changed his outlook was because that fact that he was actively searching for it. His answer could have been at any point in his life, but because he was actively hunting for it, he could have accidentally sabotaged himself from finding his answer sooner.
While this may be a bit off topic, the thing that was most interesting to me in the chapter “Om” was Vasudeva’s name. As I was typing my original idea for this post, I ran into an issue I often seem to have: Spelling names. In order to avoid this problem, I found myself Googling “Vasudeva,” because for some reason, I always call him “Vasuveda,” and what I found was startling. If you have not yet looked up Vasuveda, I urge you to do so at this moment, so you may be as pleasantly surprised as I was. I found that Vasudeva is not simply a character in Siddhartha, but also an important Hindu deity, also found to be synonymous to Krishna. While making the presentation of the Bhagavad Gita, I could not find where that topic would be found in “Siddhartha.” We seemed to have covered everything else, from Hinduism to existentialism, but still, I found no mention of my group’s topic, until I stumbled upon this. In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the main characters is Krishna, the blue deity whose name means “all attractive,” in reference to God. Krishna’s role in the Bhagavad Gita is to lead Arjuna into battle by showing him that it is his “dharmic duty,” and, in other words, to show him along the path of enlightenment. Likewise, Vasudeva indirectly shows Siddhartha the path to enlightenment when he guides him through the leaving of his son and embracing the idea that he is not a superior to the “child people.” One more thing that I noted was the fact that Krishna is often said to have blue skin, stemming from the idea that he is a full reincarnation of Vishnu, who is often associated with water. What really caught my eye here is that Vasudeva (another name for Krishna) lives by our favorite river, the very same one that Siddhartha follows along his path as he tries to reach enlightenment.
I love the concept of love, agape, divine, all-reaching, and non discriminating love. It defines my entire outlook on life, so, I naturally connected to these final chapters of the novel most. What stood out to me the most was the differences in how love and the intricacies of the feeling were described by Hesse. I would like to preface this with how I do understand that Siddhartha expressly addresses these differences in saying that “wisdom cannot be conveyed. The wisdom a sage attempts to convey always sounds like folly.” (Hesse 111). And I do agree with this sentiment, words are inherently restrictive because of how specific a strict definition can be, with the added confusion of connotations behind certain words- especially ones that are highly personal and often inexpressible- and potentially misleading tone and body language, it is essentially impossible to convey exactly what one experiences by words alone. Anyways, Gautama calls for love to be cast aside, and for his followers not to “shackle our [their] hearts with love for the earthly” (as paraphrased by Govinda, bringing up yet more chance for feelings being lost in translation through words) as though love is a barrier to nirvana (115). In seeming opposition to the Buddha, Siddhartha calls love “the matter principal” and cites it as his foremost skill just as piety, or thinking, fasting, and waiting, or sensuality had each been in his past lives as Siddhartha the Brahmin, ascetic, or businessman (115). He says his ability to love “the world, not hold it in contempt, not to hate it and myself, and be able to regard it and myself and all beings with love and admiration and reverence.” is one that has defined his enlightenment (115). However, Govinda isn’t having any of this, at least not intellectually, he thinks to himself that Siddhartha’s new outlook is “peculiar, foolhardy, [and] ridiculous” but is confused by Siddhartha’s gestures. HIs presence, gestures radiate “a serenity and mildness and holiness” that he’d only seen once before, from Siddhartha Gautama. When Govinda kisses Siddhartha’s forehead, he suddenly understands the love Siddhartha feels for all the world, all together in a single inexpressible unity (116). This demonstrates not only how words can be faulty carriers of visceral meanings and inner beliefs and how both Siddhartha and Govinda can experience the same guttural feeling, but it also opens up an interesting line of questioning about inherent meaning and unity in experience applicable (like metaphysics is “applicable”, if you catch my drift) to our lives outside of a novel. Are these alternative lexical interpretations incorrect? Is there even an absolute truth existing independent of our (or, more appropriately: my) consciousnesses? If so, is that provable or even worth giving a damn about? My position is no. And I don’t have any, even marginally, sensible reasoning or evidence to prove that (though I’m sure it wouldn’t be difficult to find some), all I’ve got is a little itch behind my right eye (‘Hey. Hey, Maya! What if this is actually the Matrix?’). And from that (what could be referred to as the existential attitude) we, as individuals must decide what to make of this like Siddhartha decides “This stone is stone, but because of the round of transformation it can perhaps also become human and spirit, thus I also grant it value” (113).
“The waterfall, the lake, the rapids, the sea, and all the goal were reached: and each was followed by a new one, and the water became vapor and climbed into the sky, became rain and crashed down from the sky, became springs, brooks, became a river, strove onward again, flowed anew” (Hesse 105).
This passage, while may be at the start of Siddhartha's analysis of his enlightenment, caused me to have a reaction in that I realized something which I did not notice. We know that the main symbol that Hesse plants in the beginning of the book is water and the thirst of enlightenment. At this point, at the end of the book, Siddhartha talks about how the river’s water is continuously reaching its goal in the process of the water cycle and how it starts anew. Originally I thought that this was yet another connection to the concept of reincarnation, however looking at it currently, I realized that the water cycle that Siddhartha claims stops and starts again never ended in the first place. There is no point in the nature of the water cycle in which it stops, it only gets converted and continues. Since Siddhartha is comparing this cycle to reaching his goals, it can then be viewed that Siddhartha still has not fully reached his endpoint. Now while you may argue that there is a starting and ending point in the water cycle, you cannot say where the cycle starts and stops, just like Siddhartha's journey. He consistently believes that he has found the right and better path than before, but then he finds a new one. While in the moment he thought he has found his purpose, yet he discovers that that is not the case. There is no way in which one can truly find enlightenment, because there is no way in which to confirm that your discovery is, is really enlightenment and not just a realization you made and rationalized it to be this arbitrary term of “enlightenment”. I found this fascinating while reading the last chapters of Siddhartha. He found his own enlightenment, however that does not mean that hypothetically he could come across a new epiphany that spurs on another journey. That we cannot know and can only image in our own extended versions of what happens after the book as we each read the last sentence of Siddhartha.
When looking through the poems one stood out to me in particular, Ẅiederkehr. The main reason this poem stood out to me at first was because of the name. Using google translate I learned that it means repeating in German. So when analyzing the poem I knew that the name has to hold some significance. Dove’s repetition of the word “rain” shows the reader that the person in this story wants to feel rain; this could have two meanings. One of the meanings could be that this person wants to physically feel the rain, meaning in this case that hades wants to get out of the underworld and experience life for what it is. Another meaning for this could be that hades wants a new beginning. Rain can be seen as washing away the past, so it's possible that Hades wants his past to be erased and to be able to start over again. However in this statement “I sat to hold the rain untouched inside me” (Dove), which shows that the narrator of the story (Persephone) is the “rain”. For Hades Persephone is a new beginning. However all of this is just for greed, Hades wants only personal gain from this, shown when dove writes “He only wanted me for happiness”. Hades wanted himself to be happy, and couldn't care less about Persephone, he just saw her as a way to get that new beginning. It is important to note that this poem is written from Persephone’s perspective so her portrayal of what Hades wants may be shifted towards the side of selfishness.
While reading Siddhartha there were multiple things that stood out to me. One of which being the mention of the river at the beginning of the story. It reads “The sun tanned his light shoulders by the banks of the river when bathing, performing sacred ablutions, the sacred offerings”. Hesse’s mention of a river is an example of one of our literary maxims “If it's important to the story, introduce it early”. Also having Siddhartha be introduced while sitting by a river is foreshadowing to the end of the book. It is explaining to the reading that his life revolves around the river. His life began in the book while meditating by a river, and it will end with him meditating by the river after his spiritual journey is complete. If Hesse had introduced Siddhartha in his hut or in a town at the beginning of the book at the time it would seem fine to the story line, but once the book is complete it wouldn't give the story or his journey the same sense of completeness that it has. In addition to those points, having the story begin at a river gives the story a mood that is calm and almost relaxing adding to the ideas of meditation and silence that Siddhartha is trying to find, and is trying to explain to the reader, throughout the entirety of his journey in the book. As well as Siddhartha being by the river, he is performing sacred offerings, showing the reader that the story will revolve around Siddhartha's life in which he is focusing on religion.
ReplyDeleteGood job bringing in the maxim!! :) And good job posting early! Feel free to use even more text in future posts!
DeleteMs. Ballard
When rereading Son of Brahmin, one scene stuck out to me in particular. After the reader first is shown Siddhartha’s doubts, Siddhartha and Govinda practice meditation. The details in this section have a significant impact because they foreshadow Siddhartha’s and Govinda’s friendship. The first line talks about a Banyan tree. A Banyan tree is a tree that grows on top of another plant without harming it. This symbolizes Siddhartha’s and Govinda’s friendship. Throughout the first half of the book, Govinda clings to Siddhartha and grows with him, just like a Banyan tree. Another foreshadowing detail is where the friends sit. Siddhartha sits ‘right here’ while Govinda sits twenty feet away. Siddhartha is farther ahead and in a way leading Govinda. This reaffirms to the reader that Siddhartha’s and Govinda’s relationship is one of a leader/follower one more than peers.
ReplyDeleteLater in the scene, Siddhartha recalls his first impression of the Samana’s. He remembers that “behind them blew a hot scent of quiet passion, of destructive service, of merciless self-denial’. While the word ‘blew’ could be seen in a metaphorical way, I saw it in the sense of wind. Wind is a symbol of change. This is right before Siddhartha uproots his whole life to go to the Samana’s, so it’s fitting that words like ‘blew’ are used. One last important detail is the time. During this interaction, the evening is just beginning. Evening or night can represent the end of something. This is right before Siddhartha and Govinda leave their hometown for the samana’s. The evening is a parallel for the end in their hometown lives. The trees, time, distance and words in this section may seem like small details, but when looked at closer, they have great significance. Without them, our knowledge of Siddhartha’s and Govinda’s friendship would be immensely less.
"Govinda," Siddhartha spoke to his friend, "Govinda, my dear, come with
me under the Banyan tree, let's practise meditation."
They went to the Banyan tree, they sat down, Siddhartha right here,
Govinda twenty paces away. While putting himself down, ready to speak
the Om, Siddhartha repeated murmuring the verse:
Om is the bow, the arrow is soul,
The Brahman is the arrow's target,
That one should incessantly hit.
After the usual time of the exercise in meditation had passed, Govinda
rose. The evening had come, it was time to perform the evening's ablution.
He called Siddhartha's name. Siddhartha did not answer. Siddhartha sat
there lost in thought, his eyes were rigidly focused towards a very
distant target, the tip of his tongue was protruding a little between
the teeth, he seemed not to breathe. Thus sat he, wrapped up in
contemplation, thinking Om, his soul sent after the Brahman as an arrow.
Once, Samanas had travelled through Siddhartha's town, ascetics on a
pilgrimage, three skinny, withered men, neither old nor young, with
dusty and bloody shoulders, almost naked, scorched by the sun,
surrounded by loneliness, strangers and enemies to the world, strangers
and lank jackals in the realm of humans. Behind them blew a hot scent
of quiet passion, of destructive service, of merciless self-denial.
Page 7
Hesse
Good discussion of the symbolism! :)
DeleteMs. Ballard
One of the things that stood out to me in this chapter was one of Siddhartha’s replies to Govinda. As Govinda and Siddhartha are discussing the idea of Nirvana he scares Govinda with his words, “....one can learn nothing. There is….something that we cannot call learning. There is….only a knowledge….and I am beginning to believe that this knowledge has no worse enemy than the man of knowledge, than learning.” (Hesse, 15). This foreshadows Siddhartha’s later belief after he reaches enlightenment. He tells Govinda that enlightenment is not something that can be taught. It is something that can only be learned. Each person’s perspective and journey is their own and each must go through their own hardships before they can achieve self-actualization. The knowledge of enlightenment is lost in translation and the efforts of man to teach enlightenment only make the student more confused. What Siddhartha is trying to tell Govinda is that one can be taught about enlightenment, but only through his own experiences and journey can one actually learn enlightenment. This ties the story together and brings it around to a full circle. Siddhartha proves his own words true at the end of his life, after he has found peace. He realized that no doctrine that he followed could have taught him what it was he wanted to know because each doctrine is biased to the people who created it. I found this statement to be extremely wise for someone so young, and it reflected the ideas we are being taught in ToK. That one’s own experiences perspectives can color their version of the truth, and that no two truths are exactly the same because no two people are exactly the same. This theory can be applied to the efforts and desires of others to achieve enlightenment or self-actualization, because everyone is different, enlightenment is different for everyone.
ReplyDeleteGood ideas! But can you change your name from "unknown" so I can give you credit? :) Thanks!
DeleteMs. Ballard
This is mine, sorry ballard
DeleteAfter re-reading Siddhartha’s first two chapters (‘The Brahmin’s Son’ and ‘With the Samanas’), I noticed that Hesse had kept a constantly recurring motif under our noses the whole time; water and thirst. Hesse uses words and phrases with connotative meaning relating to water to describe Siddhartha’s quest for knowledge. In ‘The Brahmin’s Son,’ Siddhartha thinks
ReplyDelete“Was he not also a searching man, a thirsty man? Did he not, again and again, have to drink from holy sources as a thirsty man...Why did he...have to wash off his sins everyday...was not Atman in him, did not the pristine source spring from his heart…(4% on kindle)”
On your first read of the book, all this water imagery might appear to have little meaning. But, as with all books you have to read in an english class, it holds deeper meaning.
He likens his search for knowledge unto finding water, giving the impression that he must find this knowledge in order to survive. Even though Siddhartha calls his daily routines and worship drinking “from holy sources as a thirsty man” it is clear what he is trying to live off now can’t quench his thirst. He knows that the way to the knowledge and bliss he is seeking is inside of himself, calling it “the pristine source spring.” Siddhartha has a thirst for knowledge and for bliss. He knows the water he seeks is found within himself, like a small spring in the middle of the desert. But the exercises and life he is living now isn’t helping Siddhartha find his way to that spring.
At the end of Siddhartha, Siddhartha, after much searching, finds the knowledge and state of nirvana within. And how does he do this? From the river and the man who ferried him across the river. By metaphorically (and probably literally, too) drinking of the river, learning from it, and listening to it, Siddhartha finds tranquillity, peace, and happiness. Because Hesse chooses to use water and thirst as a motif, Siddhartha obtaining what he has sought after his whole journey from a source of water creates a tone of wholeness and completeness.
I find this comparison very interesting as well, but I feel that the metaphor can be expanded on even more. The river Vasudeva ferries on is reintroduced as inspiration for a pure and lasting enlightenment, for rebirth when an old and suicidal Siddhartha sees it after abandoning his life with Kamala and the Kamaswami. It is from this river (and Vasudeva’s conversation) that Siddhartha rediscovers the Om, and begins to understand that his journey was not worthless, and that it and he exist like the river, all at once in their many locations and identities. Most importantly to me, the river symbolizes a powerful unity of all things living and dead and without consciousness all at once and not at all; The river embodies the most basic underlying principles in Siddhartha’s Nirvana.
DeleteAs I was reading through the passages we received in class (focused on showing us how translations can affect meaning and word choice), I found that this theme is not just shown in the first two chapters, but is present even within the first paragraph! "In the shade of the house, in the sunshine of the riverbank near the boats, in the shade of the Sal-wood forest, in the shade of the fig tree is where Siddhartha grew up..." (Hesse, 3). I feel as I may be pushing it a little, but what really stood out to me in that quote was how the use of "shade" applied to the places where Siddhartha tried to reach enlightenment, but failed (house would apply to when we was growing up among the Brahmin, Sal-wood forest is when he joined the samanas, and the fig tree represents his meditation, which he often did under the trees). In contrast, the river, which is often regarded as the deciding factor in Siddhartha's journey, is described with the word "sunshine." Although it was too early to note that difference as we read the book for the first time, this very first line of the story provides insight both to the beginning and the end.
DeleteThe theme that stood out to me most in the two chapters of assigned reading was relating to the nature of the self in the search for bliss, that both the Brahmins and the Shramanas believe to some degree that the self is inherently profane. The Shramanas walk “the path of self-distancing through pain, through voluntary endurance of suffering and vanquishing of pain, of hunger, of thirst, of exhaustion.”, while a Shramana, Siddhartha believed that “life was affliction” (Hesse 14, 13). Though less extreme, the Brahmins also practice this self mortification, even the ‘purest’ must “wash sin away daily, take pains to purify himself every day” (8). In the end of the story, Siddhartha realizes that he carries within himself Atman, and therefore bliss, but he also realizes this very early on. He asks himself of his father, "Did not Atman dwell inside him, did not the primal source flow within his own heart? It had to be found, the primal source within the individual I, one had to possess it oneself! Everyone else was searching, sidestepping, going astray." (7).
ReplyDeleteLater in the story, an enlightened Siddhartha realizes that he had known this- that the innermost self should not be shunned or tortured to find nirvana- all along. However, a young Siddhartha seemingly goes against his own words and begins searching, his path astray, the disquiet and restlessness he felt internally living amongst the Brahmins was mutated into something exponentially more bitter when he began living amongst the Shramanas. He tortured the I physically and mentally, in an effort to find bliss, all the while he begins to lose all faith in the world. Why then- knowing that the self contained that primal flow, contained Atman- would Siddhartha chose that bitter world?
In my very rough-formed and mutable opinion, I believe that the answer can be informed by a passage later in the book when Siddhartha converses with Kamala and reveals his theory of life (informed only by his cushy experience among the “child people), that a few people were like stars, answers to life’s problems latent within, while most others were like falling leaves, bumbling around without purpose. This pretension may serve as irony, because it can be used as a lense by which to view Siddhartha’s actions and progression of thoughts. It is clear that though he meant that he was a star, he also unwittingly carries characteristics of the falling leaves, and therefore he, and all people, is both and neither simultaneously. This basically means that he, like everyone else, must bumble around, seemingly aimless, in order to find his personal bliss.
Reading the first two chapters of Siddhartha again really made some new things prevalent to me personally. Firstly the amount of times Hermann Hesse makes references to water or "thirst" is so consistent (especially in the first chapter) that reading it again almost seems annoying, since I now know what the significance of water and the river specially is to Siddhartha. Because of this it almost felt like Hesse was pushing the concept of water, but when you first read it, you don't notice the consistent reference to water whether it be in the form of being poured over Siddhartha's body right in the second sentence of the whole book or the metaphorical thirst of knowledge he mentions over again in the first few pages. I counted and Hesse uses these references to water about 21 times within 20 pages. This use provides further context in one of our classroom maxims of "If it's important to the plot, introduce it early". As we all know the river becomes a very significant motif in the story later on to Siddhartha's enlightenment, and by making these subconscious messages to the reader of the idea of water and thirst, it enhances the ending of the novel to become far more satisfying. Another thing that I found interesting is that when I read the first chapter for the first time, when Siddhartha is standing there all night waiting for his father's approval, I initially thought to myself "wow, this kid thinks he's all righteous". He reminded me of a little stubborn kid that was taking it too far. Reading it again, Siddhartha's determination shone through, rather than stubbornness. It really helps set up the reader into acknowledging the resilient and purposeful side of Siddhartha as a character. When reading the first two chapters again, I really did not realize what a time jump Hesse choose to make. It goes from Siddhartha being a good student in brahmin to Siddartha letting them go in order to join the shramanas, only to leave them when hearing of the teachings of Buddha. This fast pace almost makes the reader think that Siddhartha can't make a decision and stick with it, but in reality he stayed with the shramanas for three years and previously with the brahmins for his whole life up til that ponit. I just found the pacing rather fast and an interesting choice on Hesse's behalf, because I feel like in many stories the beginning is what is often dragged out, but Hesse got straight into the retelling of this story, which I think can be somewhat remnant of Siddhartha's attitude in looking for the answers he desires. He gets straight to the point and is committed once he thinks he found a good path to be on. Hesse gets to the point and expands when it proves more vital to do so in a similar fashion.
ReplyDeleteAs I re-read “The Brahmin’s Son,” and “Song of the Samanas,” I noted something that stood out to me above all else: Siddhartha’s views of self-superiority. While to me, that sounds like something that is hard to miss, I somehow overlooked that fact as I was first reading these chapters. These two chapters, while mostly focusing on introducing the characters and the issue at hand, also have a large amount of information that may account for why Siddhartha has such a tough time connecting and understand other people, so much so that he can only do so when he begins to live like them.
ReplyDeleteOne strange phrase that I noticed throughout the book was Siddhartha’s use of “child people” in reference to everyone but those he strongly respected. This was always confusing, and while I had always wondered where this belief of superiority in Siddhartha’s mind stems from, I was not expecting the answer to be in the very first paragraph of the book: “...In the shade of the fig tree, Siddhartha grew up- the beautiful son of the Brahmin, the young falcon, together with his friend, Govinda, son of the Brahmin” (Hesse, 3). As the author introduces Siddhartha, he does so in such a way as you would introduce a king, with words such as “beautiful,” in comparison to presenting Govinda simply as “the son of Brahmin.” This readily establishes the idea that Siddhartha is a man of much importance and power, even as a child, when his father sees him “growing up to be a great sage and priest, a prince among the Brahmins” (Hesse, 3). Without even delving further into the chapter, it is already noticeable that with this amount of pampering and attention, anyone would believe themselves to be superior to everyone else.
This idea is then upheld in the scene where Siddhartha decides to join the samanas, and returns to tell his father. When his father disagrees and tells Siddhartha that this is not a matter which will be pursued again, Siddhartha remains at his post, hands crossed symbolically in a way I once recognized as strength and power, but now find to be stubbornness stemming from his own belief of superiority. As his father entered the room hours later, “The Brahmin saw that Siddhartha’s knees were quivering slightly. He saw no quivering in his face, SIddhartha’s eyes gazed far away. Now the father realized that Siddhartha was no longer with him and in his homeland, but that he had already left him” (Hesse, 11).
With this, Siddhartha’s father let him leave and join the samanas. The one peculiarity about this scene that always stood out was the way that Siddhartha seemingly knew the answer before he even asked his father, thus not wanting to leave. In my opinion now, I believe that Siddhartha knew of how people saw him, the strength that people gave him, and felt himself superior even to his parents, refusing to leave his post until he got his way.
I definitely agree on this, Siddhartha’s self-importance seems to be the root of many of his issues and a major driving factor in Siddartha turning to the extremes of asceticism and hedonism. During his childhood among the Brahmins, he is constantly drawn as a superior character, a few steps ahead of everyone else (as you described), and his actions, his very posture indicate that he knows and believes that he is indeed better than everyone else. This toxic thought follows him into his time with the shramanas, he believed himself to be the only person with any capacity for understanding the world around them, he says of the pedestrian passersby in a city that they “all feigned significance, good fortune, and beauty” (Hesse 13). Yada yada, you get it, I’m writing too much now; Basically, this pretension ends when he reaches Nirvana and understands that all people are worthy and valid in their experiences of life.
DeleteSiddhartha's journey represent the journey we all seek to find the path of enlightenment. However, when re-reading the beginning of Siddhartha, I noticed the brash, proud ego that thrived in Siddhartha's chest. While I do not doubt that Siddhartha was spiritually and intellectually superior to his peers, Hesse's surpassing and almost aloof diction impresses upon the reader a regal image of the son of the Brahmin. Siddhartha appears to us as invincible and already far along his own path to Nirvana. Therefor, when he leaves his aesthetic path and retrogresses to a life of greed and sloth, the reader is appalled by Siddhartha's self-destruction. I became weary along with Siddhartha, sluggishly turning the pages as he struggled to rise each morning, feeling myself age as Siddhartha gazes at his graying hair in the mirror. Hesse's simplistic yet exquisite portrayal of Siddhartha's soul drowning in his pursuit of pleasure relates to every kind of reader, but we feel more hopeless than Siddhartha does to see his life decomposing. If a soul that was destined for enlightenment and so diligently followed his noble path could fall so far, what hope was their for our own path? Siddhartha realized from a young age the difference between knowledge of a teaching, and full acceptance of this teaching into life. An example of this is Om, a lesson he had been taught from a young age. The meaning of Om was understood by all the intellectuals surrounding Siddhartha, but none could embrace the energy of Om in their own lives. His search for the ability to harness the energy of Om, and the ultimate end to destroying his ego led him to the Samanas, to the Enlightened One, to Kamala and his 'well cushioned hell', and ultimately, back to the river he had crossed long before. When I first read Siddhartha, his journeys seemed, while spiritually and intellectually nourishing, fragmented and nonlinear. Upon second analysis and thought, his journey begins paints a different picture, where a passing tree was once merely a tree, it now represents removal of roots an attachments, and Siddhartha's self- destructing search for trivial pleasures now a means to destroying his ego. Siddhartha's path is one he took alone, for it was the only way he could find the meaning of Om in his heart, but he is not alone in his search for truth. He contained all the knowledge of spirituality and enlightenment in his head, but only once he discovered this information in his own soul could he live his long dreamed of path. He was not content to gaze longingly at a masterpiece, he was driven to create his own.
ReplyDeletePs I'm so sorry Ballard I thought this was due tonight and not yesterday
Once again, a quote about learning drew my attention. This quote in particular I found moving. It’s from the fourth chapter Awakening when Siddhartha is talking about starting his life and his journey anew,“I will no longer devote my thoughts to Atman and the sorrows of the world. I will no longer mutilate and destroy myself in order to find a secret behind the ruins. I will no longer study Yoga-Veda, Atharva-Veda, or asceticism, or any other teachings. I will learn from myself, be my own pupil; I will learn from myself the secret of Siddhartha.” (Hesse, 32). What really resonated with me was his declaration that he was going to learn the secrets of Siddhartha from himself. I find that nowadays, we tend to focus more on the outside world and other people and problems as opposed to taking the time to truly discover ourselves. We place so much emphasis on understanding one another that we forget that we must first understand ourselves. Siddhartha has come to this realization. That before he can reach enlightenment and find peace he must first understand himself. He must focus only on Siddhartha, instead of ignoring his inner self and focusing only on the outside world and what lies beyond it. The few people in the world who have found peace found it not through looking outwards, but looking inwards. In order to be selfless, you must first be selfish.
ReplyDeleteI also saw this quote while reading and it made me stop and think about Siddhartha's life in comparison to my own, as well as others. Your point about focusing on the outside world too much is very interesting and I strongly agree, but do you think this is because to society we live in today forces us to focus on the outside world? With social media, as well as just the electronic boom that has happened in the last ten years, do you think that the outside world is so easy to excess that we would rather focus on others and their problems, like you stated, because it is easier? Which brings another question, do you think that people do not focus on themselves as much because they don't want to? Or is it because they are just lazy and it is easier to see what other people are doing instead of what you need to do?
DeleteWhen reading Siddhartha many things may stick out to you. One of those things may be the comparison between life and a chain. In Buddhism this is one of the main principles, the idea that all life is a cycle, so it is used heavily in Siddartha. This idea is first introduced when Siddhartha says “You show the world as a complete, unbroken chain, an eternal chain” (Hesse 26). Every character in the story is joining Gotama and following this idea, even Siddhartha's friend Govinda, but why not Siddartha? Siddhartha doesn’t want to follow Gotama because he doesn't want to be like everyone else. One reason for this may be because he grew up his entire life following other people, due to the fact that he grew up as a Brahmin’s son. He learned from other people since the day he was born so by now he was fed up with it. Siddartha states “I will no longer study...any other teachings, I will learn from myself, be my own pupil” (Hesse 32), showing that he is done listening to what other people think you need to do to find salvation and he just wants to find it by himself. This later is changed when he lives with Vasudeva, but as of now Siddartha wants to go out on his own path and no longer wants to be taught, he wants to learn. Another reason Siddartha may not have chosen to follow Gotama and the “Unbroken chain” idea is because of his friend Govinda. Govinda has always followed Siddhartha, so when Govinda chose to follow Gotama, Siddhartha may have seen this as an opportunity to separate from his friend.
ReplyDeleteThe unbroken chain can also be seen as a comparison to Siddhartha life. He has lived his whole life doing the same things over and over again. He is taught the he leaves, then he is taught again. Siddhartha's life up to this point is an unbroken chain, but his choice not join Gotama may be his way of breaking this chain that he may feel like is strangling him, and not allowing himself to find salvation.
I really like this comparison, that Siddhartha's life is like a chain. He feels as if he breaks the chain, finding something that speaks to him, but he really is on the same path as he started. Like you mention, he goes and learns and finds what he learns isn't right and leaves. Each time he finds something new (like Kamala teaching him love, or the Samanas attempt to remove the human and the Self from within him), Siddhartha expresses relief that now he is on his way to nirvana and salvation. But he keeps repeating the same steps, the same links in the chain, never actually breaking it. Which brings up the question, by the end of Siddhartha's story, has he broken the chain and found something truly unique? Or does his enlightenment and understanding allow him to see the chain and accept that it will never be broken, and is able to live in peace with that knowledge?
DeleteI agree and personally I think another reason he didn't follow Gotama was because of what Gotama was teaching.Gotama wanted to teach people how to achieve Nirvana. However, Siddhartha didn't want to achieve nirvana instead he wanted to find peace in himself.
ReplyDeleteI just had an epiphany with this book. You know trees? Those tall things that come out of the ground? Anytime a character is mentioned to be “in the shade of the trees” or “in a grove” or somewhere relating to a tree, something important happens. For instance, when Siddhartha and Govinda hear the Buddah’s sermons and split up, it is in a grove of trees(19-21% on kindle). Where is Siddhartha meditating when he decides he want to leave his home and family? Yep, under a mango tree. Kamala teaching him the art of love? In a grove. When he realizes that living in the city and investing in material things hasn’t got him anymore? Under a tree in his garden. I could keep going, but I have to analyze what this means.
ReplyDeleteThe real Siddhartha (the actual, once-living person), who became the Buddah, also had his roots with trees (see what I did there ( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°)). Sheltered and raised like a prince, this Siddhartha had never seen suffering in the world. Then, one day, he beheld the suffering of peasants and poor folk, and realized there was more to life. And wouldn’t you know, he came to this epiphany under a tree. He then went and meditated under a peepal tree for six years. By Hesse placing trees in major scenes, he creates a connection between both Siddharthas.
Trees are most often used as symbols of strength, peace, resilience, connection, and community. However, trees can also be used to represent new growth (like a tree blooming in the springtime), which both book Siddhartha and real Siddhartha experience more than once as rebirth; at least once each Siddhartha comes to himself and realizes nothing is as they think and that they need to change. And, conveniently enough, these rebirths and new growth occurs under trees.
Your analysis is really interesting and it caused me to think deeper about trees. I completely agree that trees represent important things happening, and can show the importance of the event even more. This idea made me think about the types of trees. I'm the daughter of an arborist, so it's not like I have a choice to NOT comment about the types of trees. For example, in one of the first scenes where we see Govinda and Siddhartha together is under a banyan tree (5 Hesse). A banyan tree is a type of tree that grows on another without harm. This can represent the friendship between Gov and Sidd. Another interesting type of tree reference is the fig tree. When the reader first is told of Siddhartha's doubts, he is wandering around a fig garden (3 Hesse). A fig tree is best known for what it stands for. The most association is the 'Cursing of the Fig Tree'. Basically the story is that Jesus was doing his thing and then he saw a bare fig tree. He cursed it for being bare, and the next day it withered. You can draw a few lessons from this. One, don't be rude to people, or fig trees for just doing their best. More importantly, watch your words, or be careful what you wish for. SIddhartha is always seeking more, he wants more knowledge, more experience, and it never really bares fruit for him. It's very fitting that Hesse places Siddhartha by fig tree when his doubts are first expressed. Important things do happen by trees, but knowing the type of tree can help you dig even deeper into the story.
DeleteThe similarities between Siddhartha and the Buddha are eerily present in chapters Gotama and Awaking. When the reader first meets The Illustrious One, we immediately know that he is enlightened and has reached Nirvana. Almost the whole story tells us the exact opposite about Siddhartha. He is not enlightened and has not reached Nirvana, but he craves it so violently. A few recurring ideas or symbols throughout Gotama and Awaking really made me think. The first is a snake. In the beginning of Awaking, Siddhartha feels as if he was a snake that has shed his skin (30 Hesse). Siddhartha’s act to stop being a student of others and find himself is an empowering moment. He feels freer. Like Siddhartha, the Buddha must have felt this way when he finally shed a skin of his own. The difference is that the Buddha goes on feeling enlightened and empowered, while Siddhartha is confronted with the snake again only a few steps later. When Siddhartha realizes just how free he is, he stops, as if a snake lies in his path (33 Hesse). This snake could be a reminder of what Siddhartha has left behind. This terrifies him, the thought of being all alone terrifies him. By allowing our past decisions to come back and bring fear into our future ones, we lose a little of our freedom. “A star in the heavens” is said twice between the chapters of Gotama and Awaking. First to describe the Buddha’s teaching, which was the very positive simile of “like a light, like a star in the heavens”(23 Hesse). We think of a holy light that shines down on others from the heavens, from the gods. A complete opposite connotation is when the phrase is used with Siddhartha. When Siddhartha truly realizes that he is now all alone in the world, he stands “alone like a star in the heavens” (34 Hesse). Siddhartha feels alone, far away from anyone he knows. He’s floating in a black abyss of life, which can be freeing or frightening. I believe Hesse is trying to make all the similarities and differences of Siddhartha and Buddha show that the same thing can happen to different people and they will get different results. It’s not always what happens to you, it’s how you deal and move on from it.
ReplyDeleteAs I read “Guatama,” and “Awakening,” I found evidence for an idea that has been bouncing around in my head for a while. When the Hinduism and Buddhism groups presented their topics, I found the idea of reincarnation and the Four Noble Truths tugging at the back of my min. As I read the line,
ReplyDelete“The Buddha has robbed me, thought Siddhartha, he has robbed me, yet he has given me more. He has robbed me of my friend...but he has also given me Siddhartha, has given me my self” (Hesse, 34).
I realized that the idea of reincarnation is an active part of the story. As Siddhartha moves from his home to become a samana, from being a samana to a merchant, and finally from being a merchant to reaching enlightenment with help from the river, we actively see a different Siddhartha appearing, each different from the last. The first Siddhartha was a child, unaware of the ways of the world, but upon leaving home and becoming a samana, we see a new Siddhartha emerge, one that, upon discovering the world around him, is bitter towards the people he sees,
“He saw dealers dealing, princes hunting...- and everything was unworthy of his eyes, everything lied, everything stank, everything stank of lies, everything shammed meaning and happiness and beauty, and everything was unacknowledged decay. The world tasted bitter. Life was torture” (Hesse, 13).
As we had learned from the presentations of the Buddhism group, the ruling parts of life are the Four Noble Truths. In this moment, Siddhartha leaves his sheltered life to become a samana, and effectively lives the first part of the Four Noble Truths, Dhakka. He sees how people truly live, and thus, that suffering exists universally, which fulfilled the first part of the Four Noble Truths. As we go along, Siddhartha’s journey joins closer to those Four Noble Truths. After meeting Kamala and Kamaswami, Siddhartha falls into a cycle of greed and gambling, trying to feel alive again, “The world had captured him: pleasure, lustfulness, sluggishness, and finally the vice that he had always scorned and scoffed at most as the most foolish vice: greed” (Hesse, 70). When he realizes that this is wrong, he decides to begin his life again, and effectively transitions into Samudaya, the second level of the Noble Truths, which states that suffering has meaning, and is often caused by greed. This understanding that his life was ruled by greed allowed Siddhartha to break away from his ways, and move forward.
Siddhartha reaches the third level of the Four Noble Truths as he chases after his son when the latter runs away, and realizes that the pain of his son’s leaving will go away,
“After standing and standing at the garden gate, Siddhartha realized how foolish was the desire that had driven him to the place; he realized that he could not help his son, that he must not cling to him. He felt deep love in his heart for the runaway, it was like a wound; and he also felt that the wound was not for wallowing, that it must become a blossom and shine” (Hesse, 111).
Siddhartha then has the chance to consider how foolish he had thought those “child people” who suffered on the account of others, and how he was feeling the same. This realization that pain and suffering ends fulfilled the requirements set by the third Noble Truth, which states that to continue, one must understand that everything has an end.
To complete the cycle and reach Nirvana, Siddhartha had to complete the last level of the Four Noble Truths, Magga. Magga states that a person will end their suffering and reach Nirvana when they complete the 8 Fold Path. Siddhartha learned the rightful ways along his journey, such as right livelihood by discontinuing his life of wealth and greed, right understanding from his meeting with Siddhartha Guatama, and right mindfulness (bodily sensations, feelings) from his meetings with Kamala. From his journey, Siddhartha completed the steps of the Four Noble Truths, and the 8 Fold Path, thus becoming truly enlightened.
Really good points, Julia! :)
ReplyDeleteAfter a lot of indecisiveness and re-reading, I have decided that the thing I like enough to write a paragraph about is the symbol of a snake, which first appears in the first pages of Awakening. Hesse first compares Siddhartha to a snake that has shed its skin: “He was aware that he had been deserted, as the snake is deserted by its shed skin, that something was no longer available to him” (Hesse 33). This seems a simple metaphor for Siddhartha losing his former identities as a Brahmin’s son and a Shramana, he shed his old selves like a snake does old skin. He doesn’t realize this immediately, but feels liberated by suddenly knowing himself, realizing that he contains Atman, himself, the key to Nirvana. Like never before, he is hit, full speed by a love of the world and its beauty and a realization of its basic truth.
ReplyDeleteBut “While Siddhartha was thinking these thoughts, again he suddenly halted, stopped still, as if a snake lay on the path ahead of him.” (35). This is when he truly realizes that he has lost his identity. This revelation is both freeing and daunting for Siddhartha, and it reflects the existentialist view that “existence precedes essence” (in the words of Jean Paul-Sartre), that there are no qualities- good or bad- inherent to any human being. There is also a notable change in language from this point on, from diction connoting freedom to using words pertaining to anxiety and impatience.
The symbolic meaning of the snake can be further uncovered by arguably the most important occurrence of the motif in the novel, when “...a small, black adder, which had bitten Kamala, escaped from under her dress” (88). This snake actually kills Kamala while she is walking with the hoards of pilgrims following the Buddha, and clips short her search for enlightenment and peace, instead she finds it unexpectedly on her deathbed with her old love, Siddhartha. She had wanted to “make a pilgrimage in order to see the face of the one perfect man, to inhale his peace, but instead of him, she had found Siddhartha, and it was good, just as good” (90).
In some forms of the story of the Buddha’s enlightenment, the King of the serpents, Naga Mucalinda was said to curl up around Gautama while he sat under a mucalinda tree during the sixth week of his meditation. Naga Mucalinda wrapped around Gautama and covered his head with his hooded face to shield him from the rain and cold. This snake represents a guide in the search for bliss, though it may seem like a rude awakening or even cause the death of the seeker, in both cases in the novel, the snake served as an omen to redirect the seeker to a better path towards their bliss.
One thing I found interesting in these chapters was Siddhartha's comparison of himself to a stone in water. He states “when you throw a stone into water it will always find the fastest way down” (Hesse 50), literally meaning that when a stone or rock hits water it will sink as fast as it can. Then he says “Siddhartha...Through the affairs of the world like a rock through water” (Hesse 50), stating that on the case of things happening in his life he would compare himself to a rock in water because when he wants to get something done, or attain something, he will always find the fastest way to do that no matter what it takes, in this case it was being able to be taught the art of love by Kamala. I think the comparison of Siddhartha to a rock can be further explored. Other than the example of the rock being thrown into water i think Siddhartha is similar to a rock in other ways. One way is that he is tough, this is because he has lived with the Samanas for three years, this makes him physically tough and able to withstand almost any physical extreme that he may be faced with, but this also makes him hard to the things happening outside of himself. Another way Siddhartha is like a rock is that he is tough to break, but when he does he shatters into many different pieces. At first before meeting Kamala trying to break him down it isn't working, but once he finally meets Kamala and he gets into him he “explodes” and only wants to be with her and tell her everything and learn everything from her. So in a way Siddhartha is a rock on the inside and out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that Siddhartha is a rock through and through, but I think there is even more evidence to explore. The quality of being tough, or objective can be seen when Kalama tells Siddhartha, “You do not really love me- you love nobody” (Hesse 59), and when Siddhartha agrees. Stones are indifferent to most everything, this quality is a major part of Siddhartha. He can’t engage or feel enough to be in love, even with someone who knows him as well as Kamala does. Even though he is looking at the world with different eyes, seeing all the beautiful things, he hardly ever truly engages. Siddhartha even refers to the people’s life as, “this game’ (Hesse 57) which he plays. Siddhartha never lives the people’s life, he just plays.
DeleteAnother quality of a rock I think resembles Siddhartha is it’s ability to morph and change. When a rock is in water or wind or a major element, it will change it’s shape depending on it’s environment. We see Siddhartha do this in every new situation of his life. When he lives with the Samanas, he has to harden himself. When he is with Kamala he has to open up more. Siddhartha’s environment changes his outward appearance. Although, like a rock, Siddhartha’s inside never really changes, like a rock all the same stuff is still on the inside.
In the Chapter Kamala, the major part that stood out was the young women across the brook. After Siddhartha leaves his one night home at the ferryman’s straw hut, he runs into a woman. Siddhartha finds “at the edge of the brook a young woman was kneeling and washing clothes”(41 Hesse). The mention of a brook, a smaller section of a river, maybe even the river that Siddhartha reaches enlightenment on. Whenever a river, brook, or stream is mentioned, we know this moment is important. If Siddhartha had gone through with his urges and had sex with this young women, nothing would be the same. Hesse then brings our attention to the fact that Siddhartha has never been with a women sexually. This is a maxism we learned in class, if it is important, introduce it early! The fact that Siddhartha never was with a women is a major catalyst for him to become a student of Kamala. He is wanting to experience something he never has.
ReplyDeleteThe sexual diction really draws the reader in. There is a lot of it, which isn’t surprising considering this is describing Siddhartha’s first encounter with sexual desire. Short sentences add a fluttering feeling to the sexual diction. “Looking up at her face smiling, full of desire and her half-closed eyes pleading with longing” (41 Hesse). This conveys anxious desire so well, I almost forgot I was reading Siddhartha and thought it was a Young Adult Romance novel. Words like desire, pleading and longing really drive home the message that Siddhartha is ready to explore this new world of love, or love-making.
Another sexual phrase that brings in the ancient feeling is “ascending the tree” (Hesse41). A quick search reveals that it’s basically when you initiate sex from the feet up. This explains the weird footsy game they played upon meeting. If Siddhartha had sex with this woman, he would not have become a student of Kamala, then became a merchant, then became dissatisfied with that life and leave for the river, where he reaches enlightenment. The story would not be the same.
I also agree, sexual diction is very common in the chapter, I think the first mention is actually of Siddhartha watching “a ram trail an ewe an mate with her.” (Hesse 40), and I think it can be taken to represent, in a much broader (and considerably heteronormative) sense Siddhartha’s new view of the natural world, particularly reproductive sex as something divinely beautiful- rather than illusion waiting to be ripped to shreds by ascetic discipline and philosophy. However, what’s even more interesting to me is how the language doesn’t seem to only foreshadow sex with Kamala but also reflects his rebirth in the previous chapter as a truer version of himself. This rebirth is transformed into something much more literal, the “sex dream” with Govinda can be dually interpreted, with the focus instead on the nourishing function of the breast, the “taste of woman and man, sun and forest, beast and blossom, of every fruit, of every desire” in the milk could be seen as Siddhartha’s first introduction to life after his birth as a new self (41).
DeleteWhile reading this chapter I also noticed that her meeting this girl right before she went into town was direct foreshadowing to him meeting Kamala. I liked your use of the maxims, I didn't realize that this applied scene applied to that scenario. As well as that I think that the sexual diction used throughout the chapter was extremely important to the development of Siddhartha's character. I liked how you showed and explained the effect that the sexual diction has on the reader because it is extremely prominent while reading. Do you think that this extreme desire Siddhartha has for women now is due to the fact that he is inexperienced, or due to the fact that he has always had to hide his feeling and how he felt about people, so with his new found freedom he is free to do so?
ReplyDeleteYes--those are really important to mention. Did you guys see any foreshadowing for that particular incident?? :)
ReplyDelete“He was open to everything these people brought to him… he listened with interest and good cheer, was surprised at him [them], let him [them] have his [their] way a little, just as much seemed absolutely necessary, and turned away from him [them] to the next person who demanded his attention.” (Hesse 58).
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Siddhartha describes how open he was to the experiences other people shared with him, and it seems to imply that he felt very accepting and willing to learn about experiences outside of his own, the experiences of the so-called ‘child people’. However, this passage’s intended (I say intended, but, you know) message about Siddhartha’s open and curious new attitude is outright contradicted by quotes in the same chapter, even subtly within the passage. Hesse writes that Siddhartha “let him have his way, just as much seemed absolutely necessary”, this subtle manipulation is a sign of a much deeper issue within Siddhartha’s attitudes towards others (58). It shows that he sees other people as less than him, to be pitied and protected, looked down upon. This pretentious and self-important attitude is pretty much summed up on the next page by his elitist theory comparing people to falling leaves versus stars in a fixed orbit. He regards himself as one of the elite, a star, after revealing this to Kamala, he says insensitively to her “ People of our kind may not be able to love. Child people can love; that is their secret” (60). Despite his portrayal as a reasonable and open person, he holds within himself a toxic pride with which he disregards and manipulates others, like always.
This superiority complex is visible as early in the story as when his and Govinda’s relationship is first introduced in the novel, it is clearly a heavily one-sided relationship, Govinda is Siddhartha’s “shadow”, Siddhartha is even physically avoidant towards Govinda, Siddhartha places himself “...twenty paces further Govinda” (6, 9). Even his action of standing, arms folded (while asking his father for permission to join the shramanas) can be interpreted as a dominant, even hostile gesture. This behavior continues until the very end of the novel, when he truly opens himself up to the experiences of others by listening to the river personified as the many voices of all humanity.
I agree with your statement a lot. Another analysis I think could go with the idea of Siddhartha’s infuriating superiority complex is also in the chapter Kamala. During Siddhartha’s meeting with Kamala, as a response to Kamala almost rejecting him because his appearance and manner, he says “ Oh, the Samana is strong and afraid of nothing. He could force you, fair maiden, he could rob you, he could hurt you” (Hesse 45). Not only was I super uncomfortable by this comment but I finally recognized the mindset that Siddhartha lived by. His pride is so large that when he is threatened, the first thing he does is threaten back. It reminds me of the very real, very scary situation many people face today. Someone who needs control and is so prideful they consider taking away someone’s freedom. Although, I do believe that Kamala was awesome and snapped him out of his abusive ways of thinking, Siddhartha’s need to feel in control and get his way drives him over the edge. It is his hubris.
Delete“During the night he slept among the boats on the river, and early in the morning, before the first customers arrived in the shop, he had his beard shaved off by the barber’s assistant. He also had his hair combed and rubbed with fine oil. Then he went to bathe in the river.” (Hesse 43). This passage uses the symbol of the river twice. I believe that the use of river is symbolic of Siddhartha washing away his past and entering a new stage in his life. He is starting over. It also foreshadows where he will live out the remainder of his days. He sleeps on the river among the boats, and he washes himself in the river. This subtly prepares the reader for the next stage in Siddhartha’s life. It also punctuates that he is about to start the next leg of his journey because any time Siddhartha has made life altering decisions in the past he has usually been either at a river or near a river, which also symbolizes cross roads. This passage is also where Siddhartha really makes his transformation from Samana to “regular” man because he is shedding the things that identify him as a Samana and he is taking some of his first steps towards a privileged life, symbolizing his rebirth as yet another version of Siddhartha. One in which he no longer relies on religious teachings but instead follows his impulses and listens to his inner voice in the hope that it will lead him to what he is looking for.
ReplyDeleteMy thinking about the metaphor of the river, or just water generally complements yours, I think. The river, to me, almost seems to be like a massive pool of all humanity’s experiences and identities. Near to the end of the story, when Siddhartha finally owns up to his hubris and acknowledges other people as actually worth a damn, he says to Vasudeva: “Is it not true, O Friend, the river has many voices? Has it not the voice of a king, and of a warrior, and of a bull, and of a nightbird, and of a woman giving birth, of someone sighing, and still a thousand other voices.” (Hesse 86). It reminds me of one of the quote that Griffin showed in class today (something about a person being a drop of water in a n ocean, and an ocean being nothing more than a collection of drops). But it basically shows water as a symbol for the collective pains and joys of humanity, and contact with water could be interpreted as a symbol for change of identity (other examples include Siddhartha spending the night at the ferryman’s hut after leaving the shramanas and Govinda and again after leaving his life as a businessman).
DeleteSiddhartha is an incredibly strong book, full to the brim with quotes you find layered on top of out-of-focus “artsy” pictures of flowers and Buddha statues, stuck all over everyone’s “inspirational” board on pintrest. The majority of these quotes never stick out to me- like, yeah, “We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps,” (Hesse and no page number because I literally just pulled that off of pintrest) sounds cool and all, but if I want something semi-inspirational and cryptic, I could just ask my Norwegian Great-Grandma for advice on finding love or making fattigmann.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I found something actually interesting and applicable to a 16 year old white mormon girl. In the chapter “Kamala,” as Siddhartha is seeming to experience the beauty of the world for the first time as part of his rebirth, he thinks, “All this had always existed, and he had not seen it; he had not been with it. Light and shadow ran through his eyes, stars and moon ran through his heart” (Hesse 29% on kindle). Preceding this is an enormous paragraph of gorgeous visual imagery that I really loved but I didn’t want to have to type up.
Anyway, my point is, this quote is really awesome. I’m sure there’s some great symbolism and foreshadowing or something like that, but I want to talk about how this quote makes me feel.
From about 7th grade to 10th, I lived (not to sound overly dramatic) in fear. I was afraid I wouldn’t get an assignment done, wouldn’t get an “A”, wouldn’t be liked, wouldn’t have friends, would never amount to anything, and most of all, afraid I was going to fail and never be able to get up. I know I’m no anomaly. Everyone feels like that at some point or another. But I wasn’t able to give myself a break. I knew I was running myself into the ground, but I never did anything about it until I crashed. I’d take time off, tell myself that my best is enough, and try being a part of the world again. But that lesson would never stick and I’d do it all over again.
In that sense, I connect with Siddhartha. I had never looked up, or bothered to really enjoy things around me. Now that I do, I can’t believe I made my life miserable when there were so many beautiful and important things around me. Yeah, I see more bad things and shadows around me, listening to the things people say and do to hurt each other, and how our planet is going to fail us, and of violence committed out of hate. But I also get to see the light, the good in people, the things I can accomplish.
So yeah. This quote is super cool because I actually connect with it.
I completely agree with your idea! I think that this time of exploration for Siddhartha is really important, and I believe Hesse decided to highlight this new part of Siddhartha's life by making these two chapters the first of "Part Two" (in my book, at least). Siddhartha starts appreciating the life around him more, but we still see several flaws, such as when Siddhartha is taken across the river by Vasudeva. In that moment, I thought I saw some promise in Siddhartha, with his excitement about Vasudeva not taking payment for the trip, but was deeply disappointed by how Siddhartha classified him as a "child person," thus proving that he still considered himself superior.
DeleteAs I re-read “Kamala,” and “Among the Child People,” I found that these chapters held several moments when Siddhartha made progress to reaching Right Conduct and Right Mindfulness. The former, a large part of the Eightfold Path, deals with teaching a person by acting in a proper way without hurting or killing another human being. This principle is shown by Kamala’s first talk with Siddhartha, where Siddhartha questions her lack of fear of the men that she sees. Kamala listens to this question, and replies with a statement that is very similar to the description of Right Conduct:
ReplyDelete“Red and beautiful are Kamala’s lips, but try to kiss them against Kamala’s will, and you will not get a drop of sweetness from the lips that know how to give so much sweetness! You learn easily, Siddhartha, then learn this too: One can get love by begging, by buying, by receiving it as a gift, by finding it in the street, but one cannot steal it.”
This idea, that one cannot obtain love by taking it by force, is thus upheld in Siddhartha’s mind, which is a helpful lesson considering that Siddhartha’s contact with women in an intimate setting prior to this moment was limited. By learning that one can only give and take with permission, Siddhartha furthers his understanding of the Right Conduct, thus bringing him closer to understanding the world around him.
In addition to learning about Right Conduct, Siddhartha also has his first intimate encounter with another being, which starts to extend his understanding of Right Mindfulness. The function of the Right Mindfulness clause acts to encourage a person to connect with his body and feelings, which Siddhartha is only able to do with Kamala. While with Kamala, Siddhartha learns how to give and take pleasure from another body, while learning about his own:
“In regard to love, he was still a boy, and he tended to plunge into pleasure blindly, endlessly, insatiably. So she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it...Here, with Kamala, lay the purpose of his current life, and not with Kamaswami’s business.”
By following Kamala’s ways, Siddhartha was able to connect with himself on a physical level, and learn that one must always be conscious of their body. This idea, which mirrors that of the Right Mindfulness, allows Siddhartha to get one step closer to enlightenment.
In Part 2 of Hesse's Siddhartha, I noticed that the concept of Reincarnation was presented in very subtle manners. In the first part of the book, the way that Hesse writes is very blunt and when Siddhartha speaks it becomes much more lengthy and philosophical, however when the second part of the book begins, it is like the story has been reincarnated. Hesse chooses to use phrasing that indicates a more physical description which satisfies the reader’s want for visual imagery. Within these visuals, Hesse uses words of desire. Siddhartha is changing his path to be one of physical fulfillment, which can be reflected in Hesse’s word choice. Ex. “Siddhartha saw a pike hunting in a reedy lake in its evening hunger, and the fearful young fish propelling themselves out of the water, fluttering and flashing, swarms before him. And force and passion rose urgently out of the rushing whirlpools the impetuous hunter created” (Hesse 38). This passage contains words like “hunger”, “passion”, and “hunting” which are associated with some form of a physical need. As the words chosen make a shift in connotation, the reader can get the sense that Siddhartha is not only changing but being reborn in a way because of Hesse’s comparison of Siddartha to a child. Siddhartha's inner dialogue compares himself to a child discovering the elements of the world around him. Siddartha does take on a child like curiosity on this path of physical discovery and of the realization that in order to understand yourself, one must acknowledge their physical self instead of disregarding it. This also falls in line with Rightful Mindedness which was discussed in class. Another example in which Siddhartha's lack of experience in the world is prevalent, causing him to seem even more like a child is when Kamala and him kiss for the first time. Siddartha really knows nothing of what it means to have and then satisfy physical desire, so when he and Kamala kiss for the first time new realization floods that there is still things to be learned as “...the abundance of knowledge and things worthy of learning had been revealed to him” (Hesse 46). Siddhartha then proceeds to blurt out that Kamala kisses well, which in itself reflects how little Siddartha knows of intimate matters and how like a child he truly is to this new world. These subtle choices in the shift of the writing and Siddhartha's new outlook on the world provides the idea of reincarnation to become relevant.
ReplyDeleteI think this idea and these examples can be expanded beyond just reincarnation. You can look at Siddhartha's pride; like you pointed out, he is very much like a child, yet continually refers to those around him (sans Kamala) as child-like people, putting them below him. Clearly quite the hypocrite, being so unto a child himself. You can also simply look at the symbolism of Siddhartha's travels before he becomes employed by Kamiswami. Hesse uses color (red), word choice (words of passion and hunger), and imagery symbolism to convey a theme of passion and hint at Siddhartha's next step in his journey (him losing himself to pride). Nice examples!
DeleteOne thing that stood out to me during the chapter “Samsara” was the idea that Siddhartha places himself higher than other people. After awaking from his dream he explains samsara and say that it is “ a game for children” (Hesse 75). One thing this could mean is that the game in itself is childish and presents itself in a way that is easily understood by children. Another thing this could mean is that children are seen as innocent, so the idea that life is a constant circle is an innocent idea that doesn't take many risks. A third way, and the most realistic way, is that Siddhartha sees himself as an “adult”, whereas he sees everyone else as children. Meaning that he thinks he is the only one that is grown up and really knows what is happening, so most people will follow this idea, but him being better than everyone else, he doesn't want to follow it. This may be because he feels the constant need to be better than everyone els. This is why he gets so deep into anything that he is doing. He wants praise from everyone, and he feels that the only way he can do that is by being better. This is also the reason that he has such high stakes when he gambles. He knows that if he wins he will be considered better, and the more he wins the better he seems. So with samsara he thinks that if he accepts the idea that life is a cycle than he will be no better than anyone else, and he will therefore lose is elevated status that he has put himself and Kamala on.
ReplyDeleteHis quest for an elevated status may be the reason he goes after kamala so strongly. He saw a beautiful woman and knew that every man would want to have her, so if he got her it would elevate his status. Therefore making him feel better about himself and gaining him praise from the people he sees as under him and the social hierarchy.
I agree with you up to a point in this. Yes, Siddhartha is definitely very vain and concentrated on validating himself constantly, he can only ever find fault in others until he finds the middle path- Buddhism even after turning down the Buddha as a teacher. This is easily found in many parts of the text, some supporting quotations below: “Siddhartha knew many venerable Brahmins, his father best of all” yet inferior to Siddhartha in his own conception of himself (8 Hesse). Some, like the Buddha “are like stars, they travel in fixed orbit, no wind reaches them, in themselves they have their law and their course”, and Siddhartha declares himself one of these- at least in action, by turning down the Gautama’s teachings, finding fault in them- (59). He also describes himself in a similar way, comparing himself to a rock falling through water (you wrote about it in one of your previous blogs). But, I don’t believe that he is looking for that validation from other people- or at least not from the masses, the “child people”, maybe from Kamala, but for the most part- I think that his arrogance comes from a deeply held insecurity that has been exacerbated by people around him during his childhood (especially Govinda) constantly praising him, greenlighting him on the notion that he is better than the people around him, even the praisers. Therefore allowing Siddhartha to see himself as the only person truly deserving of his own respect enough to dole out moral judgement. This, of course only perpetuates the notion inside Siddhartha’s head that he is the best, with no outside criticizers there to check his ego.
DeleteThe most interesting thing to me in these assigned chapters is the radical turnaround in the characterization of Siddhartha; He reveals to himself the error of his ways in this chapter. He understands that the very cornerstone of his suffering had risen from arrogance and he finally defeats. Like a phoenix, rising from the ashes of his prior self, Siddhartha accepts his past selves and his rundown and hungry current state with a thankful smile. “He was dead, a new Siddhartha had awakened from sleep. He too would grow old, he too would one day have to die, transitory was Siddhartha, transitory was every form. But today he was young, the new Siddhartha was a child, and he was full of joy” (Hesse 78).
ReplyDeleteHe finally addresses the deeply rooted arrogance that had defined all of his actions on the path to bliss. How he constantly snubbed Govinda, abandoned his family, crawled into his little spot of all-reaching hatred of the world as an ascetic and continued this until he met Gautama. When he met Gautama, he seemed to miraculously forget his arrogance and learn to listen to his inner self, his I, this of course led him astray. His curiosity spun out of control into an endless (in some ways- think of the river metaphor for time) cycle of indulgence and pity for those which he determined were his lessers which outlasted the other good traits like piety or waiting like he had learned from his earlier periods as a Brahmin and an ascetic. This indulgence and pity both came from the belief that he was superior to everyone else, that he was above the child people in some essential way, making him both better and more important.
“He had always been full of arrogance… into this intellectuality his I had crept in and holed up, it sat there and grew, when he meant to kill it [as an ascetic]… Now he saw it, and saw that the secret voice had been right, that no teacher yet had been able to save him.” (78).
From this realization, Siddhartha is able to grow past his arrogance, all the while preserving the childlike and vital inner voice that he does not starve or glut, he (like Buddhists strive for) finds the effective “middle path” to enlightenment. He remembers the virtues of his past philosophies and understands how he had been incorrectly practicing them. For example, the holy word Om which he hears from the river reawakens something in him from his childhood and saves him from the abyss the Brahamic chant which he sings instinctually when Kamala dies. The memory of the good from his past comforts him and young Siddhartha. However, he also recalls how restrictive the weight of “too much knowledge… doing and striving” was.
With this new understanding of his self and his past, Siddhartha is able to give himself to love wholley. I find this new skill of Siddhartha’s to be the most intriguing and the most valuable. Though it bring him great pain, it also brings him new understanding of his own wrongdoings, how his arrogance and abandonment gave his father the same sadness that Siddhartha now felt and young Siddhartha’s spoiled abandonment.
“The bird, the fresh wellspring and voice was still alive within him; this made him feel joy, this is why he laughed, this is why beneath his grey hair, his face was radiant… [he] listened to to the bird, how it sang for joy” (77). < just cause i like this quote
I like it, too! :) Would you say, though, that this is something which has happened before? Doesn't he have a tendency to do quick about-faces? Why do you think that is?
DeleteMs. Ballard
“There slowly bloomed and ripened in Siddhartha the realization and knowledge of what wisdom, the object of his long quest, really was. It was nothing more than a readiness of the soul, a mysterious knack: the ability at every moment in the midst of life to think the thought of unity, to feel and breathe unity. Gradually this blossomed in him, shone back to him from the ancient child’s face of Vasudera - harmony, knowledge of the eternal perfection of the world, unite - a smile.” (Siddhartha, pg 101)
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Siddhartha finally reaches the answer that he has been searching for the entire book. I liked the wording of “slowly bloomed and ripened” because rather than comparing his realization to a very artificial, man-made analogy such as “like a light bulb flickering on,” Hesse uses an analogy that reminds me of the slow spread of water, or the first blooms of the day. It represents how his enlightenment is something beyond the petty, fleeting thoughts of the rest of mankind, and yet something that is, at the same time, closer to the primitive instincts of an animal. The answer has been within Siddhartha the entire time, and yet it is something that he has to learn from outside sources, like the river. “The thought of unity, to feel and breathe unity” is a part of the passage that explains the enlightenment that Siddhartha feels in that moment, and though mankind is usually seen as an enemy of nature, in this passage they are both seen in a sort of unity.
I never noticed that quote (we must have different translations, because I can’t even find something that sounds similar in my book), but I really do like it too. Bloom and ripen are both words that really stick out to me as visceral, but not in a gross way, in a very deeply moving way, especially in this usage, describing some divine unity of all things (Thanks for sharing the quote). However, I do draw conflict with the sentiment behind the phrase: “beyond the petty, fleeting thoughts of the rest of mankind”. One of the most important things I got from this novel was the message about Siddhartha needing to lose his arrogant mindset and accept his mediocrity. Now, I don’t mean that Siddhartha is mediocre when it comes to study or ability to learn quickly the tools of whatever trade he picks up, as he’s shown himself to be proficient when it comes to surface skills like that. But, I mean that Siddhartha needs to learn humility and understand his own multitude of flaws in order to see how he is truly one with all humankind, the Earth, and all other realms. To see that he is burdened with the same struggles and same spirit and same thoughts as everyone else.
DeleteAfter Siddhartha had spoke the Om and been enlightened on the river bank, he realizes he had been keeping himself from enlightenment; “Too much knowledge had held him back, too many holy verses, too many sacrificial rites, too much self-castigation, so much doing and striving for that goal!” (Hesse 64% on kindle). By jove, I love this quote. I love it so much. I love the truth it tells- trying to make decisions and searching for understanding on spiritual and emotional matters isn’t helped by an abundance of facts and knowledge. Being unable to see past what we are told is truth and what is right is often a hindrance to growing in spiritual ways. Because of my faith (I’m LDS, which is the same thing as a mormon), this topic is very near and dear to my heart
ReplyDeleteAnother reason I found this quote of interest is that it’s something Siddhartha was warned about this very issue by Buddha much earlier in this journey. When Siddhartha informs Gotama of the apparent error in his teachings, Gotama responds, “You’ve found a gap in it, an error. You should think about this further. But be warned, seeker of knowledge, of the thicket of opinions and arguments about words. There is nothing to opinions” (Hesse 22% on kindle). Siddhartha, being too prideful at this time, brushes off this warning, and continues on journey to find the right knowledge, the right way to do things. It took years of Siddhartha living a useless life to realize that “the right way” didn’t actually exist, but that it was something that you define yourself.
I too found it interesting that it took this long for Siddhartha to find "the right way", it seems like a person in his type of culture would have found it much sooner, but maybe thats just it. Maybe because of the culture he lives in it was so hard for him to find this right way because everyone thinks there way is the right way so with each new thing he did he was blinded to finding the way in which he felt was the best. This brings me to the question, do you think there is a right way of life? Is there one right way or can it be different for every person?
DeleteI think that regardless of faith, the journey it takes for one to to find the answer to their purpose in life is a difficult one to embark upon. What the added faith does I think is hold you back in that (and I realize I can only speak for myself here) is that you want to trust and believe with all your heart the teachings to your faith and not question it. The questioning that Siddhartha participates in is a very hard thing for a regular person to go through. The realization of one’s faith and accepting/denying it in correlation to how one as an individual is meant to be provides as interesting experience, I will agree. I think that is mostly due to how one of the functions of having a faith is that it gives you a purpose. To go beyond that can be very difficult indeed. I think that this "right way" "wrong way" thing is something completely arbitrary as well. Right and wrong don't exists in it's entirety if you really think about it. How sure are we of what we know that qualifies as "the truth" or "facts", really?
DeleteWhen rereading the chapter The Ferryman, Kamala’s death scene really stood out. Kamala’s last impression filled me with such intense sorrow, I might have shed a tear(or twenty thousand). As Siddhartha sits, “looking at her dead face” (Hesse 93), I couldn’t help but think back to the first mention of Kamala. The comparisons between the beginning and the end are what made Kamala’s ending so saddening. When we first meet Kamala, Siddhartha mentions her “bright, very sweet, very clever face” (Hesse 42). After Kamala has died, Siddhartha looks at her “pale face, at the tired wrinkles” (Hesse 93). Another important element of Kamala that has changed over time is her mouth. Siddhartha notices that Kamala was gifted with “ a bright red mouth, like a freshly cut fig” (Hesse 42). When Siddhartha watches Kamala now, he sees “ an old tired mouth and shrunken lips” (Hesse 93). The idea that Kamala was so bright and so alive at the beginning and now is so used up and weakened may seem unnecessarily sad, but I chose( after about ten minutes of ugly crying) to see it in a hopeful way. Kamala was a star, a shooting star. She was vibrant and alive as she went through the atmosphere, or life, but in the end, everything has to end, and so the flames stopped and her journey stopped along with it. Siddhartha and the Buddha may have been seen as ‘a star in the heavens’, but Kamala was the true one.
ReplyDeleteI thought that part was really sad too. And I agree with your assessment of Kamala, but I'd also like a little more explanation of how you think this impacted Siddhartha. I almost fell like her physical appearance at the end is a symbol to Siddhartha of the poisonous life he was leading. I think that at this moment he realizes just how worn down that life made her. I think he also feels some regret for leaving her. I also think that their interactions with each other at the beginning are very different than at the end.
DeleteI agree with Epiphany. When I first looked at the same pieces of evidence as you, rather than seeing it in a more hopeful light, I can't help but see it as a symbol of how Siddhartha has almost "sucked" the life out of her with his lifestyle. He used her and after he was done he discarded her. However, after reading your analysis, I do agree that she also symbolizes the cycle of life and death, and she was a sort of star by herself.
DeleteAs I read, “By the River,” one symbol that always stood out to me was the mention of the bird, both as when Kamala was releasing her songbird after Siddhartha had left. “When she first heard the news of Siddhartha’s disappearance, she stepped over to the window, where she kept a rare songbird in a gold cage. She opened the door of the cage, took out the bird, and let it fly. She watched and watched it, the flying bird” (Hesse, 76). This instance reminded me of the literary maxims that we discussed in class, particularly, “Flight is freedom.” As described in the quote above, Kamala allows her songbird to leave the cage, an action which is often considered to be equated to her letting go of Siddhartha. Both the bird and Siddhartha are granted leave by their owners, the physical owner of the bird being Kamala, and the metaphorical owner of Siddhartha being the temptation that he faced from wealth and lust, which he beats when he discovers that it is leading him away from his path to enlightenment. Thus, as both the bird and Siddhartha are leaving, we see that both gain freedom by fleeing from the things that held them captive, either being a cage, or an endless cycle of greed and temptation.
ReplyDeleteAfter Siddhartha fled from temptation, he gained both a freedom from the things holding him back, as well as from himself, “But today he was young, was a child, the new Siddhartha, and was full of joy” (Hesse, 88). Prior to leaving Kamala and Kamaswami, Siddhartha had been a prisoner to his own self, constantly fighting a cycle in which temptation and greed played the leading roles. By looking into his own self and recognizing that greed was obstructing his path to self-discovery, Siddhartha was able to break samsara, and start again at the beginning. This is denoted by the use of word like “child,” and “young” in the quote above, which all have a connotation of new and fresh beginnings.
In the beginning of “By the River” I noticed that as Siddhartha begins to question his physical existence in the world, he approaches a coconut tree along the riverbank. As the realization that such thoughts were treacherous grounds to tread on, Siddartha takes a rest underneath a coconut tree. It appeared peculiar to me as to why Hesse choose to make this little crisis occur specifically as Siddhartha is looking at the river and underneath a coconut tree. The river as seen throughout the book is the ultimate symbol to Siddartha finding enlightenment, as it is where Siddhartha is about to reach that knowledge, so it makes sense that the pain of betraying one's own mind with suicidal like thoughts is to occur there, since that is where the hurdles is to be overcome. However why a coconut tree? Some believe that coconut trees are very dangerous for they have the capability of killing a person by being hit by a falling coconut at a high enough velocity. In Indian cultures, the coconut is often used as a cleansing tool for one who is accomplishing or getting rid of desires. It is said that the coconut represents forgiveness by the divine one and has the ability to cleanse and purify the mind of those with large egos (or those too blessed with the commodities of the world). Taking on this outlook on the capabilities of coconut in terms of healing, one can make the inference that Hesse choose for Siddhartha to have the crisis of whether or not it was worth living (and then realize it was) under a coconut tree because coconut have been associated with the cleansing of the mind and soul. As soon as Siddhartha subconsciously utters the sound of “OM” his mind does a complete 180 and goes from considering death (the attacking ability of coconut trees) to the clam realization of his hesistiness (the purification brought onto by coconut trees). Another point within these first few pages of “By the River” is that just by uttering “OM” Siddhartha snapped out of the spiral of negative thoughts and started to beat himself over having/letting those thoughts invade him in the first place. Despite Siddhartha's attempt to live a life of material object, that is not who Siddhartha is. He cannot be content with simply living, his Path of Truth is towards higher enlightenment that which cannot be explain in mundane terms. Similar to how the simplistic “OM” has an impact on the person making that sound.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about coconut trees. Thank you for pointing that out. It's really interesting and I definitely agree with your analyses. The river is also a place where cleansing and death can occur, and later when Govinda comes along, he warns Siddhartha that sleeping there is a dangerous place because of snakes and other animals. It's like a triple whammy. The coconut tree, the river, and Govinda and the snakes. Hesse really wants to emphasize that this is a major turning point in Siddhartha's life that could have gone very wrong if Siddhartha didn't cleanse himself of all of his regrets/ past sins. He first cleanses himself of his materialistic sins, and then of his regret of leaving Govinda behind. Later, at the river, he cleanses himself of his regret for not seeing his father sooner as well as his beliefs that everything in the world is separate.
Delete“Kamala did not try to find him. She was not surprised when she learned that Siddhartha had disappeared. Had she not always expected it? Was he not a Samana, without a home, a pilgrim?” (Hesse 68). This passage really demonstrates the complexity of Kamala’s character. She has always understood exactly who Siddhartha is, even when he didn’t understand himself. She is an integral aspect of Siddhartha’s path to enlightenment. She is almost like his keeper or mentor during this period of his life. She helps to guide him through the ways of the child people, while keeping the truest version of himself in her heart. Possibly without even realizing it. She helps Siddhartha to grow and to understand, and therefore helps him along his path to enlightenment. She always knew that at heart he was a Samana, even when he didn’t fully realize that himself. She always knew that one day he would leave her, but she opened her heart and accepted him anyway, even if it was unintentional. Kamala understands his desire to keep moving, because she is trapped. I believe that when she sets the songbird free, she isn’t just letting go of and setting Siddhartha free, she’s setting her heart free. In a way, when he leaves she goes with him. Even as she locks herself away, she opens up.
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha and Govinda’s relationship is complicated to say the least. From the unhealthy shadow to nonexistent, Govinda has always had an important role in Siddhartha’s journey. When Govinda is first shown with Siddhartha, they are meditating. Siddhartha recites “ Om is the bow, the arrow is the soul” (Hesse 5). This is the first mention of an arrow, which begins the change in Siddhartha’s life. The second mention is only a few moments later, when Siddhartha remembers the Samanas and shows the reader his desire to become one of them. He felt “lost in meditation, thinking Om, his soul as the arrow directed at Brahman” (Hesse 6). At the time I didn’t pay much attention to the mention of an arrow. I thought it symbolized change, but I never fully realized it’s true meaning until the last page. Siddhartha has reconnected with Govinda for the second time since they parted. Govinda longs to know the secrets of Nirvana, which Siddhartha has reached. When he finally realizes it, he feels “ wounded deeply by a divine arrow” (Hesse 122). The arrow mention completes the cyclic feeling of part two. Siddhartha’s adventure started with an arrow and so it must end with one as well. Reaching Nirvana was their destiny. An arrow is made to find it’s target. Their target was enlightment. Together, they started the journey and together, they finished.
ReplyDeleteWOAH
DeleteOKAY
I NEVER REALIZED THAT
THAT IS COOL
I don't have much to add to this, but re reading that chapter, I noticed that, as a reverse of the last time they met by the river, Siddhartha is one step ahead of Govinda, just like he used to be. Govinda is seeking answers from Siddhartha, answers to enlightenment. Govinda thought that when he began to follow Gotama, he was surely on the path to Nirvana. But Siddhartha, to whom Govinda hadn't been much more than a shadow, still beat him to it. Most people liken Siddhartha and Govinda unto being friends, but their relationship (in my eyes) seems to switch between master-servant and celebrity-adoring fan out of thousands. To put it bluntly, Govinda has never been on the same playing field as Siddhartha. And throughout the entirety of "Siddhartha', this relationship never changes. Does Sidd. feel more love for Govinda at the end? Yes, but he loves everything the same at that point- even rocks and trees and such. The book literally ends with Govinda bowing down before Siddhartha, bowing so low he reaches the ground. Even when the two of them are at the end of their lives, Sidd. is always "better" than Govinda.
I also noticed the reference to that earlier part of the text, I can’t think of another example of an arrow in the text, I think why it stuck out so well. The usage, like the arrow is, was clearly deliberate and carefully aimed, I also think that the arrow can serve as a metaphor for the path to enlightenment. Though it is interesting how the skill of archery can be learned as a skill, with specific rules and guiding techniques, whereas it is repeated throughout the end of the novel that nirvana couldn’t not be learned or taught, could not be acquired like the learning of knowledge and skills like Siddhartha had focused on in his earlier life.
DeleteOne thing in the chapter “The Son” I find very ironic is that Siddhartha is unwilling to let go of his son in the same way his father let him go. Yes, Siddhartha sr. loves Siddhartha jr. so much that it would be incredibly difficult to let him leave. However, had Siddhartha sr. ‘s father not let him leave home, Siddhartha never would have found enlightenment and inner peace. It’s even more ironic because part of Siddhartha’s philosophy was that in order to find enlightenment, you had to gain experience and learn from the world around you. Even though SIddhartha sr. wishes to keep Siddhartha jr. from harm, he also knows that Siddhartha jr. won’t be able to make mistakes and grow if he stays in the hut by the river. Commenting on Siddhartha sr.’s action (or lack thereof) taken with his son, Vasudeva says
ReplyDelete“Oh yes, he too is called upon, he too is of the eternal life. But do we, me and you, know what he is called upon to do, what path to take, what pain to endure? Not a small one, his pain shall be; after all, his heart is proud and hard, people like him suffer a lot, err a lot, do much injustice, burden themselves with sin” (Hesse 77% on kindle).
Not only did I like this quote because it is incredibly similar to my own philosophy, but also because Vasudeva gives a description of Siddhartha jr. that, if used earlier in the book, would have fit Siddhartha sr. to as well. The effect of what Vasudeva says helps the reader to understand both Siddharthas better, as well as puts SIddhartha sr.’s journey and attitude at the beginning of the book into perspective.
I agree that there is a whole lot of irony in the Siddhartha and mini Siddhartha situation. I think there is more to be looked into. The fact that Siddhartha’s son left, even though Siddhartha only had love for him, is eerily familiar. It reminds me of the chapter Brahmin’s Son. “That was how everybody loved Siddhartha. He delighted and made everyone happy. But Siddhartha himself was not happy”(Hesse 2). Love was all around Siddhartha and it wasn’t enough for him. At the time, I felt I could understand Siddhartha’s situation, but when mini Siddhartha left, I felt hurt. The perspective of an event matters. We understand and sympathize with Siddhartha when he leaves because we see it from his perspective, but when mini Siddhartha leaves, we feel heartbroken and wronged because we see it from the grieving father’s perspective. If we had seen it from Mini Siddhartha perspective, we would have felt the same as we did with his father. Perspective matters.
DeleteYes! Perspective is huge! (sorry I read that and got really excited)
DeleteFor instance, when Siddhartha encounters the woman by the well, and things get a little ~steamy~™, the language used and the more vulgar diction their interaction is described with maybe makes the reader a bit uncomfy. So when Sidd. calls her "a damp female animal in heat", the reader can sort of understand where he is coming from (I mean, it's pretty harsh, but at least he didn't say it out loud). They, too, may be slightly repulsed by this woman. But when Sidd. meets Kamala and things get equally and even more ~steamy~™, the emotions felt and the way Kamala is described is much more artful, even describes their interactions and sex as art. Siddhartha's perspective puts Kamala as an equal, where well-girl is just and animal.
“Siddhartha tried to listen better. The picture of his father, his own picture, and the picture of his son all flowed into each other. Kamala’s picture also appeared and flowed on, and the picture of Govinda and others emerged and passed on. They all became parts of the river. It was the goal of all of them, yearning, desiring, suffering; and the river’s voice was full of longing, full of smarting woe, full of insatiable desire. The river flowed on towards its goal. Siddhartha saw the river hasten, made up of himself and his relatives and all the people he had ever seen. All the waves and water hastened, suffering, towards goals, many goals, to the waterfall, to the sea, to the current, to the ocean and all goals were reached and each one was succeeded by another. The water changed to vapor and rose, became rain and came down again, became spring, brook and river, changed anew, flowed anew. But the yearning voice had altered. It still echoed sorrowfully, searchingly, but other voices accompanied it, voices of pleasure and sorrow, good and evil voices, laughing and lamenting voices, hundreds of voices, thousands of voices.” (Hesse 110).
ReplyDeleteSo this is a really long passage, and I’m sorry for that, but I felt like this was a paragraph that couldn’t be shortened or condensed because the syntax is supposed to give a long winding feeling, taking you leisurely along the path of life. Obviously this passage demonstrates the idea of rebirth and the cycle of life, but I also think that it means unity. Siddhartha has gone through life viewing everything as disjointed and disconnected. It isn’t until he reaches the river that he realizes that everything is connected and everyone is going to the same place no matter the path they took to get there. They are all similar and must all go through their own journey. It also demonstrates the loneliness of humans. The beginning of the paragraph uses woeful diction to demonstrate the isolation that individuals feel throughout most of their lives. They are surrounded by people yes, but they are striving for their own goals and they have their own dreams in life. However, the end of the paragraph is filled with hope. The voices of the river meld together, and become harmonious. This signifies the end of your life or the periods of understanding that you have throughout it. It’s when you realize that while yes, you are alone in your thoughts and your path, you are not unhappy. You have lived a full life filled with people who were willing to stand by your side even if it was for just a little while. It’s when you realize that you are all going to the same place and you are all human. No one is perfect, and everyone feels alone.
Reading your explanation of this passage made it make so much more sense to me. This passage fits extremely well with the end of the story. Siddhartha is caught up in Samsara and can not figure out how to get out of it, but once he realizes that he isn't that much better than everyone else he finally figures out what life means. While he thought it was being elevated from everyone else through superior meditation, he realized everything is about listening, you can never learn anything without listening. How do you think Siddhartha's life would have been different if he had learned this from Gotama? Aside from the fact that the story would have never taken place, I don't think he could've learned this any earlier. His mindset throughout 90% of the story made it impossible for him to learn this lesson, which is just the magic of the story.
DeleteI also found your interpretation to speak really well for the passage (for whatever reason,probably because of the repetition of absolutes and “no”s, it reminded me of the quote from Rick and Morty: “Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s going to die, come watch TV”; yup, very constructive thought). This idea of unity is extended to deconstruct some of the binaries so prevalent in both Western and Eastern thought, specifically that gaps between “world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between evil and good, also is an illusion.” (112). Think of the juxtaposition of sinner and saint in European Abrahamic religion or the clear contrasting between yin and yang (feminine versus masculine or rainy versus sunny). I believe that deconstruction of such concepts- of scales on which to judge people and justify poor treatment or behavior on the part of those who ceremoniously judge others with little other authority than the agreement of other people (not exactly a great measure, just think about how slavery was collectively justified or at least tolerated by European colonists for centuries or how a majority of Germans elected Hitler into power, on a platform of paranoid ethnic nationalism)- are necessary for people to live harmoniously with others, at least what I’ve felt is necessary for me.
DeleteOne thing that stood out to me was the significance of the kiss that Govinda put on Siddhartha’s forehead. After the kiss occurred it was as if the entire world opened up to Govinda. Hesse writes “something wonderful happened” (Hesse 121) and then goes on to explain how Govinda finally see’s everything that Siddhartha was telling him as well as thousands of different faces. This got me thinking, could you have a event as small as this really open up your life like it did for Govinda? I think that it could but only if there was extreme background to the situation. For example, if Govinda hadn't grown up with Siddharth and been in love with him up until the point where they separated, the kiss wouldn’t have had such a profound impact. Since there was the background, this event had an extreme impact of Govinda and provided for an excellent closing to the book.
ReplyDeleteIn real life the event that changes your life will probably not be a kiss. It may be a book or meeting a certain person, who just completely changes your entire view on life. As well as this change may take longer than a few moments. The chance that your views on life will almost completly change at a moments notice is very unlikely, but the chance that your views may change for a period of time because of an event are high. So as I go on with my life now I will look for this one person or event that is destined to change my views on everything. But if I’m looking for it doesn't that make me more likely miss it.
As I read that kiss that Govinda gives to Siddartha, I also had similar thoughts of how Siddhartha's attitude is so contrasting to who he was previously. Him on his search to his answer vs. finally getting his answer. I agree with your idea on how a single insistence can warp your outlook and considering whether that is determined by the circumstances of those events or the event itself. Your last statement, however, got me thinking that maybe the reason that it took Siddartha such a long time to find the thing that changed his outlook was because that fact that he was actively searching for it. His answer could have been at any point in his life, but because he was actively hunting for it, he could have accidentally sabotaged himself from finding his answer sooner.
DeleteWhile this may be a bit off topic, the thing that was most interesting to me in the chapter “Om” was Vasudeva’s name. As I was typing my original idea for this post, I ran into an issue I often seem to have: Spelling names. In order to avoid this problem, I found myself Googling “Vasudeva,” because for some reason, I always call him “Vasuveda,” and what I found was startling. If you have not yet looked up Vasuveda, I urge you to do so at this moment, so you may be as pleasantly surprised as I was. I found that Vasudeva is not simply a character in Siddhartha, but also an important Hindu deity, also found to be synonymous to Krishna.
ReplyDeleteWhile making the presentation of the Bhagavad Gita, I could not find where that topic would be found in “Siddhartha.” We seemed to have covered everything else, from Hinduism to existentialism, but still, I found no mention of my group’s topic, until I stumbled upon this. In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the main characters is Krishna, the blue deity whose name means “all attractive,” in reference to God. Krishna’s role in the Bhagavad Gita is to lead Arjuna into battle by showing him that it is his “dharmic duty,” and, in other words, to show him along the path of enlightenment. Likewise, Vasudeva indirectly shows Siddhartha the path to enlightenment when he guides him through the leaving of his son and embracing the idea that he is not a superior to the “child people.”
One more thing that I noted was the fact that Krishna is often said to have blue skin, stemming from the idea that he is a full reincarnation of Vishnu, who is often associated with water. What really caught my eye here is that Vasudeva (another name for Krishna) lives by our favorite river, the very same one that Siddhartha follows along his path as he tries to reach enlightenment.
I love the concept of love, agape, divine, all-reaching, and non discriminating love. It defines my entire outlook on life, so, I naturally connected to these final chapters of the novel most. What stood out to me the most was the differences in how love and the intricacies of the feeling were described by Hesse. I would like to preface this with how I do understand that Siddhartha expressly addresses these differences in saying that “wisdom cannot be conveyed. The wisdom a sage attempts to convey always sounds like folly.” (Hesse 111). And I do agree with this sentiment, words are inherently restrictive because of how specific a strict definition can be, with the added confusion of connotations behind certain words- especially ones that are highly personal and often inexpressible- and potentially misleading tone and body language, it is essentially impossible to convey exactly what one experiences by words alone.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, Gautama calls for love to be cast aside, and for his followers not to “shackle our [their] hearts with love for the earthly” (as paraphrased by Govinda, bringing up yet more chance for feelings being lost in translation through words) as though love is a barrier to nirvana (115). In seeming opposition to the Buddha, Siddhartha calls love “the matter principal” and cites it as his foremost skill just as piety, or thinking, fasting, and waiting, or sensuality had each been in his past lives as Siddhartha the Brahmin, ascetic, or businessman (115). He says his ability to love “the world, not hold it in contempt, not to hate it and myself, and be able to regard it and myself and all beings with love and admiration and reverence.” is one that has defined his enlightenment (115). However, Govinda isn’t having any of this, at least not intellectually, he thinks to himself that Siddhartha’s new outlook is “peculiar, foolhardy, [and] ridiculous” but is confused by Siddhartha’s gestures. HIs presence, gestures radiate “a serenity and mildness and holiness” that he’d only seen once before, from Siddhartha Gautama. When Govinda kisses Siddhartha’s forehead, he suddenly understands the love Siddhartha feels for all the world, all together in a single inexpressible unity (116). This demonstrates not only how words can be faulty carriers of visceral meanings and inner beliefs and how both Siddhartha and Govinda can experience the same guttural feeling, but it also opens up an interesting line of questioning about inherent meaning and unity in experience applicable (like metaphysics is “applicable”, if you catch my drift) to our lives outside of a novel.
Are these alternative lexical interpretations incorrect? Is there even an absolute truth existing independent of our (or, more appropriately: my) consciousnesses? If so, is that provable or even worth giving a damn about? My position is no. And I don’t have any, even marginally, sensible reasoning or evidence to prove that (though I’m sure it wouldn’t be difficult to find some), all I’ve got is a little itch behind my right eye (‘Hey. Hey, Maya! What if this is actually the Matrix?’). And from that (what could be referred to as the existential attitude) we, as individuals must decide what to make of this like Siddhartha decides “This stone is stone, but because of the round of transformation it can perhaps also become human and spirit, thus I also grant it value” (113).
“The waterfall, the lake, the rapids, the sea, and all the goal were reached: and each was followed by a new one, and the water became vapor and climbed into the sky, became rain and crashed down from the sky, became springs, brooks, became a river, strove onward again, flowed anew” (Hesse 105).
ReplyDeleteThis passage, while may be at the start of Siddhartha's analysis of his enlightenment, caused me to have a reaction in that I realized something which I did not notice. We know that the main symbol that Hesse plants in the beginning of the book is water and the thirst of enlightenment. At this point, at the end of the book, Siddhartha talks about how the river’s water is continuously reaching its goal in the process of the water cycle and how it starts anew. Originally I thought that this was yet another connection to the concept of reincarnation, however looking at it currently, I realized that the water cycle that Siddhartha claims stops and starts again never ended in the first place. There is no point in the nature of the water cycle in which it stops, it only gets converted and continues. Since Siddhartha is comparing this cycle to reaching his goals, it can then be viewed that Siddhartha still has not fully reached his endpoint. Now while you may argue that there is a starting and ending point in the water cycle, you cannot say where the cycle starts and stops, just like Siddhartha's journey. He consistently believes that he has found the right and better path than before, but then he finds a new one. While in the moment he thought he has found his purpose, yet he discovers that that is not the case. There is no way in which one can truly find enlightenment, because there is no way in which to confirm that your discovery is, is really enlightenment and not just a realization you made and rationalized it to be this arbitrary term of “enlightenment”. I found this fascinating while reading the last chapters of Siddhartha. He found his own enlightenment, however that does not mean that hypothetically he could come across a new epiphany that spurs on another journey. That we cannot know and can only image in our own extended versions of what happens after the book as we each read the last sentence of Siddhartha.
When looking through the poems one stood out to me in particular, Ẅiederkehr. The main reason this poem stood out to me at first was because of the name. Using google translate I learned that it means repeating in German. So when analyzing the poem I knew that the name has to hold some significance. Dove’s repetition of the word “rain” shows the reader that the person in this story wants to feel rain; this could have two meanings. One of the meanings could be that this person wants to physically feel the rain, meaning in this case that hades wants to get out of the underworld and experience life for what it is. Another meaning for this could be that hades wants a new beginning. Rain can be seen as washing away the past, so it's possible that Hades wants his past to be erased and to be able to start over again. However in this statement “I sat to hold the rain untouched inside me” (Dove), which shows that the narrator of the story (Persephone) is the “rain”. For Hades Persephone is a new beginning. However all of this is just for greed, Hades wants only personal gain from this, shown when dove writes “He only wanted me for happiness”. Hades wanted himself to be happy, and couldn't care less about Persephone, he just saw her as a way to get that new beginning. It is important to note that this poem is written from Persephone’s perspective so her portrayal of what Hades wants may be shifted towards the side of selfishness.
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