Siddhartha essay

People encounter teachers all throughout their lives, be them human or not. In Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha is the exemplification of a man who is searching for answers and finds peace within themselves without material possessions. He has many teachers such as: Vasudeva, Kamala, the river, Govinda, and the Buddha. These teachers each teach him something about himself and the world, although not always through words. Teachers are able to be found where, in cities, forests, near rivers, or even in oneself, one just needs to have open eyes and ears to their surroundings.

Love. It is a primal instinct in all animals, but why is it so confusing and intriguing to many? Well, because it can teach people about themselves, help them find things that they did not know about themselves. Kamala symbolized the concept of love and the grasping of material things. "For a long time Kamala kissed him, and with deep astonishment, Siddhartha felt how she was teaching him, how wise she was...anyone can reach his goals if he can think, if he can wait, if he can fast." (Hesse, 51-54). In order for one to reach their goals, they must be patient, and must know how to think in order to reach them. After Siddhartha had finally kissed Kamala, he began to understand love and the emotions behind it. Although Kamala was Siddhartha's lover, she signaled his entrance into the world of lust and greed. "Conducting business was good because it brought him money for Kamala-indeed much more than was needed.” (Hesse, 50). As Siddhartha became more ingrained in city life, he had to earn money for his lover, so he became a merchant. This was a pull away from his original intentions for finding Nirvana and was against the samana way. Although Kamala attempts to teach him about love, he is currently unable to genuinely share it or receive it. When he is told that he has a son, he immediately feels blind love for him. But when the child wants to leave the forest, he believes he does not want to loose him. However, if he is to achieve nirvana, he must accept love and let his son leave because it is making him unhappy. After reaching Nirvana, Siddhartha views love as the most important emotion. "Love, O Govinda, appears to me more important than all other matters." (Hesse, 122). The feeling of love is an almost universal human emotion, and in order for one to achieve Nirvana, they must be able to love their fellow people.

Teachers do not always need to be human or living to teach a person a lesson. The river, an example of a non-living thing teaches Siddhartha. Vasudeva had been the brought up in the book as a guide to those who need guidance and enlightenment. Even though Siddhartha had many teachers, Vasudeva had taught him how to find Nirvana within himself-which is what he had wanted all along. "And once I learned this I considered my life, and it too was a river, and the boy Siddhartha was separated from the man Siddhartha and the graybeard Siddhartha only by shadows, not by real things." (Hesse, 90). Siddhartha had come to the conclusion that life was a river, and that as people physically change, they stay the same. "Isn't it true that the river has many voices  very many voices? Does it not have the voice of a king, and of a warrior, and of a bull...and a thousand voices more?" (Hesse, 91). The river being a non human-or actual physically breathing creature, has seen many people since its creation, and had many consult with it. Because a river can not respond with words, people learn to listen to the ripples of the water and stare at their self. This period of self reflection allows for the person to look inside themselves and search for the roots of their unhappiness or how to achieve Nirvana. The river was the symbol of the path to enlightenment, learning without words, and time. Life is a journey and that as people physically change, they are still the same person. Words can not quite explain experiences, such as happiness, one must search themselves for those experiences, and occasionally, look into the river to see what's looking back at them.

Reflection of the river

Sometimes the best taught lessons and information comes from within the person. When Govinda journeyed to Siddhartha's hut by the river, he did not initially recognize him, but tried to find answers from whom he believed is a wise man. Siddhartha tells Govinda that the reason that he has not found enlightenment is because he is looking for it. "When a person seeks, it can easily happen that his eye sees only the thing he is seeking; he is incapable of finding anything...because he has a goal, because he is possessed by his goal." (Hesse, 117). If a person is looking for a specific thing, and are closed off about everything else but that one thing, they will miss everything that is going on around them, such as new ideas and new people. In the end, Siddhartha had finally reached nirvana, which is symbolized by his smile. "...and this mask was Siddhartha's smiling face, which he, Govinda, at just this moment was touching with his lips. And Govinda saw that this smiling of the mask, this smile of Oneness over all the flowing figures, this smile of simultaneous over the thousand births and deaths, this smile of Siddhartha was precisely the same...this, Govinda knew, is how the Perfect Ones smiled." (Hesse, 126). After a lifetime of experiences, Siddhartha had finally reached nirvana, which was symbolized by smiling-in this case, smiling is reserved for the ones whom have reached enlightenment. All the lessons that Siddhartha had learned throughout his life from various teachers had all come together in order for him to reach Nirvana.

Teachers are everywhere on Earth-not always presenting themselves as such, but offering their thoughts to others and creating a communal bond between them. The different people that a person interacts with in their lives can have a profound affect on their life because of the variation of thoughts between people. Siddhartha's final teaching was to Govinda and explained how everything flowed into one another. "He no longer saw the face of his friend Siddhartha;instead he saw other faces, many of them, a long series, a flowing river of faces...all of them coming and fading away..." (Hesse 125). This is the flow of the world; new faces constantly appear, and the old disappear. Vasudeva and the river had taught Siddhartha how to listen, while Kamala had taught him how to love, and his experiences and knowledge had allowed him to reach Nirvana. The various teachers in life are all able to aid a person in one way or another.

Chapter 10

"You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not ever listen, simply wait, be quite, be still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice it will roll at ecstasy at your feet." -Herman Hesse.

I think what he is saying is that you do not need to seek out awakening, you eventually become awakened given enough time, after learning how to listen and think. The world will eventually reveal itself to a person if they act pure and as a good person.

Experiences early on in life can shape how a person acts for the rest of it. In the case of Siddhartha's and Kamala's son, he grew up as a spoiled kid who felt entitled to things such as nice clothing and servants doing things for him. "He began to realize that this eleven year old was spoiled, a mama's boy; he had been raised among all the amenities of wealth and was used to fine meals, a soft bead and giving orders to servants." (Hesse 98). Their child was forced to leave the home while Siddhartha left on his own choice. This child is resentful of his father for keeping him around with Vasevuda. But after his son had ran away, Siddhartha wanted to follow him to try and win him over once more with kindness. "Siddhartha was unable to follow his freiend's advice; he could not give up his son. He allowed the boy to order him about and treat him with contempt." (Hesse 102). Siddhartha wanted to show himself as a kind man to his son. He was raised as a good and kind person, so we wanted to transmit that to his son. The experiences that he had experienced when he was younger had indeed shaped who he became has a person 

awakening

"Enough of all this. I have awoken, have truly awoken, and this day is the day of my birth." (Hesse, 35).

"Siddhartha in the moment of his awakening, on the path to himself." (Hesse, 35).

"This, he felt, had been the final shiver of awakening, the final pangs of birth." (Hesse 37).

My awakening

One night while I had stayed up all night with a friend back in California for the point of having a philosophical discussion, we had both received a spiritual awakening while studying the words of Ram Daas and Bob Dylan. It had taught us to not only be kinder people, but also a more awoken person in terms of a different thought process after processing their words and listening to their messages. 

My second awakening was at a Furthur concert (2/22/13), while looking around at the 10,000 Grateful Dead fans, all singing together in unison, all in perfect harmony and peace, I had truly realized the world's inner beauty. Not only of the beauty of people, but also of the world, and what music can do to connect people. At that moment, I had truly realized the beauty of everything.

The third awakening was when I was sitting in a class watching the snow fall on the window, and feeling trapped inside. Even though I was only a few feet from the window, I could not touch the snow because of it. That sent me into a questioning period with myself asking "Why do I have to be here? I want to be outside." But that itself was temporary as I like learning. It then got more insightful. I began to think "Wow, people are both beautiful and ugly." It's just in the eye of the beholder for which one it is. I then began to think, "Why are we are?" and those sort of questions as everyone does. I then realized that we just are here on this earth, not real point, we just are.