Comparing Siddhartha's Voyage To Nirvana

As with the Brahmins, Siddhartha’s experience with the Samanas is not a fulfilling one. Hesse writes, “he slipped out of his Self in a thousand different forms. He was animal, carcass, stone, wood, water, and each time he reawakened” (Pg-15). Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas, yet he was still unable to reach enlightenment. During his time with the Samanas, Siddhartha never saw or heard of a single person achieving enlightenment. Feeling disillusioned with the teachings of others, Siddhartha decided to leave the Samanas, and seek out the venerable Buddha. Siddhartha seeks out the Buddha and hears his sermon, but he ultimately decides to seek his own path to enlightenment. In leaving the Buddha, Siddhartha begins to follow a Buddhist path. Siddhartha says, “But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced he alone among hundreds of thousands" (Pg-34). In this part of his journey, Siddhartha realizes that no one can teach him how to achieve enlightenment. As Gautama did before him, Siddhartha heads out to find his own path to enlightenment.

Siddhartha comes to realize that he has discovered who he really is, he is Siddhartha. He knows himself more than any other teaching or religion. As he comes to self-realization, he comprehends he has been letting himself slip away, he has been running away from himself.

Although not easily accepted by his father, his goal was not to be like him; he would study the teachings of Atman and meditate on a daily basis, not to mention he was considered one of the most advanced, but instead of living the life through teachers he pursued his future merely focusing on reaching Nirvana. Throughout his journey Siddhartha had many many teachers in completely different forms, however, the one teacher, the river, that was not a teacher at all, made him understand life and enable him to enter Nirvana. Each teacher furthered his knowledge, but the river taught him the greatest message of all: everything connects to one another, there is a reason for everything, and that time is inexistent. Through his journey Siddhartha found his meaning and bliss in his

The four stages of life choices, which favor both renunciation and world upholding, are 1) student 2) householder 3) forest hermit and 4) wandering ascetic (Ghose, 1/18/01). In the book, Siddhartha participated in each of these lifestyles for a significant amount of time. Unlike his father, Siddhartha did not want to be a Brahmin. He thought his calling

From start to Finish, Siddhartha lived his life in search of one main facet; spiritual enlightenment. While in the process of his quest for enlightenment Siddhartha encountered the four noble truths of Buddhism. In the first part of the novel, Siddhartha is portrayed experiencing each of the noble truths.

            In the first part of the book, Siddhartha is consumed by his thirst for knowledge.  He joined the samanas and listened to the teachings of the Buddha in attempt to discern the true way to Nirvana.  Though he perfected the arts of meditation and self-denial, he

Siddhartha then sets out on his own path, on which he eventually reaches his goal of Nirvana.

"It is this what you mean, isn't it: that the river is everywhere at once?”. Siddhartha takes many journeys in his life. All of which are essential to him reaching enlightenment. In these journeys there are multiple factors that lead to this point but the most important ones are the city, Kamala, and the river. Without these he couldn’t reach enlightenment.

In the novel, Siddhartha is faced with many spiritual and self-discovery obstacles that get in the way of his goals. The author believes that every complication can’t be overcome with a simple pair of instructions, the person has to experience the difficulties in order to fully achieve their aspirations. During Siddhartha’s journey, he comes across multiple self-changes as he learns from various teachers. He tries to follow the step that he believes will make him enlightened, soon, he will realize that all he had to do was just live life without following a protocol.

In the departure phase of his journey, Siddhartha completely shuns both internal and external desires and lives a more than humble life. During Siddhartha’s conversation with his father about leaving home, Siddhartha’s father, “returned again after an hour and again after two hours, looked through the window and saw Siddhartha standing there in the moonlight, in the starlight, in the dark” (11). Hermann Hesse’s use of dark and light imagery, emphasizes Siddhartha’s stubbornness for his desire to go with the Samanas, whose religious ideals are severe self discipline and restraint of all indulgence; he is adamant about leaving home, as his father checked on him countlessly and Siddhartha stood there unwavering despite the many hours and change of daylight so he could earn his father’s blessing to live the lifestyle of an ascetic. Furthermore, Siddhartha travels to the Samanas with Govinda to destroy Self and the multitudinous amount of desire by quelling each desire and all together Self even though he knows it is a difficult goal to achieve, “Although Siddhartha fled from Self a thousand times, dwelt in nothing, dwelt in animal and stone, the return was inevitable” (16). The effect of Siddhartha’s multiple attempted destructions of Self as a consequence of living as a Samana are failure in his attempt to discover Nirvana. Moreover, Siddhartha travels with Govinda to the Buddha after leaving the

Siddhartha, as a young boy, left behind his family and set out on his quest to discover the true knowledge to achieve Nirvana, a state of peace. Through this long arduous journey, Siddhartha encounters various moments where he is enlightened leading him closer to the right path to Nirvana. The Buddha (Guatama), Kamal (love), and the river opened his eyes and make him realize what he was looking for was within him. The author Hesse, manipulates the settings emphasizing this moments creating new imagery making Siddhartha experience the difficulty to reach Nirvana. The overall settings that contribute to Siddhartha’s journey play an important meaning to reach Nirvana.

While on this self-discovery journey, Siddhartha is forced to experience the sensual and material world which causes him to lose touch with his inner voice. The ultimate goal of Siddhartha’s journey is to reach Nirvana. Nirvana can be seen as a

In the novel Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, the protagonist who lives in ancient India, attempts methods to reach to goal of achieving the state of Nirvana. Even from a young age of fifteen Siddhartha strived to reach enlightenment. He left his home to find joy within himself and to reach enlightenment. Siddhartha tried living with the Samanas and following the Buddha until he finally reached Nirvana while living along a river.

Placing focus on its titular character’s spiritual journey of self-discovery during the time of the ancient Buddha, author Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha challenges its readers to recognize the reality and truths of what it means to attain enlightenment. Through the course of their respective journeys, Siddhartha and the Buddha work almost as reflections of each other, displaying several links between one another in terms of their characteristics and experiences. Ultimately, however, it is their choices and difference in what they are willing to give up in order to attain their answers that their journeys begin to diverge from one another. Over the course of their tales, it becomes increasingly clear that the path to enlightenment is not

During Samsara, it is concluding that Siddhartha has became very successful in the business world. Siddhartha later realizes in By the River that being successful in the real world means nothing. He contemplates suicide, but withholds himself and falls asleep beside the river. When Siddhartha awakes, he realizes that Govinda is next to him and begins to talk about what has happened in both of their lives. Then in The Ferryman, it is told that they go their separate ways once again and Siddhartha receives enlightenment finally from Vasudeva, the ferryman. Lastly, it is revealed in Govinda, that Govinda reunites with Siddhartha once more and Siddhartha tries to get Govinda to enlightenment.