Also: Some of the things I summarized in the summary section might not be totally be accurate( it was my interpretation of Siddhartha's "realizations" which sometimes spans 2-3 pages, hahaha).
SUMMARY
His first realization in this second section of the story is to no longer harm himself so much with the life of an ascetic and try to escape from himself. Instead he will try to dig deep within himself in order to find himself. His teachings as an ascetic has taught him to despise people for their attachment to worldly things, but now he has decided to embrace everything. In doing so, he has let many emotions rush in, some beautiful and warm, but also for the first time, he realized that he was lonely.
As night fell upon him, he seeked refuge in a ferryman’s straw hut. The next day the ferryman took Siddhartha across the river. Siddhartha apologized for not having any money, but the ferryman was fine with it. He then reached a large town and then left the large town to arrive at a beautiful unfenced grove that belonged to a well-known courtesan named Kamala. He asked for her to be his friend and teacher ( which is basically him flirting with her) but failed. She said that he must have clothes, shoes, and money before she even considers doing anything with him. She arranged for him to be an apprentice of a wealthy merchant named Kamaswami. Pretty soon, Siddhartha learned the tricks of the trade and became very wealthy in the process. Soon he was invited into Kamala’s grove and they practiced the art of love, which was all Siddhartha wanted in the first place. Unfortunately, without knowing, he had become corrupt in a subtle sense. He treated this whole thing as a game, and did not take things seriously to the fullest extent. Years passed by, and things were good, but that was it, it was just plain good. His easy living life became very old and repetitive. He decided to partake in gambling because there was a sudden rush of unexpected events. But soon, he became miserable again. One night however, he had a dream in which he threw Kamala’s rare songbird ( which was representative of all that was good and of value in himself). He awoke with the realization that he had been living life all these years without any goal. Without a goal you cannot have satisfaction with life. And so he left this life and continued on his journey.
He arrived at the same river the ferryman took him across many many years ago as a young man. He really really wanted to just die and put an end to his suffering when all of a sudden he heard a one-syllable word. It was Om, meaning “the Perfect one” or “Perfection”. From that moment, he realized his mistake in wanting to die. Then he fell into a deep slumber. He awoken refreshed, energized, and rejuvenated with life and vigor. Amazingly, he saw his old friend Govinda beside him, who said that he was keeping watch for him. It took him awhile to recognize Siddhartha under all of those rich people clothes but when he did, there was much joy. After a period of reunion, Govinda soon went on his way. Siddhartha then realized that the skills he used to have an ascetic, of fasting, waiting, and thinking, were totally gone. He had truly become an ordinary person. He realized that he possessed nothing of genuine value, that he was like a child again, starting his life anew. Therefore, he felt happy and free. The important realization was that all of the pain, misery that he had experienced in the past, all of that was necessary in order to get to the state of happiness he now had. Now he felt that he had accomplished something, through experience, not just through theroeretical assumptions.
And then another important realization. He realized that the reason why as a Brahmin, he struggled so much to find himself was because he was full of so much knowledge and arrogance. He was too clever and always succeeded in being one step ahead of other people. Therefore, instead of overcoming the Self, he was in effect feeding it and making it stronger. He now realized his mistake, and he was grateful, and he decided to stay near this enlightening river because he felt it had more secrets to tell.
He met up with the ferryman again and gave him payment in the form of his rich garments. He then asked to be his apprentice in the ferryman’s lifestyle. The ferryman, whose name was Vasudeva, invited Siddhartha to live with him since he was a widower and did not have much company. Siddhartha began telling Vasudeva his whole life story and found that Vasudeva was an extremely good listener, which was very rare and a good virtue.
Eventually, thanks to his life living by the river and listening to it, he realized that his own life was a river. A river is everywhere at the same time, and the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future, which meant that there was no such thing as time. He applied this philosophy to his own life and found it made sense as well.His previous lives ( him as a child, as a mature man, and as an old man) were only separated by shadows, not actual reality. Therefore, nothing was or will be, everything instead has reality and presence. He also realized that the word that one utters when one hears all the oices of the river at the same time is Om, what had heard a while ago.
One day, the two ferryman heard that the Illustrious One, Gotama the Buddha, was dying ( this was his last mortal death and he would attain salvation).Many people were making a pilgrimage to pay their respects to him, and of them all, one of them was Kamala. But she was no longer Kamala the courtesan, but Kamala a follower of Gotama’s way and also Kamala the mother ( indeed, she bore a son, Siddhartha’s in fact).
Unfortunately she was bitten by a small black snake. Siddhartha and Vasudeva tried to help her but it was too late. On the bright side, Siddhartha was able to be reunited with his lover . It was just as peaceful, this reunion, as a trip to see Gotama the Buddha.
Siddhartha’s son had grown up very spoiled and rich, and now he had to live with 2 poor ferryman. He was not happy at all, and tried to make life for his father as miserable as possible. Siddhartha was not fazed, and tried to win his son over with love and patience. Vasudeva advised him that he cannot force his son into living like this. Siddhartha was essentially trying to protect his sons from the suffering of the world, but this was not good. Vasudeva said that every human being must go through it. As much as hurt, Siddhartha relunctantly agreed and eventually began to let his son go off on his own way.
Siddhartha still did not share people’s thoughts and views, but he did share their urges and desires. But he also knew that they were not aware of the unity of all life. He began to know what wisdom really was. It was a capacity to think a different way, a secret art of thinking, a preparation for the soul to handle harsh things. But this was put on hold, as he still missed his son immensely. He stared into the river and remembered his own father. He remembered how he also ran away to join the ascetics and never returned. His father must have suffered the same pain that he was now suffering. It was like karma in a sense. He told his thoughts to Vasudeva and told him about the river laughing at him. Vasudeva was amused but told Siddhartha to listen to the river even more carefully. He heard voices again, but this time instead of differentiating them, it all molded together into one voice. It could all be combined into one word, Om, perfection.
From that moment on, Siddhartha’s face was very serene. He had found salvation. Vasudeva had long found it, and walked into the woods to go into the unity of all things.
In the final chapter, Govinda goes to the ferry and again does not recognize Siddhartha. When Siddhartha again reveals himself to Govinda, it is again a joyous occasion. This time, both friends engage in a very meaningful conversation, one telling the other of what they have learned. Govinda, although somewhat perplexed, was very grateful for Siddhartha’s words nevertheless. As he was going to leave though, he asked Siddhartha to give him something that he can understand. So Siddhartha beckoned Govinda to come closer and he kissed his forehead. From there, Govinda was enlightened. He realized the unity of all things, the illusion of time and good and evil and many other realizations. After that enlightenment, he never felt more love for his good friend Siddhartha.
QUOTE
“Just as the potter’s wheel, once set in motion, still turns for a long time and then turns only very slowly and stops, so did the wheel of the ascetic, the wheel of thinking, the wheel of discrimination still revolve for a long time in Siddhartha’s soul; it still revolved, but slowly and hesitatingly, and it had nearly come to a standstill.”(Hesse 76).
REACTION
I picked this quote because although it is not the moment of Siddhartha’s enlightenment, it is the moment that he began to slowly pick himself up from his corrupt rich man life style and really strive towards enlightenment.
I feel that people who do not know about Buddhism will have a harder time with this novella. You have to know that Siddhartha was the founder of Buddhism, the way of living that leads to enlightenment. It is technically classified in our society as a religion, but sometimes people say that it is not a religion because there is really no god. Siddhartha preached that he was not someone you should be pray to and be obsessed with. Instead, he just wished that we would respect him enough to follow his advice about how to live the right way. I feel that if you don’t know this context, then you are just reading this story the goal of knowing what happens to this man at the end. When I am reading this, I already know the end result and instead I am enjoying every little realization he has on his way. It went from Siddhartha the Brahmin to Siddhartha the Samana, to Siddhartha the rich man and finally to Siddhartha the Buddha.
That being said, I am still wondering why Gotama is said to a be a Buddha if I thought that Siddhartha was the first Buddha ( since he was the founder of Buddhism). Perhaps I need to do more research.
Also, I have a feeling that Vasudeva is kind of like a Buddha in disguise. Throughout the story, he seems so calm and happy, like he already knows the secrets of the world. He doesn’t seem to struggle with any inner turmoil at all which leads me to believe that he has already attained Nirvana. Plus, during the last part of the second to last chapter the way he is described is similar to Govinda’s description.
Now lets talk about some things I noticed. I had long assumed that I was wrong when I said that Gotama’s warning of Siddhartha’s cleverness meant something. It really meant something after all, as in the novella Siddhartha realized his cleverness made him very arrogant, preventing him from truly being equal and unified with everything around him. Also, I always assumed that Kamala was the main cause of Siddhartha’s corruptness, but now I don’t think so. It is actually Siddhartha that is his own cause of corruption. Now I realize that she was just a very intelligent women whose beauty overshadowed what she had to say to Siddhartha, and it took him a long time to finally take in what she had to say. When she died by Siddhartha’s side I could tell that that was some real love right there. Speaking of love, I found the most sad scene in this novella to be when Siddhartha reflected on him running away from his father. I was also imagining Siddhartha’s father’s pain of losing a son and I was heartbroken for a while.
Nevertheless, it has quite a journey of much catharsis. And it feels quite good to write about it, surprisingly. ^_^.