“You will grow tired, Siddhartha.”
“I
will grow tired.”
“You will fall asleep,
Siddhartha.”
“I will not fall asleep.”
“You
will die, Siddhartha.”
“I will die.”
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Summary: The Brahmin’s Son
The novel is set six centuries before the birth of Christ,
in ancient India at the time of Gotama the Buddha, whose Eightfold
Path guides the faithful toward Nirvana. Siddhartha is a young Brahmin, handsome
and learned, with the potential to be a prince among his caste members.
Everyone knows he is destined for greatness because he has mastered
all the rituals and wisdom of his religion at an early age. His
village is idyllic, and Siddhartha seems to live an enviable life.
His father is a Brahmin, a religious leader and esteemed member of
the community. Siddhartha seems well on his way to following in his
father’s footsteps.
Though Siddhartha spends his time studying the Hindu wisdom of
his elders along with his best friend Govinda, he is dissatisfied.
He suspects that his father and the other erudite Brahmins have
learned perfectly everything from the holy books, but he does not
believe they have achieved enlightenment. The rituals and mantras
they have taught him seem more a matter of custom than a real path
that could lead to true enlightenment. To become religious men by
the standards of their own community, Siddhartha feels he and Govinda
would have to become like sheep in a large herd, following predetermined
rituals and patterns without ever questioning those methods or exploring
methods beyond the ones they know. Siddhartha is deeply unhappy
at this prospect. Though he loves his father and respects the people
of his village, he cannot imagine himself existing in this way.
Siddhartha has followed his father’s example with conviction, but
still he longs for something more.
One evening after meditating, Siddhartha announces to
Govinda that he will join a group of Samanas, wandering mendicant
priests, who have just passed through their city. The Samanas are
starved, half-naked, and must beg for food, but only because they
believe enlightenment can be reached through asceticism, a rejection
of the body and physical desire. The Samanas seem completely different from
the religious elders in Siddhartha’s own community, and since he
has not found the wisdom he has been searching for at home, he decides
he should follow the Samanas’ path and see what he can learn from
them. When Siddhartha informs Govinda that he will join the Samanas,
Govinda is frightened. He knows Siddhartha is taking his first step
into the world and that Govinda himself must follow.
Siddhartha, a dutiful son, asks his father for permission
before leaving with the Samanas. His father is disappointed and
says he does not want to hear the question a second time, but Siddhartha does
not move. The father cannot sleep and gets up every hour to find
Siddhartha standing with crossed arms in the darkness. In the morning,
his father reluctantly gives permission. He knows Siddhartha will
not change his mind. He asks that Siddhartha return home to teach
his father the art of bliss if he finds it elsewhere. As he leaves
to join the wandering Samanas, Siddhartha is pleased and surprised
to learn that Govinda has decided to join him in this new life outside
the village.
Analysis: The Brahmin’s Son
Despite his solid spiritual upbringing among the Brahmins,
Siddhartha still seeks the meaning of life, and he embarks on a
quest to find enlightenment. Brahmins are members of the highest
of the four interdependent groups, called castes, that make up Hindu
society. Members of the Brahmin caste were originally priests with
the primary duty of mediating with and praying to gods, and they
were respected for their intellect and their knowledge of the Vedas,
the sacred Hindu religious texts. In “The Brahmin’s Son,” Siddhartha meditates
on the syllableOm, which represents perfection
and unity.Om suggests the holy power that animates
everything within and around us. This power does not have form or
substance, but it is the source of everything that was, is, and
will be. For Siddhartha, finding perfect fulfillment on earth requires
understandingOm and gaining unity with it. Siddhartha
understands whatOm means, but he has not yet merged
with it, and has therefore not reached enlightenment. Siddhartha’s
quest is a quest for true understanding ofOm, and
his quest will lead him far from home and through several paths of
wisdom before he can reach his spiritual goal.
Hesse modeled Siddhartha on the Buddha, and the lives
of the two figures are similar in many ways. Siddhartha’s name itself
is the first suggestion of the link between Siddhartha and the Buddha,
for the historical Buddha, Gotama Sakyamuni, also bore the given name
Siddhartha. In Siddhartha, Siddhartha’s life parallels
the little that is known of the Buddha’s history. Buddha’s life
was formed around three seminal events: the departure from his father’s
house, the wasted and frustrating years torn between the pursuit
of worldly desires and a life of extreme asceticism, and, finally,
the determination of the Middle Path as the only road to enlightenment.
Siddhartha also follows this course throughout the novel. He leaves
his father, explores several kinds of spiritual teachings, and eventually achieves
enlightenment. In this way, Siddhartha resembles the original Buddha,
both seeker and sage.
