Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, follows the life of a young Brahmin's son in a riverside village in India. Siddhartha is very intelligent and handsome, and while growing up was admired for these qualities. Siddhartha's father pushes him to be a Brahmin much like himself. Siddhartha learns the ways of the Brahmin, but rejects their teachings and decides to leave the village and his father behind forever with his friend Govinda, [to search] for meaning in his life.
Siddhartha and Govinda end up wandering into the forest only to meet some samanas. Samana's are people that live free of material items, desires, and any kind of possessions.They use meditation and the imagination to acheive a deep connection to nature. [Inspired by the asceticism of the samana people,] Siddhartha gives up everything he once possessed, and begs for food. Siddhartha wears only a loincloth and hopes that by isolating himself from society he will destroy his attachment to anything. He to separate his spirit and mind from the body by fasting for long periods of time, not feeling heat or cold, and also controlling his breathing and heart beat. Siddhartha becomes restless because although he can detach from the Self, it only lasts a while, and eventually he remembers the Self again.
Siddhartha and Govinda hear rumors about and enlightened one who teaches many of faith and hope. The other samanas do not trust the teachings of Buddha, but Siddhartha hypnotizes the eldest samana who in turn blesses them and sends them off. Govinda sees this, and tells Siddhartha he has great power and could have become a great samana, or a great Brahmin as his father had wished. Siddhartha does not see this value in him, though, so he and his friend continue to see Buddha in the town of Savathi.
When Siddhartha and Govinda finally reach Savathi, they ask a woman for food. She tells them where the Buddha will be. They fall asleep that night, and when they awaken at dawn they hear the bustling activities going on around them, all from Buddha's followers. Siddhartha sees something special in Buddha, he radiates a certain inner glow, which Siddhartha admires greatly, although not as much as Govinda. Govinda decides to join Buddha, and advises Siddhartha to join too. Siddhartha does not, though, because he desires to recognize Atman, the essence of what everything is. Siddhartha does not seek an end to suffering like the followers of Buddha, He searches for the meaning of life.
Siddhartha decides to keep going on his journey because he wants to feel independent, and would rather choose his own path than follow others. Instead of continuing to accompany Siddhartha, Govinda decides to be Buddha's shadow.
Now Siddhartha starts to use his mind, and is able to recognize his feelings and rationalize. He soon starts to rely solely upon himself instead of the unseen spirits or the knowledge of other people. As Siddhartha walks, he is plagued with questions and realizes that on his quest to find Atman and Brahman within himself he must find something tangible and definite to understand the meaning of life. Like a fool he thought that if he destroyed his ego and his individual identity, erased all this memories, then his Atman would be the only thing left, and he'd be able to recognize it, but it was very difficult to do. In exile from everyone, even his dear friend Govinda, he is left to only his thoughts, free of influences. He is able to embrace his identity rather than deny it.
As he is walking through nature he begins to see things he didn't see before. He recognizes the beauty in all of nature. As a Brahmin he could read books of exploring, but he'd never experienced it himself. He then was reborn. Siddhartha remains hungry for knowledge, but after rejecting everything that Siddhartha was before, he feels very lonely, for he no longer belongs to a group, a religion, or a family.
Although he is very down, a burst of sudden renewed determination causes him to drive forward. He begins to walk, rejoicing in his sudden freedom, he finds strength inside himself. He doesn't know where he is going, but goes on anyway. Since Siddhartha has rejected everything he had ever learned in his past he becomes much as a newborn child and is ready to experience the world once again for what it is, and nothing more. As Siddhartha walks around he becomes fascinated by everything around him.
Siddhartha then realizes to seek nothing, but instead experience everything for what it is, rather than seeking a deeper meaning in everything and Atman. He realizes that it was wrong to deny his ego. Siddhartha had never known what his ego or “Self” was, or what he was all about. Instead all he had done was accept the teachings of everyone else. He decides that listening to the voice within him, just like the Buddha, will enlighten him.
When night comes Siddhartha arrives at a river and sleeps in the ferryman's hut before crossing the river the next morning. When Siddhartha wakes up the ferryman takes him across the river. Siddhartha cannot pay the man, but the man says that Siddhartha will return someday and repay him. The ferryman says that the river has taught him a lot, but Siddhartha is arrogant and judges the man. Siddhartha considers himself to be a stronger person, and sees this man just as he saw Govinda: as a simple man.
Siddhartha arrives at a village and sees a young woman. He is filled with a strong sexual desire for her, and his blood grows hot. The woman advances towards him, and when she grows close, he flees into the forest because he knows nothing about love or sex. Siddhartha had always denied his bodily desires. He is curious about this, and although the new world frightens him, he wants to be a person in it.
He enters the town filled with greed, materialism, and lust, only to find an even more beautiful young woman. Siddhartha feels such desire and lust for this woman that he becomes sad when she leaves, only after giving him a slight head nod and a smile. He finds out that she is a very wealthy courtesan named Kamala. To impress her he begins to socialize with more people. He combs, cuts, and oils his hair and shaves his beard, revealing his handsome face. Siddhartha goes back to the place where he first saw Kamala, and she is surprised to see him so much cleaner than the previous day. He waits to speak with her, and then asks her to teach him about sex and love, and explains how he is bored with the teachings of Brahmin, Samanas, and the Buddha, who only speak of abstract ways of using the mind. Siddhartha now wants to learn by satisfying his body's desires and using experience.
Kamala explains that any suitor pursuing a woman must first have shoes, clothes, money and a present to win her affection and be his mistress. Siddhartha thinks this task easy and is excited and flirtatious with the young Kamala in return and recites to her a poem he wrote for her. Kamala had inspired him to say such beautiful words, and she thanks him by kissing him with her lips, which he describes as a freshly cut fig. Siddhartha feels so many new sensations and a million thoughts flow through his mind. Siddhartha explains to Kamala that his only skills are thinking, waiting, and fasting; all learned from the samanas. Kamala invites Siddhartha to come back the next day because he can read and write, which is a great skill to have.
Kamala gets Siddhartha a job working for a rich merchant named Kamaswami, and Kamala helps by telling Siddhartha how to act towards him. Siddhartha is extremely happy to see how he is moving up in the world from a beggar to becoming Kamala's lover. Siddhartha visits Kamaswami. Siddhartha is hired to be the assistant to the merchant in his business and makes many new friends, all because of his cleverness, wit, and good writing. Siddhartha gets clothes, food, a home, and also a portion of the merchant's profits. Now that he has done this, Siddhartha is able to become Kamala's student in the art of lovemaking, and visits her daily. He learns a lot from her but is not satisfied.
Kamala falls in love with Siddhartha, but Siddhartha is blind to her affections. He does not understand love, nor can he imagine that Kamala loves him. Siddhartha wishes he could love her, but he doesn't know how to, and begins to become frustrated because he sees even the simplest of people loving. Everything in the town becomes much like a game to him, but rather than leaving because of his restlessness, Siddhartha stays in the town for many years.
Siddhartha becomes overwhelmed with the world of samsara, the sin he has always avoided in the past after being sheltered by his father and the Brahmin. After 20 years of being in the village he realizes what he has become, everything that he once hated. Restlessness fills him again and he walks away from all his wealth and everything he worked for to return to the river from which he came. Many of the town’s people think that he was robbed, or attacked, but Kamala knows why he has chosen to leave. Siddhartha remained a samana within although he tried to forget it. After Siddhartha left, Kamala soon realized that she was pregnant with his child.
Siddhartha arrives at the river he had once crossed. He stares at his reflection and is ashamed of what he has become. He feel's lost. Siddhartha decides the only thing left to do is drown himself, but before he can put his head under the water he sees his reflection in the water and utters the old word Om. When he awakens again all his thoughts of suicide ceased. Suicide would accomplish nothing. He awakes only to find a man watching him. This man is Govinda, his old friend. Siddhartha tries to explain his thoughts to Govinda, but Govinda is unsure of what he means, and continues on his own pilgrimage to spread the teachings of Buddha.
Siddhartha's thoughts become clearer than ever; wisdom fills his mind, and for the first time in his life, Siddhartha is happy. He realized that the Buddha's teachings aren't correct because they don't make you enlightened like Buddha, they only tell you the knowledge he has, but Siddhartha prefers to gain his own knowledge. Siddhartha sits under a tree, just as Buddha had done when he'd been enlightened, and is filled with understanding because Siddhartha had taught himself. He sits staring at the river and is content. He begins to think that the river is trying to tell him something, and he wonders what the river can teach him.
Siddhartha crosses the river and pays the ferryman by giving him all of his rich clothes. He asks the ferryman if he can be his apprentice. The ferryman happily agrees, and lets him sleep in the hut he once visited many years ago. Siddhartha tells the ferryman, Vasudeva, his whole life story, and Vasudeva listens intently. Vasudeva and Siddhartha become very good friends, and connect so well in their understanding. Vasudeva teaches Siddhartha to listen to the river. Siddhartha realizes that the river has a voice, the voice of everything at once "Om." The river brings together everything, the unity of all things and people at once.
Vasudeva and Siddhartha get the news that the Buddha is dying, so many Indian travelers make a pilgrimage to meet him, one of them being Kamala. Kamala lost all of her beauty, and now clings to the teachings of Buddha for guidance. Kamala and her son, Young Siddhartha, make their way up the river, but Kamala gets bit by a snake on the way. Young Siddhartha runs up the river to the hut where Siddhartha and Vasudeva live. Siddhartha recognizes Kamala at once and is happy, but is even more pleased to see his own son. As she is dying from the snake's venom her son falls asleep, Siddhartha sits with her, and she marvels at how peaceful Siddhartha looks. She notes that Siddhartha looks now how he did when they first met, and how peaceful and wise he looks, as though his face in her death was the same as that of Buddha himself.
Siddhartha is filled with enlightenment and happiness. He has finally found peace. He begins to feel an immense love for his son, and decides he will stay there with him to live in the hut by the river. Young Siddhartha had been raised in Samsara though, and cannot adapt to these new living conditions. Young Siddhartha is used to fine foods and servants. Siddhartha hopes to win his son over by love and patience, but Young Siddhartha remains defiant and angry. Young Siddhartha believes everything to be stupid. Siddhartha lets his emotions and his heart deceive him, though he believes that one day the boy will hear the voice of the river, and understand everything without experiencing the hardships that Siddhartha did.
Since Siddhartha is at peace with everything he is incapable of being forceful and does not try to discipline his son. Siddhartha allows human emotion to finally control him through his blind love for his son. Young Siddhartha is bored of his life by the river and runs away in the middle of the night. Siddhartha goes to fetch him, but then realizes, although it hurts him terribly to let the boy go, he must, because, after all, he had left his father in the same way. The cycle continues, and with this lesson learned, Siddhartha reminds himself of Om.
Vasudeva brings Siddhartha back to the hut, and although they never speak of the lost boy, Siddhartha still is sad about what he had finally forced himself to give up: his son. One day while passing the river he laughs, because his son has followed a path he did, and how silly and pointless everything is.
Siddhartha has finally finished understanding himself. He now understands everything. He reaches the highest enlightenment that he had been searching for since the beginning of his journey. All Siddhartha can do now is listen to the river, for there are no words to say, he is merely a part of everything else. Vasudeva died, but it pleased Siddhartha because he knew it must happen.
One day Govinda, still wandering restlessly, hears that there is a wise man near the river. This man is Siddhartha. Govinda asks the old man to speak with him, and while Siddhartha is talking, Govinda finally realizes his identity. They talk a great deal, and Govinda continues to listen, but hardly understands the words of Siddhartha. They are both old men now, and their paths had led them into completely different directions. Siddhartha found peace, and dispelled his ego. Govinda realized that even though he doesn't understand, Siddhartha appears to be enlightened just as Buddha had been, and wondered how his friend had reached such a state of being. He asks to understand, and right before Govinda's eyes, Siddhartha's face changes to many countless faces at once. Govinda's visions flowed across Siddhartha's form, and grew larger and larger until there were a thousand faces all relating to one other, all helping one other, hating, destroying, and becoming newly born, none ever dying. They keep changing, and Siddhartha's teachings are transformed from words to a vision.
Rather than a need to analyze the external world, Govinda finally finds emotions of being within. Govinda loves Siddhartha because he has become like the Buddha. Once Siddhartha's face becomes as it had been, and the vision of enlightenment ends for Govinda, he bows down to Siddhartha and pays homage just as he did for the Great Buddha. Govinda cries out of happiness, and Siddhartha remains unmoving and smiling. Govinda doesn't see the potential in himself to be like Siddhartha or Buddha, and remains a shadow. Govinda will never find enlightenment because it is too late.