He had started to suspect that his venerable father and his other teachers, that the wise Brahmans had already revealed to him the most and best of their wisdom, that they had already filled his expecting vessel with their richness, and the vessel was not full, the spirit was not content, the soul was not calm, the heart was not satisfied. The ablutions were good, but they were water, they did not wash off the sin, they did not heal the spirit's thirst, they did not relieve the fear in his heart. The sacrifices and the invocation of the gods were excellent—but was that all? Did the sacrifices give a happy fortune? And what about the gods? Was it really Prajapati who had created the world? Was it not the Atman, He, the only one, the singular one? Were the gods not creations, created like me and you, subject to time, mortal? Was it therefore good, was it right, was it meaningful and the highest occupation to make offerings to the gods? For whom else were offerings to be made, who else was to be worshipped but Him, the only one, the Atman? And where was Atman to be found, where did He reside, where did his eternal heart beat, where else but in one's own self, in its innermost part, in its indestructible part, which everyone had in himself? But where, where was this self, this innermost part, this ultimate part? It was not flesh and bone, it was neither thought nor consciousness, thus the wisest ones taught. So, where, where was it? To reach this place, the self, myself, the Atman, there was another way, which was worthwhile looking for? Alas, and nobody showed this way, nobody knew it, not the father, and not the teachers and wise men, not the holy sacrificial songs! They knew everything, the Brahmans and their holy books, they knew everything, they had taken care of everything and of more than everything, the creation of the world, the origin of speech, of food, of inhaling, of exhaling, the arrangement of the senses, the acts of the gods, they knew infinitely much—but was it valuable to know all of this, not knowing that one and only thing, the most important thing, the solely important thing? - Hess.
This passage is one of the beginning chapters of the story and it helps the reader to understand what is going on in the mind of Siddhartha, the protagonist. Siddhartha had his father and other Brahman priests to impart their wealth of knowledge onto him. However, this does not satisfy him, much less, he even begins to doubt the teachings ability to answer the all important question- what is the core of our existence, the being? In certain parts of the passage, Siddhartha accepts the teachings as being good and excellent like the ablutions, the sacrifices etc.. For Siddhartha, just to abide by the rules and follow the faith blindly was not his calling, he wanted to dig deeper and find the true meaning to our existence. Later on in the passage, it explains, that Siddhartha, begins to feel that “Atman”, which he believes to lie within, may hold the key to his answer. However, he then decides that the teachings of the priests had everything but lacked the key to his answer. The self discovery path adopted by Siddhartha, is a journey which must turn inward into the self.
I choose this passage, because it lays the ground work, for Siddhartha to feel that he needed to go out of the status quo and do something different. This passage set the tone for the rest of the story, as it propels him to leave his father to go and search for the truth. In western civilization, all the answers to life's problems are sought outside the body. However, in eastern culture, specifically, Hindu and Buddhist cultures, all of life problems are sough to be resolved by looking inside you beginning the journey inward.
1. Why does Siddhartha leave his father?
Siddhartha was born into a Brahman family, which is the highest caste in the complex Indian caste system. Being from such a family, Siddhartha enjoyed social respect, power, and high priests to rely on. Siddhartha was taught almost everything that his father and the other Brahmans knew; however, he was still not content with all this knowledge. The quest for find the “Atman”, which was believed to be the very core of our existence, Siddhartha leaves his father to find the answer to that question.
2. What is the significance of the river?
In the story “Siddhartha”, the river symbolizes life, and our existence. Siddhartha looks at the river and compares it to his own life. Just like how the river is at all places at once, so is his life, being just separated by time. So for Siddhartha nothing is ever past or present, everything is in the present. All the suffering, the torment, the ectasy is all time related. Nothing in our life is permanent. All things are impermanent. What comes must to go and this thing cannot be taught, but only experienced. The river also signifies the coming of full circle of his journey and he is now at peace.
3. Who is Vasu deva?
He is the ferryman, who Siddhartha’s confides in about the discovering the nature of the river and its significance. Vasudever, however, has experienced this feeling long before Siddhartha begins to understand.
4. If Siddhartha never lived with Kamala and the people in the city would he have reached Enlightenment faster?
When Siddhartha left his father, he did so with the motivation to find the real meaning of our existence. Siddhartha, having lived with Kamala and the people of the city, learned to enjoy the sensual pleasures that this world had to offer. This was in contrast to the life he had led to far, which was bound by living a simple life. Siddhartha may have reached enlightenment faster if he had not lived with Kamala and the people of the city, however, he would have failed to understand the true meaning of enlightenment if he had not experienced the sensual world with all its deceptions and faults. Thus, having experienced both side of the world, made Siddhartha appreciate the effects and benefits of the enlightened state of the mind. So, I believe that this was a necessary part of his journey to reach the enlightened state, and there by giving his story more meaning.
5. Why does Siddhartha feel the priests cannot see the true beauty of the world.
Siddhartha is not completely satisfied with the life led by the Brahman priests and their teachings. He feels that they life is led by following rigid conventions, and a religious life heavily bent on tradition, without looking at the logic of the matter and there by with not much meaning. His feels that this path may by good or righteous, but it did not answer the question to our existence. Toward the end of the story, the reader gets to see how Siddhartha comes to see the river, which symbolizes the end of his truth seeking journey and having a feeling of oneness with the river. Siddhartha, feels that the practices of the priests were superficial to a certain degree, and did show a clear path to enlightenment.
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