Siddhartha By Hermann Hesse

Are some things better learned through experience rather than teaching? In Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha renounces Gotama, an enlightened religious teacher, because he believes true enlightenment cannot be taught. After doing so, he leaves on a journey of his own to reach enlightenment. Throughout his journey, he will gain wisdom and knowledge by giving up material possessions, giving up his son, and by reuniting with Govinda to achieve his goal. After Siddhartha leaves Gotama with Govinda, his childhood friend who also wants to reach enlightenment, he wanders aimlessly before meeting Kamala. Kamala introduces him to Kamaswami, a businessman, for Siddhartha to learn from. Siddhartha ends up staying with them for many years, and
He is unhappy with his life with Siddhartha and Vasudeva, which is parallel to Siddhartha being unhappy with his life with the Brahmins. Blinded by love, Siddhartha does not want to let his song go and wants him to follow the same path he did. The son eventually runs away and Siddhartha accepts the fact that he needs to follow his own path to happiness. Siddhartha, still mourning the loss of his son, looks into the river and realizes the parallels between his father and him with him and his son. By losing his son, he understood human suffering to unite him with the rest of the mortal world, "From that hour Siddhartha ceased to fight against his destiny. There shone in his face the serenity of knowledge, of one who is no longer confronted with conflict of desires, who found salvation, who is in harmony with the stream of events, with the steam of life, full of sympathy and compassion, surrendering himself to the steam, belonging to the unity of all things" (Hesse 111). This was one of Siddhartha's most difficult thing to give up, as this was someone he truly loved, unlike his feelings for Kamala. By understanding these feelings of suffering and loss, he gains the compassion that is necessary for