Before I get down to writing anything about the book, I’d like to thank my friend Ruchira for presenting me this thought-evoking book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Till about a month ago, it was an unknown title to me, and Herman Hesse, a nobel laureate, an unknown German writer. The first thing I did on receiving the book was to ‘Google’ Herman Hesse. After wiki-ing him, I found that he was a writer who fought depression and stress for most of his life, and visited India in early last century to gain spiritual experience. His knowledge of the Buddha, Vedas and Hindu scriptures was immense, and it is well-reflected in the intense Siddhartha, story of a young prince who leaves his father’s kingdom in search of truth with his dear friend Govinda.

Siddhartha of the book Siddhartha, as many would assume, is not the Buddha, but a fictional character, who is on his outward journey to travel within, does meet the Buddha, the exalted one, and is largely influenced by the Buddha’s demeanour and teachings. Siddhartha’s story is poignant, moving and deep-rooted. It narrates a man’s experiences with Sansara, lust, human suffering and craving for nirvana. The 70-page novel outlines the journey of Siddhartha who goes on to become a Samana, and gains expertise in Yoga, meditation, fasting and other things spiritual. However, this does not get him near the truth that he is out find, and he finds himself all the more thirsty. As time passes, he leaves the Samanas to further go on his journey despite reluctance from his friend Govinda. It is on this journey that Siddhartha finds the Buddha and is smitten with his enlightenment, but his path is not to follow the Buddha unlike Govinda who parts from his friend to be a disciple of the Buddha. When Govinda and Siddhartha meet after many years from that moment, Govinda is still in search while Siddhartha has found enlightenment.

Siddhartha then goes on to taste the Sansara when he works with a wealthy merchant and gradually becomes attached with desires, material gains and worries. His smiling demeanour gives way to grey hair and wrinkled face. He is lured into passion of love when he learns lessons of lovemaking from Kamala, the beautiful prostitute. The Sansaric Siddhartha loses his soul of Samana, and one day frustrated with this, he leaves for the forest where he becomes an assistant to a river-loving and wise ferryman. That is where he learns to listen to the flowing waters, he sees life in the river, the life-like river that keeps flowing and cannot be stopped even with rocks. He likens ferrying the boat to highest order of spirituality. But fate again tests him when he incidentally discovers his material-fed son from Kamala the prostitute. In an urge to keep his unwilling son with himself in the forest, he suffers as the son is forever trying to break the bonds and run away, which he finally does. The suffering of a father is well-depicted by Hesse, when Siddhartha imagines his own father’s fate when he had left the kingdom.

After he overcomes the grief of his son, Siddhartha is free from suffering and worries that envelop the human. He sees his life coming together, all the faces and events that he has encountered in the past. At that cathartic moment, he finds answers to questions that troubled him for many years. In the last conversation that Siddhartha exchanges with Govinda, Govinda connects with enlightenment of Siddhartha even though he finds his thoughts pretty opposite to that of the Buddha.

In Siddhartha, Hesse has touched upon all aspects of human desires and sufferings as well exploring the other side of coin – freedom from all things human – nirvana. Siddhartha is the messenger of all philosophies that Hesse has to offer. The connection with nature and learning from nature is stated many a times. Siddhartha is not a book that heals the inner you, or gives you a spiritual path. Siddhartha is at best a thought-evoking book that tells us a lot about the spiritual concoction of Hesse and how he uses characters to bring forth his thoughts. Where Hesse lacks is perhaps opposing human suffering with spiritual suffering, whereas suffering should give way to happiness, that happiness that is free from all attachments. Happiness that lies deep within us like it lies in a child.

Siddhartha leaves little to imagine, but creates great insights in parts, especially in the conversation that happens between Siddhartha and the Buddha. As Hesse sums up, and I agree, wisdom is not in words and thoughts. Wisdom is in the emptiness within us, a zone that can not be explained or vicariously visited – it can just be felt, by a chosen few, by a chosen few who find the key to eternal well-being and happiness. The fact is that we do not have to search for that key, we just need the eye to look at it.

The state of Siddhartha is beautifully put at the end:

“From that hour Siddhartha ceased to fight against his destiny. There shone in his face the serenity of knowledge, of one who is no longer confronted with conflict of desires, who has found salvation, who is in harmony with the stream of events, with the stream of life, full of sympathy and compassion, surrendering himself to the stream, belonging to the unity of things.”