Preview

Kamala's Journey In Siddhartha

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
641 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Kamala's Journey In Siddhartha
Siddhartha, the son of a Brahmin, progresses on a quest for the true meaning of life, or Nirvana, through constant movement between distinct paths in order to fulfill his feeling of emptiness. Throughout the novel “Siddhartha” by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha learns that enlightenment comes from within, and initially commences to seek external guidance from the Brahmins, Samanas and Buddism. Since his childhood, the Brahmins deposited their absolute knowledge into his “waiting vessel”, his spiritual mind, yet he was still not at peace. The Brahmins teach Siddhartha the virtue of patience, the art of prayer as well as make him well-versed in the different rituals. The feeling of desolation immersed in him provokes Siddhartha’s determination to leave, …show more content…
His next primary goal is learning the art of love from Kamala, a famous courtesan. Although he rejected the other spiritual teachers, he accepts Kamala, a teacher of desire, and he consciously decides to follow her teachings. After years filled with indulgence of vices, he finally awakens by a dream of Kamala’s songbird and realizes that he lived pointlessly, and he leaves immediately. With utmost desolation, he turns to suicide but the sound “Om” emanates within him compelling him to stop. Upon awaking from a deep sleep, Siddhartha is rejuvenated and becomes entrenched in the beauty of the river and exclaims, "Nothing is mine, I know nothing, I possess nothing, I have learned nothing". He concludes that every approach he took in life has ultimately resulted in a stalemate.
Lastly, he finally finds the characteristics of an ideal teacher in Vasudeva, a ferryman, and lives with him beside the river. Vasudeva accepts Siddhartha as a disciple when he deduces that the river spoke to him. Siddhartha devotes himself to listen to the river and learns influential lessons from it. With the help of the river and Vasudeva, he finally learns the last elements necessary to achieve

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The third reason this novel follows the hero's journey is the atonement that happens. The atonement happens between Siddhartha and his son. Siddharth learns that he needs to let his son go just as his father did to him. “His face resembled that of another person.... It resembled the face of his father, the Brahmin. He remembered how once, as a youth, he had compelled his father to let him go and join the ascetic, how he had taken leave of him, how he had gone and never returned.” (Page 131-132) When young Siddhartha runs away, Siddhartha goes and looks for him. he sees the river laugh at him and he realises he is similar to his dad and needs to let his son go. this makes up siddhartha's atonement for relating to his father.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha’s life journey is representative of the worldly human desire to find meaning and success within oneself.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From Gotama Buddha, Siddhartha realizes he would rather walk his own path than follow another's. After pursuing Buddha's followings with his companion Govinda, Siddhartha has a revelation while he is conversing with Gotama. " 'That is why I am going on my way- not to seek another and better doctrine, for I know there is none, but to leave all doctrines and all teachers and to reach my goal alone- or die' "(34). This quote shows how Gotama has influenced Siddhartha to seek Self unaccompanied, marking a significant turning point in Siddhartha's journey. Subsequent to Siddhartha's encounter with Buddha, he meets a beautiful woman named Kamala who drastically changes him. The author of Siddhartha explains in detail how the title character slowly takes on characteristics of average citizens while living with Kamala. "Gradually, along with his growing riches, Siddhartha himself acquired some of the characteristics of the ordinary people, some of their childishness and some of their anxiety"(77). At this point in the novel, Siddhartha begins to be disgusted with himself, and recognizes that life with Kamala is not the place he should be in to find peace. Shortly after he apprehends this, Siddhartha leaves Kamala only to find a peaceful Ferryman, named Vasudeva who introduces Siddhartha to a river. In the following quote, Vasudeva explains to Siddhartha the power of the river that they live by. "'The river knows everything; one can learn everything from it'"(105). This quote…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When Siddhartha crosses the river for the first time, he crosses into a village where he meets one of his teachers, Kamala. This crossing of the river symbolizes Siddhartha’s crossing from the ascetic life to one of prosperity and success. When Siddhartha goes into the village and meets Kamala, Kamala changes him from being a shramana to becoming a…

    • 169 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Written by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha provides a unique experience of how suffering can be overcome with an aspiration in mind, no matter how long it takes. Even at the beginning of the book, Siddhartha realizes he is discontent by the sheltered world of his fancy life of a Brahmin. He believes there is something more, to truly understand and find peace with his innermost self, the goal of achieving Nirvana. He begins with joining the Samanas, believing that one has to suffer to reach this enlightened state; living like the Samanas would create conditions of treacherous life, having to starve, feeling weak in order to feel better (13). Siddhartha even encounters Buddha, and decides it is not worth it to follow him, for he wants to experience life and suffering for himself, instead of being taught second-hand. Eventually he met a girl, Kamala, and it almost…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha Chapter 8

    • 1273 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Siddhartha wanted to learn from the river like the ferryman and stayed with him. They both listened to the water silently, which was not just water to them but the voice of life, the voice of being, of perpetual becoming. 2. Siddhartha came to know about the illness of Gotama and remembered his path to salvation and also remembered the arrogant words he had uttered as a young man to Buddha. He felt he was not separated from Gotama although he could not accept his teachings.…

    • 1273 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha, the celebrated book by swiss author Hermann Hesse, is acclaimed for its spiritual story arc. Nonetheless, it is also a minefield for symbolic themes such as the recurring water imagery and the omnipresent circle motif. The most important theme however, is unity, as Siddhartha realizes it is the answer to his search for nirvana. Unity is explored in many ways throughout the whole book, but one way in particular stands out: the idea that opposites attract to form balance and symmetry. Hermann Hesse uses the relationships of the titular character in his book to substantiate the concept that opposites attract and the notion that harmony between antipodes is primordial. Siddhartha’s opinions on materialism, enlightenment and wealth vary from that of his friends Kamala, Govinda and Kamaswami, yet they ensure balance between himself and his companions.…

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book, Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha is on a quest to self-discovery, which was influenced by characters like Gotama, Kamala, and Vasudeva. These characters have impacted Siddhartha’s life considerably, and contribute to his path to enlightenment. They have brought him teachings, love, money, and the art of listening. Siddhartha has the most substantial impact on himself throughout the novel by questioning teachings, experiencing new concepts, and learning from the river of life, which flows inevitably.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel Siddhartha, Herman Hesse, the author, narrates Siddhartha's path to enlightenment throughout his life. First, Siddhartha realizes that he is not achieving true enlightenment when he is with his father; as a result he departs on a journey , and he is accompanied by his best friend, Govinda. As Siddhartha and Govinda advance on this journey, they run into obstacles. Later down the road Siddhartha meets two people who change his life,, Kamala and his son. Siddhartha finds himself on a quest to achieve enlightenment, but later discovers that the path to enlightenment is not an ability he discovers, but rather than an endless cycle that he create through various.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Herman Hesse 's Siddhartha depicts the epic of “a man 's search for himself through the stages of guilt, alienation, despair, to the experience of unity” (Ziolkowski 1). The novel is credited as a critical attribution to Hesse 's works as “it marks an important step in the development of Hesse and is unique in German literature in its presentation of Eastern philosophy” (Malthaner 1). In it, Siddhartha wrestles with the beliefs of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other aspects of various Eastern religions in an attempt to achieve Nirvana. He begins his life as the son of a holy Brahmin and matures to become one himself. Finding no solace in his prayers and daily rituals, he abandons all he has known in order to become a simple Samana and lose the Self in order to attain Enlightenment. However, he finds himself “caught in a continuous cycle of death and rebirth because he has not yet achieved a state of total enlightenment or Nirvana” (Bennett 2). Siddhartha uses what he has learned from the Samanas to hypnotize an elder so that the elder will allow Siddhartha and his lifelong friend, Gotama, to leave in order for them to enlighten themselves through the teachings of the Buddha. He listens to the Illustrious One, and finds error in his ways as “it becomes clear to him that the way of salvation can not be taught, that words and creeds are empty sounds, that each man must find the way by himself, the secret of the experience can not be passed on” (Malthaner 3). He leaves Gotama in order to better find the Self, and in the process becomes a man of no religion, faith, friends, or followers, but solely the Self. Siddhartha stumbles upon a beautiful courtesan by the name of Kamala. He promises to achieve wealth in order to provide her with money, a luxury he had since given up to become a Samana. Siddhartha enlists Kamaswami as his mentor and works for him as a merchant, and over the course of many years loses himself to greed. Realizing this, he flees…

    • 2170 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha Essay

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Siddhartha, in the awakening, learns that the life of pleasure isn’t always the best life. In fact the life of pleasure can always bring you pain and sometimes more suffering. Siddhartha had to learn that the hard way because he felt disgusted in himself of what he had become. Just as Siddhartha was about to suicide he heard a voice. He heard the ancient holy word “Om”. Just from that word his whole life changed. Siddhartha also learned that there was more to the world then having pleasure and goods and that that the world was a beautiful piece of work. Siddhartha learned from the river who he really was and that he shouldn’t just give up because of a mistake, Siddhartha learned that he has to learn from it and take his mistake as an experience. The only way to succeed in life is to have experiences and learn from your mistakes. Although Siddhartha learned something from the river, he still needs to learn more and he does as he meets the ferry man. Siddhartha learned to love the river and treat the river with respect. The river saved him from his death and Siddhartha shall be with the river at all times. The river taught him how to become patient again and helped him awaken from his bad period of time. The river was also Siddhartha’s turning point in because Siddhartha was about to give up and just throw away his goal but he realized his mistake and became a new Siddhartha. The river was a similar to a teacher, it taught Siddhartha more and more about the world so much that his knowledge on the world expanded even more. Siddhartha took things more serious because everything the river taught him, he didn’t judge like his old teachers, he listened and trust the river’s knowledge.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Herman Hesse's Siddhartha strove for spiritual enlightenment. He left his home at a young age to become a part of wandering ascetics,…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha Journey

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Siddhartha’s journey begins with him leaving home and the life of the “Son of the Brahman” (5) with his friend Govinda to become Samanas to learn all they can from them. During his time with the Samanas, Siddhartha has his first epiphany, and says he has “grown distrustful” (14) of their teachings, so he and Govinda part from the ascetics. While they are under Gotama the Buddha’s tutelage…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Still, through the short time he spent with them, he acquires the impressive talents of fasting and patience. These skills then prove to be invaluable to him in his near future. Shortly after he learns what he needs to from the Samanas, he departs from them as he did the Brahmins in order to carry on his hunt for clarification. Then Siddhartha proceeds to encounter a new teacher, this time it is the great Buddha, Gotama, who he decided not of follow, unlike he did with the Samanas and Brahmins. The teachings of the Buddha lead Siddhartha to have a realization himself.…

    • 2121 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    At last, he found a ferryman in very fine dress that showed his kind behavior to him. He told him that he was on the right way. Man who could feel the water of the river must know many of other things too. He knew that continuous movement of water of the river was one of the secrets of the river. Siddhartha could not understand that, but he had strong faith that that might be very special. The ferryman agreed to took Siddhartha in his boat across the river. Siddhartha wanted to exchange his clothes with ferryman. He also asked if he could be assistant of ferryman and he wanted to know how to row a boat. Now, ferryman recognized him as the Samana and introduced himself as Vasudeva .He told him that how he changed to a finely dressed man and offered him to stay in a hut with him and took him with him. Siddhartha focused on the way how ferryman was doing his job. When they reached their hut ferryman gave him something to eat and then he began his whole story. Ferryman listened to his story keenly and asked him to stay with him and offered him to sleep on the place where his late wife slept. Siddhartha accepted and they discussed about the river and then slept. Many times Siddhartha used to discuss about the river with the ferryman and also pleased to share it .They were both very happy while discussing that knowledge. As the time passed, Siddhartha became more and more like ferryman, joyful and smiling. Many times they used to listen to the river and that seemed to them as river was also speaking to them. Many years passed and time came when Siddhartha and ferryman saw many monks and pilgrims who told them that Gautama was going to die and they were going to see him but Siddhartha did not believe in separation and he knew that he was connected to everything. Kamala was also going to see Gautama along with the son of Siddhartha .Son demanded to stay for rest. When they stopped and…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays