Sidd
Sidd
Siddartha
Kathryn Byrnes
Winter Quarter 1998
Winter 198
Siddartha is the story of a man who spends his entire life
be a young man under the teachings of his father and the elders
they were not able to answer all of his questions about God,
truth, and life, they were not able to quench the thirst for
The two young men spent several years learning the ways of
the Samana. The basis of the Samana teaching was to learn how
one fasts, waits, and prays. The Samana saw in Siddartha the
him doubts and questions, the pressing thirst for knowledge and
understanding.
Buddha, Gotama, the Perfect One. The stories told of this holy
man who had reached Nirvana, the ultimate state of bliss and
Gotama all that he sought and after hearing his teachings Govinda
joined the holy men of the Perfect One and followed him the rest
of his life. Siddartha also found God in Gotama, but at the same
the unknown innermost, and hence reach Nirvana. But on this day,
filled with peace as he makes this decision to seek after his own
Self and be his own guide and teacher. Filled with this peace,
veil had been lifted from his eyes, and he decides to never look
back. Part one of the novel comes to an end and part two begins
ferryman who takes people across the river on his bamboo raft.
when the ferryman says simply, "I have learned that from the
river too; everything comes back. You, too, Samana, will come
back"2. Siddartha does not take the man seriously but is still
towards Kamala due to her beauty, and he sets out to become her
friend and pupil in hopes of learning from her the art of love.
Kamala is taken by the uniqueness of the young man but tells him
from her. She then helps him to find a job with a wealthy
the merchant and acquires much wealth. Kamala becomes his best
friend, and his lover, and slowly, without knowing it, Siddartha
that the world has given him much experience but no answers.
He has arrived in the city as a simple man who owned nothing and
filling and rotting it, so did the world and inertia creep into
great deal."3
all his wealth and riches, and Kamala, who is not surprised by
like his heart is dead and he wishes nothing more than to die.
He comes upon the river that he had crossed so many years before
on his way to the city. And as he looks into the river at this
of the river, out of the depth of his soul, a faint sound, the
holy Om. "It was one word, one syllable which without thinking
Brahmin prayers, the holy Om, which had the meaning of the
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eyes to find none other than his dear old friend Govinda sitting
shock Govinda turns around only to be told that this rich man
before him is his old friend who had left him so many years
his dear friend, the two are unsure whether they will ever see
his life is just like the river, in which everything comes back.
He, an old man, is once more a child, born anew, knowing nothing,
does not want to leave the river for he feels that it has
departs along the river for the ferryman's hut at which he had
same ferryman still rowing his bamboo boat across the river for
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those who need to cross. Siddartha reminds the man, Vasudeva, of
the river. They grow their own food, and ferry people across the
river, but most importantly they spent many hours sitting by the
the same time...the present only exists for it, not the shadow of
the past, or the shadow of the future."8 He also learns that the
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river contains the voices of all that is created. And when it
Vasudeva lived together beside the river. Then one day a group
the river. News has spread that Gotama is dying and flocks of
people are on their way to rest one last look upon the
than Kamala, who had long since retired and had given her
travel alone on her journey, she travels with her young son,
snake, not far from the ferrymen's hut. The young boy cries for
help, and as Vasudeva carries the woman into the hut, Siddartha
recognizes Kamala, and realizes that the young boy is in fact his
own son. Kamala dies there in the small hut, happy to have once
more gazed into the eyes of her lover and father of her child.
eyes that he had sought after for so long. She is buried next to
walls of Kamala's rich pleasure garden, and this is the only life
he knows. The life of a poor and simple ferryman does not please
him, and even though Siddartha tries to give his son everything
he wants. The river just laughs at this folly for the boy had
been forced to leave against his own will, and all he wanted was
Siddartha to face, and it almost takes him away from the river
and his dear friend Vasudeva. But in the end, Siddartha gives
the boy over to his own fate, as much as he wanted to protect him
from his own mistakes. "If you were to die ten times for him,
the city, to his own fate, so fate does it for him, and one day
the boy runs away. Siddartha follows after him to the city, but
And as much as Siddartha loved the boy and hurt at his defiance,
Vasudeva, his dear friend, came that same evening and the
two returned to the river, to their own fate. And what Siddartha
learned from his pain was that he was not so different from all
the rest, that he too was very human, although he had always
happiness, and pain. "There was the blind love of a mother for
her child, the blind foolish pride of a fond father for his only
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son, the blind eager strivings of a young vain woman for ornament
into the forest to die. But before he goes, the two men sit one
what he hears, and for the first time Siddartha hears the whole,
feels his Self finally being merged into the unity. Vasudeva has
fight against his destiny. There shone in his face the serenity
when one day his old friend Govinda appears before him and asks
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After revealing his identity Siddartha then invites his dear old
many questions that night and Siddartha related many stories from
then tells his friend what he believes, he tells his friend that
does not love another for his thoughts or his teachings, but
rather for his deeds and his life. "I think it is only important
to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each
other, but to be bale to regard the world and ourselves and all
person has on him. He feels that before him sits a holy man, one
One". In one last attempt to also have such peace, in one last
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he sees unity, the unity of all things. "He no longer saw the
thousands, which all came and disappeared and yet all seemed to
longer existed, but peace, unity and salvation were there in the
present.
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