Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What would I say about “Siddhartha”? It’s a book; I had long cherished as to read someday. And now when I have read it, how do I feel? Do I feel enthralled? Do I feel that it has added to my knowledge of the unknown and the mysterious? Sadly, I don’t. But then the author doesn’t attempt to do that, does he? He gives an account, of the life, of a seeker. Of how the seeker moves forward in his quest, how he goes through the phases of his life (inspired by the Hindu religion’s Four Ashramas, namely the Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanprastha and Sanyasa). How he experiences different states of happiness, sorrow, despair, desire, satiation and struggle like every other human being in the world. How he constantly defies any belief or doctrine as followed by others, to move on with the quest, all by his self.

What really absorbed me here was this, this stand of Siddhartha to defy the already known beliefs, things which couldn’t give him a just answer. This is the essential quality of a seeker. That is, to seek. But here I could discern the essential doctrine, as preached in Hindu religion, to be accepted by Siddhartha. That is, the one of a Guru and Disciple. It proves that the author did study the Hindu beliefs in depth, before writing this work. Siddhartha, the seeker, when seeking on his own, in various phases of his life, is unable to find the answers by himself. He then seeks the ferryman by the river and the river itself, to learn afresh. This relationship speaks about the importance given to Guru- Disciple relationship in Hindu beliefs, which says that a disciple necessarily should seek a Guru in order to cross this river of life, that without a Guru, a person wouldn’t be able to live through this life peacefully. Yes, it is there everywhere.

The major turn about in this book was the point where Vasudeva asked Siddhartha to listen to the river. And listen carefully. This may be compared to the Krishna-Arjuna sanwaad in The Geeta, where Krishna, whom Arjuna takes as his God and Guru (as Vasudeva too seems like a God to Siddhartha), shows Arjuna, the unity of life, of every being on earth. The River, depicting the various faces, emotions, relations and then merging into one, is the portrayal where Arjuna sees every thing, every being in this world, merging with the God. The river, thus depicts the ever-present, it also depicts the importance of unity, and of taking every thing in life as it comes. The state that Siddhartha reaches later, the one of known, too finds illustrations in different verses, where, it is asked to practice compassion and love towards fellow beings, while still renouncing every desire and relationship, in order to attain Nirvana.

The author, through a beautiful and absorbing narrative, does describe the struggles that Siddhartha goes through in order to attain a meaning or a state of Nirvana, but this is just a worthy collection of valuable ideas that he might have studied. So, while I did not, actually learn anything new from here, it did induce me to think more.


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