Siddhartha and Hinduism/Buddhism Essay -- Religion Spirituality Essays

Siddhartha and Hinduism/Buddhism Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse discusses the many paths of teaching that relate to Hinduism that Siddhartha followed on his journey through life and how each path helped him realize what he wanted with his life. Siddhartha follows many teachings or paths in which to reach his spiritual destination, which at the beginning was to reach Nirvana. The four stages of life choices, which favor both renunciation and world upholding, are 1) student 2) householder 3) forest hermit and 4) wandering ascetic (Ghose, 1/18/01). In the book, Siddhartha participated in each of these lifestyles for a significant amount of time. Unlike his father, Siddhartha did not want to be a Brahmin. He thought his calling was to be a samana, which is very similar, if not an interchangeable term for wandering ascetic. Siddhartha and his beloved friend Govinda were at heart destined to be samanas. Siddhartha bid farewell to his family renouncing material wealth and sensual pleasure as in two of the four aims of life. They wander into the woods to concentrate and try to reach the heightened sensation that is to come with being closer to realizing Nirvana. During his journey with the samanas, he learned to follow many paths that took him away from his self-centered ego. By following and voluntarily suffering through, and eventually overcoming things such as pain, hunger, thirst and fatigue, he was getting closer to what the samanas thought was pure and good. Although he would leave his ego, behind when enduring those scenarios he always came back to his ego, what he and Govinda were working for had only been a lesson in the many teachings and sets of goals they must accomplish to reach the ultimate goal they wanted; redemption (Hesse 14-17). Their journey as samanas and students in the stages of life leads them to questioning the path that they were following, where these teaching helping them were they leading them on the right path? â€Å"There is, I believe, no such thing as what we call ‘learning.’ O my friend, only one knowledge: it is everywhere, it is Atman, it is in me and in you and in every being. And I am starting to believe that this knowledge has no worse enemy than the wish to know, than learning (Hesse 18).† Siddhartha and Govinda spend three years, as samanas in which Siddhartha’s soul feels not fulfilled. After these three ye... ... youth. Vesudeva waited for Siddhartha to realize the revolutionary thought that everything in the world was together as one. The wholeness and the oneness of the river communicated him to show him serenity and understanding. The river also provoked a thought that gave him the understanding that of why as a child he had to leave the teachings of the teachers â€Å"wisdom cannot be communicated. Wisdom that a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish. Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. We can find it, we can live it, we can be carried by it, we can work wonders with it, but we cannot utter it or teach it (Hesse 123-4).† Siddhartha’s followed many paths in his life. Each of his paths led him to another lesson or teaching that furthered his quest for his spiritual destination. He experienced all aspects of life, from rich to poor, lonely to companionship, stranger to lover and from guest to friend. By going through those path changes, his emotions and mind were put to the test and succeeded. The paths and four different types of living made his spiritual journey a successful one and that is why he reached the highest of ‘wholeness and oneness’ feeling he did.