Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

Hesse told the story of the eponymous hero’s quest for liberation from pain and suffering: enlightenment. Siddhartha was the son of a Brahman, marked from an early age by his intelligence, good looks, and piety—seemingly destined for greatness. His father had high hopes that his son would one day follow in his own footsteps and become a famous Brahman in his own right, while his best friend Govinda looks up to him with reverence. Although Siddhartha learned all the Vedic scriptures, practiced the sacred syllable Om assiduously, and meditated and purified himself daily, as he entered young adulthood he became dissatisfied. This formulaic piety did not contain the secret to enlightenment, he felt. It was good, but it was not enough.

Siddhartha was born the handsome son of a Brahmin, he was a smart and kind prince. He wanted answers so that he may find spiritual enlightenment. When he was about 14, he decided to go off and learn from the shramanas in the forest. “Siddhartha had a single goal before him, one and one only: to become empty, empty of thirst, empty of desire, empty dreams, empty of joy and pain. To die away from himself, no longer to be I, to …show more content…
Siddhartha first meets Vasudeva after leaving Gotama and Govinda and immediately notices Vasudeva’s serenity. Although Vasudeva lives within this world, his presence seems to transcend it, and all who meet him feel his divine, enlightened energy. He does not boast about his power or wisdom but simply credits all knowledge he has to the river. His primary action, other than ferrying passengers across the river, seems to be listening to whatever wisdom the river imparts to him. He is such a powerful figure that when a desperate, suicidal Siddhartha, convinced he’ll never reach enlightenment, encounters Vasudeva a second time, he asks to become Vasudeva’s apprentice. In a way, Siddhartha relies on Vasudeva to save his

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Deprivation In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha