Siddhartha-Hero
“It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end,” U.K. LeGuin. This is the concept behind the path to discovery, taken by the protagonist of Herman Hesse’s epic novel, Siddhartha. The tale of spiritual awakening and self-discovery begins early in Young Siddhartha’s life, at the origin of his journey. From his humble home, Siddhartha travels to the Samanas to live a life of poverty and meditation. When he finds this stop to be off the beaten path, he decides it is time to move on. He found himself enraptured in the plight of the common man. He began to experience the world through the eyes of someone he thought he could never be. As he finds himself suffering the flaws fatal to every man, he begins to realize the necessity for another change. As he departs he ventures back to the river that once intrigued him before. Siddhartha finds that the river is responsible for delivering the inner-peace which he so avidly desired. The road to self-discovery was not as simple as completing a physical journey with the perils and pitfalls faced by a strong-arm hero. Instead Siddhartha’s expedition was completely spiritual with problems dealt with by the mind and not the sword.
Phase two of Siddhartha’s journey is a very difficult one to overcome; difficult but necessary. Upon his departure from the Samanas, he finds salvation in a teacher of love, Kamala. Kamala teaches Siddhartha about the ways of man and of material wealth. This is where Siddhartha becomes the most distraught. He finds that with the gain of prosperity, he becomes farther away from achieving inner-peace. “Like a veil, like a thin mist, a weariness settled on Siddhartha, slowly, every day a little thicker, every month a little darker, every year a little heavier”(78) This is Siddhartha’s nadir, at no time is he lower or farther from his destination than at this moment. “The world had caught him; pleasure, covetousness, idleness, and finally also that vice he had always despised and scorned as the most foolish-acquisitiveness”(79). Once again Siddhartha becomes aware of the necessity to leave this place and continue his search for inner-peace. “A path lies before you which you are called to follow”(83). While seemingly meaningless, this phase is imperative in the quest of understanding how to lose his self and to improve the road to his enlightenment. Although the path to self-discovery was a long and arduous one, it was necessary in order to accomplish inner-peace. The road Siddhartha took was pivotal in his success of ascertai
Some topics in this essay:
Kamala Kamala,
Siddhartha’s Journey,
Herman Hesse’s,
UK LeGuin’s,
Phase Siddhartha’s,
Samanas Siddhartha,
Siddhartha Govinda,
Instead Siddhartha’s,
,
UK LeGuin,
siddhartha’s journey,
siddhartha aware,
lose self,
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Approximate Word count = 963
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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