Siddhartha Herman Hess\' Siddhartha Out

Siddhartha

Herman Hess' Siddhartha

Out of the place of prominence within his class and caste in India, Siddhartha decided to go out into the world to find true enlightenment. Despite the fact that he could have been a prince and held great riches within his already given position, the young Brahmin decided to test himself in his quest and desire for true knowledge. Through his studies, he discovered a lack within the typical Hindu teachings which bothered him immensely. And so, rather than blindly following what he had been taught, he decided to find out for himself the true nature of himself and the external world around him.

Thus he decides to join a group of traveling mystics, the Samanas. After seeing the group pass through his own city, Siddhartha decides this humble group is an ideal place for him to start to truly unwind his own teachings in relation with the truths of the universe. Through his journey with the Samanas, Siddhartha adopts their poor ways, thus humbling himself and his former high status, not a normal occurrence within the strict context of the Indian caste system. He learned the ideas that true enlightenment come only through the dissolution of the egotistical self, and that the individual self only holds one back from reaching universal enlightenment. As he travels with them, Siddhartha looses his earthly and selfish desires for food, clothing, and sex, quickly becoming a favorite of one of the elders in the group. However, after several years, he becomes enchanted with a new master.

The next phase of his journey included following Gotama the Buddha, who had made a huge impression on the main of the young Siddhartha. Yet, he remains skeptical on many aspects of these teachings despite the Buddha's attempt to clarify specifics including how he himself reached Nirvana alone, yet now teaches others. Despite loosing his long time friend and fellow traveler Govinda, Siddhartha makes the decision to leave the Buddha's camp and continue his journey alone.

And so, he is convinced that the only way to truly learn anything is through knowing ones self, rather than blindly accepting the words of another. When he leaves his final teacher, it is clear that Siddhartha will never find another, and that his journey will continue on only through the power of himself and himself alone.

Despite his previous attempts, it is clear he has not found enlightenment, but through his awakening understands he was closer than ever. He then understood that the human mind is eternally alone, and thus must force through the journey of life alone.

His first move as a solitary being is to embrace what he had previously denied -- the physical world. Through his meeting of Kamala, he begins to open himself up to allow the external world to influence him in ways he had never experienced before. He began to feel desirous of external wants, and thus breaks completely away from his previous understanding of spirituality. Yet despite understanding to his desire, he still shows restraint through controlling who he physically loves; thus showing how sex is important in exploring the physical external world.

He then connects himself further with the world of the average people, whom he would have never been able to connect with in his life in high society and the religious wanderers.