Siddhartha Enlightenment Analysis

To become enlightened people often follow spiritual leaders or doctrines of others, for Siddhartha the act of being thrown out of these groups sets him up to further his enlightenment. As we look at the first part of Siddhartha’s journey we can see a guiding theme, he is most enlightened once he has left a spiritual group. First we see it with his father and the Brahmins, his heart isn’t satisfied with the level of enlightenment he is receiving, so his only course of action is to cast them off and move on. This continual pattern of searching for enlightenment through teachers, and then only truly finding it once those teachers have been thrown off, helps us analyze the idea of what it truly means to be enlightened and what that path means.
One would think being with people so concerned about reaching enlightenment would help immensely in being able to reach that goal of finding your true self. Even though Siddhartha grew up in a rich and opulent life he still adapted to the life of a Samana because of his studying’s of Hinduism in his youth, and his desire for enlightenment. Quickly Siddhartha throws off all worldly possessions, clothes, sexuality, and pretty much everything besides the basic things required for life. He quickly discovers that this denial of self, throwing off all these basic needs does not automatically create enlightenment. He sees this in an elderly Samana who is over 60 and has still not reached enlightenment even after all of the suffering and destruction of self he has gone
Much like we saw with the Brahman, it isn’t the actual teachers that put Siddhartha on the path to enlightenment, but rather the act of being removed from the group puts Siddhartha more on the path to enlightenment then the teachings ever would. A quote that really puts this into context is when Govinda asks Siddhartha, “How can the teachings of Gotama disclose to us its most precious fruit before we have even heard him?” Siddhartha said “Let’s enjoy this fruit and await further ones, Govinda this fruit, for which we are already indebted in Gotama, consist in the fact that he has entice us away from the Samanas. Whether there are still other and better fruits let us patiently wait and see” Siddhartha understands that it’s not the actual teaching from Gotama that are going to give them this “fruit” or enlightenment, rather the idea of searching out for enlightenment independently is the only true way to enlightenment. The only way Siddhartha can independently search for enlightenment of course is to be cast out of these groups and in essence be set up by the leaders to truly find the fruit he is searching for. Here we see a second confirmation of this original idea of the true path to enlightenment isn’t through these mystical leaders, or even a special path you need to