Preview

The Role Of Spiritual Awareness In Herman Hesse's Siddhartha

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
536 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Role Of Spiritual Awareness In Herman Hesse's Siddhartha
Siddhartha and his Path to Spiritual Awareness
In the well-known novel Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, a young man named Siddhartha travels the path to a deeper understanding of the world. This book expresses that there is no wrong way to reach enlightenment; through failure success is attainable. Siddhartha meets many influential people throughout the book and experiences much in his time spent with these important figures. Throughout the novel Siddhartha encounters three key people: Kamala, Vasudeva, and his own son, who all teach him much about life.
When Siddhartha goes into the city, he meets Kamala, a lovely young woman who through experience teaches him the language of love. Siddhartha constantly calls on Kamala, wearing handsome clothes and nice shoes to try and win her over.
“He who was still a boy as regards love and was inclined to plunge to the depths of it blindly and insatiably was taught by her that one cannot have pleasure without giving it, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every single part of the body has its secret which can
…show more content…
“He spent wonderful hours with the clever, beautiful courtesan and became her pupil, her lover, her friend” (54). He learned quite a bit from her through his experiences with her. Kamala was but one of Siddhartha’s many teachers. Vasudeva and the river give Siddhartha wisdom through their actions and advice. Vasudeva showed Siddhartha through the river that time is not important. “Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?“ (87). “No Vasudeva, I sat here and listened to the river. It has told me a great deal, it has filled me with many great thoughts, with thoughts of unity (94). Siddhartha is explaining how the river has caused him to be at peace and to feel united with the world and himself. The river and Vasudeva were two of Siddhartha’s largest contributing factors to finding

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha’s life journey is representative of the worldly human desire to find meaning and success within oneself.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    5. Why, do you suppose, Siddhartha’s mother doesn’t have more of a role in the decision?…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse the main character has a journey that mirrors the hero's journey through the uses of, mentors, the abyss, an atonement.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “He had tasted riches, had tasted lust, had tasted power; nevertheless he had still remained in his heart for a long time a Samana; Kamala, being smart, had realized this quite right. It was still the art of thinking, of waiting, of fasting, which guided his life; still the people of the world, the childlike people, had remained alien to him as he was alien to them” (75).…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Siddhartha has spent many years pursuing enlightenment but his experience has showed him that enlightenment cannot be taught. However Siddhartha finds a teacher (peaceful man) who does not teach. Vasudeva listen to Siddhartha and encourages him to listen to the river. One of the most important lessons the river teaches Siddhartha is that time does not exist and the present is all that matters. With personification and exaggeration, it is explained that the river can be at all places at once, its importance never changes as well. In such way, Siddhartha resembles the river. Despite the changing aspect of his experience, his essential self has always remained the same. He uses metaphors to determine that time does not exist. Siddhartha, with…

    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha, the son of a Brahmin, progresses on a quest for the true meaning of life, or Nirvana, through constant movement between distinct paths in order to fulfill his feeling of emptiness. Throughout the novel “Siddhartha” by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha learns that enlightenment comes from within, and initially commences to seek external guidance from the Brahmins, Samanas and Buddism. Since his childhood, the Brahmins deposited their absolute knowledge into his “waiting vessel”, his spiritual mind, yet he was still not at peace. The Brahmins teach Siddhartha the virtue of patience, the art of prayer as well as make him well-versed in the different rituals. The feeling of desolation immersed in him provokes Siddhartha’s determination to leave,…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha Research Paper

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha has a myriad of teachers. His one goal in life is to achieve enlightenment. He encounters various teachers in hopes of achieving enlightenment through one of their teachings or experiences. Nevertheless, with every teacher, he comes into a new phase of his life with a new intention in mind. He learns the ways of life through his teachers of Kamala, Kamaswami, and Vasudeva.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Islam vs Buddism

    • 1513 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Siddhartha grew up a strong and handsome man. As a prince of warrior caste, he trained in the arts of war. The king arranged for three palaces to be filled with 4000 girls each. Siddhartha was to choose a girl from the palaces but none of these pleased him. He found here at the end of the ceremony, she had refused to go to receive her gift. Siddhartha was appreciative of her selflessness and immediately fell in love with her. He won the hand of the beautiful princess from a neighboring kingdom by beating all other competitors at a variety of games. They married when Siddhartha and the princess were…

    • 1513 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha Analysis

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages

    He “listens” to the river almost everyday and finds a sense of unity and tranquility. He sees that the river exists only in the present, it is simultaneously upstream, downstream, in the ocean and at it’s source. After his son runs away, Siddhartha wants to go after him, but realizes he himself had done the same thing to his own father years ago to live with the samanas, and lets him go. Siddhartha , with Vasudeva’s guidance listens to the river for something he had not yet heard and for the first time he hears the river’s voices merge into one, giving his soul a sense of…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Written by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha provides a unique experience of how suffering can be overcome with an aspiration in mind, no matter how long it takes. Even at the beginning of the book, Siddhartha realizes he is discontent by the sheltered world of his fancy life of a Brahmin. He believes there is something more, to truly understand and find peace with his innermost self, the goal of achieving Nirvana. He begins with joining the Samanas, believing that one has to suffer to reach this enlightened state; living like the Samanas would create conditions of treacherous life, having to starve, feeling weak in order to feel better (13). Siddhartha even encounters Buddha, and decides it is not worth it to follow him, for he wants to experience life and suffering for himself, instead of being taught second-hand. Eventually he met a girl, Kamala, and it almost…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Escapism In Siddhartha

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Escapism has existed ever since the hypothalamus developed inside the human brain. Its four functions have kept us alive as a species, managing fight, flight, food, and sex. But when that flight manifests itself in interpersonal relationships, in spirituality, in attempts to avoid the unavoidable, things start to fall apart. In Siddhartha, by Hermann Hess, escapism is just one more untruth for Siddhartha to overcome.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

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

    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha

    • 960 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Siddhartha written by Herman Hesse is an inspiring novel about a young Indian’s travels to achieve his goal. Siddhartha’s previous learning affects him in both positive and negative aspects on his long journey to reach enlightenment. Enlightenment in the Indian culture means to reach total knowledge on life and the afterlife. Siddhartha’s journey as a Brahmin, a Samana, being rich and greedy, and living in the hut as a river man brought him great wisdom and helped him achieve total enlightenment.…

    • 960 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Buddha said that it didn’t matter what a person’s status in the world was, or what their background or wealth or nationality might be. All were capable of enlightenment.” (Boeree) In Herman Hesse 's Siddhartha, Hesse splits Siddhartha Gautama (the founder of Buddhism) into two major characters in his novel, Siddhartha and Gotama Buddha. Hesse develops these characters to mirror Siddhartha Gautama 's journey to enlightenment and his life as a teacher to point out the irony in the authentic Buddha 's teaching and to show the reader that enlightenment is not based solely on teachings or experience.…

    • 1281 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Art is a form of expression that lives on for centuries but changes in interpretation over time. What may be relevant in this time period may make no sense to the upcoming generations. Nina Paley’s film "Sita Sings the Blues" brings two cultures, traditions, values and time periods together to convey her message and bring relevance of her art across many cultures and generations. The Ramayana by Valmiki on the other hand is a very traditional epic which depicts the ideal of every relation, one ideal example being the wife of Rama, Sita. Idealistically, a wife in Indian culture is to stick to her husband no matter how harshly she is treated by him, she should be calm in every situation and should be the one to try and hold a household together. In modern society this is a concept which is not logical to this generation and certainly would not be accepted and tolerated because of the evolution of women rights. This essay will discuss the traditional interpretation of the centuries old poem, The Ramayana, and later correlate it with Paley’s, modernized retelling of the same story. Paley, in her movie openly lays the fate of Sita; she reasons that happiness is not just found in being in a marriage with children but rather with an understanding between two parties. If two people cannot work things out they move on as Paley did in her personal story. This is a concept which is a great contradiction to the "female dharma" which is explained in the Ramayana as the ideal of women.…

    • 1339 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays