Paper Writing Service http://StudyHub.vip/An-Existential-Journey-Within--Siddhart 👈

1. An Existential Journey within: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Anshuman Sharmaa
* and Arbind Kumar Jhab
a
Department of Education, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, India;
b
Department of Education, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, India
*corresponding author: Anshuman Sharma, Office, School of Education, Babasaheb Bhimrao
Ambedkar University, Vidya Vihar, Raebareli road, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Abstract
This article made a sincere effort to outline the life of Siddhartha described by Hermann Hesse.
One can find several articles on that topic, but every article has its importance and essence. In
this article, the authors have tried to outline the existential aspect of the novel's protagonist. This
article also briefed about the various vital aspects of Siddhartha that were important to make him
as he was. The article briefed how Siddhartha's epitomic encounter with Buddha helped him to
find his real existence in this world. This story portrayed Siddhartha's journey within leading an
authentic life and realized that salvation is not a destination; instead, it is a path to walk on.
Keywords: authentic Life, existential being, siddhartha
Mukt Shabd Journal
Volume IX, Issue IX, SEPTEMBER/2020
ISSN NO : 2347-3150
Page No : 1062

2. Introduction
The story of Siddhartha is a journey. It is a path that travels not outside but inside. This is
a journey within. It is a story of a Brahmin's son, Siddhartha, who left his home, his belongings,
and his parents to find out the right knowledge; but the term knowledge had a different meaning
for Siddhartha than everyone else had. There are two parallel stories, one story is of Siddhartha,
representing an extraordinary being, and another is of Govind's (Siddhartha's friend and
companion), representing an ordinary being. It is more of a quest than a story. It is a quest of
Siddhartha searching for his real knowledge, true nature, and true existential disposition
regardless of time and place towards eternity (Misra). This story contains numerous feelings and
emotions; it has love, despair, disdain, enlightenment, calmness, friendship, divinity, loneliness,
and kinship.
Summary
The story begins with brahmin's son named Siddhartha. A handsome scholar, a man of
determination, Siddhartha was not satisfied with the teachers' knowledge. He had a sense of
smarting and a thirst for the right knowledge. His bird of knowledge was big enough that it could
not be contained by the coop of empty words of preaching. His thirst for knowledge, in fact, for
the right knowledge, to know the Atman was growing exponentially. Siddhartha had already
been through the Vedas, Upanishads, and other existing knowledge sources, but he could not
find the contentment. He wanted something unique, something unparalleled that could satisfy his
thirst, showing the right path of salvation. Everyone was happy, everyone loved him, but
Siddhartha had a peculiar kind of smarting in his heart, a sense of missing, an agonized feeling
inside him that was not letting him sleep, eat, or attain peace.
Mukt Shabd Journal
Volume IX, Issue IX, SEPTEMBER/2020
ISSN NO : 2347-3150
Page No : 1063

3. One day a group of Samanas (a group Sannyasi) came to his village, and Siddhartha
joined them along with his friend, companion, Govinda. Siddhartha practiced meditation and
learned some skills like holding the breath, getting away from the self, hypnosis, many more. All
the teachings of Samanas did help him, but could not be proved as a panacea for his thirst for
knowledge. The teachings of Samanas were helpful to get away from the self, feel someone
else's pain inside him, empathize, and practice his soul in someone else's body, but all these
things were temporary. Siddhartha could have learned all the tricks of Samanas by himself, so he
did not find those teaching fruitful and left the grove of Samanas with his friend in the search for
the right knowledge. He started wandering in forests, started talking to the trees, and started
practicing his three skills, Thinking, Fasting, and Waiting. Later, Siddhartha realized that the
unquenched thirst for knowledge was the real grief of his life. From now on, he had one goal: to
become empty of thoughts, get rid of desire, knowledge, thirst, and seek to experience
nothingness and selflessness.
In the meanwhile, Siddhartha heard about the illustrious one, the perfect one, Buddha.
Siddhartha and his friend Govinda met with Buddha; Govinda decided to join a Buddha
community, but Siddhartha decided to move on. Before leaving the group of Buddha, Siddhartha
did an epistemic talk with Buddha and asked him to share the experience and feeling about the
particular hour when Buddha got his enlightenment. Perhaps, this is the most beautiful and
moment and line of this story; for the first time, Buddha was speechless and could not answer it
with parsimony. For the first time, Buddha found himself in front of one his kind, one who could
think as Buddha could, reason like Buddha, could do questions like Buddha, and see the unseen
like Buddha. Siddhartha and Buddha both were agreed that the experience of enlightenment
could never be described in words, it can only be felt, and this feeling is purely subjective nature
Mukt Shabd Journal
Volume IX, Issue IX, SEPTEMBER/2020
ISSN NO : 2347-3150
Page No : 1064

4. and differs from individual to individual; also, the way to attain this feeling is purely subjective
and could not be taught by someone else. Siddhartha and Buddha appreciated each other, shared
their feelings, episteme, and thoughts, and then Siddhartha took leave from the noble grove of
the perfect one Buddha. Perhaps the teachings of Buddha failed to quench the parched
Siddhartha. Siddhartha moved on his path seeking the right knowledge, seeking his true
existential self.
His life led him in a new direction, and this path of new direction led him to a new life.
He lived as a merchant; he loved a woman and was loved back, learned the art of love. He lost
his previous life, life as a Samana, and indulged in the new life of an ordinary man. Now he was
living Sansara, the world of appearance and matter with a constant flux in it, a revolving wheel
of incarnation. He started to enjoy his senses and started to enjoy his anxiety carved by these
senses' needs. Since the very beginning, Siddhartha was living an Authentic Life, a life of self-
made choices. While living as an ordinary life, suddenly, a storm of thoughts came in his mind,
and again he left all his belongings what he had acquired as a merchant, as an ordinary man, as a
lover, and moved on further in search of right knowledge as a Samana.
The story retook a turn, and Siddhartha went to the river and met with an old ferryman.
Siddhartha stayed with him learned from him, learned from the river also. He was returning to
Samana's previous life again, but this life of detachment was much more different, satisfying for
him. Siddhartha introspected his whole life like a film in his mind. He saw himself; he saw his
existence at different times like in his childhood at his young age, and his mature age; Siddhartha
found himself different and unique, and every phase he had been through. Suddenly Siddhartha
felt that this is the end; this is the extreme emptiness. He had nothing to lose, nothing to earn,
nothing to give, and nothing to learn. Siddhartha was experiencing the experience of emptiness
Mukt Shabd Journal
Volume IX, Issue IX, SEPTEMBER/2020
ISSN NO : 2347-3150
Page No : 1065

5. and nothingness. He was feeling a peculiar sense of relief. Perhaps this was the salvation
Siddhartha had been looking for himself. He was new; he was now feeling eternal bliss and
smiled with a wave of unfathomable peace like Buddha had once.
Reflection on the book
Siddhartha is a flow of philosophical life. It shows how a person carves his life and way
of life both through different phases of life, how the materialistic world could be used as a means
to attain the path of salvation, and the most important thing is that Salvation or Nirvana is not a
destination, it is a way of living. Some reflections about Siddhartha are-
Siddhartha- as an actual existential being
Siddhartha was running and wondering to know about his true self, what he is for, where
he came from? Moreover, what is the real purpose of his life? All these questions were
germinating in his mind (Malthaner). He made choices and bear the consequences of those
choices, whether it was renouncing his home, his friend, mingle with a woman, and even
learning by himself. He decided to live an authentic life where he and only he was the decision-
maker. He detached himself from every worldly material. He not only sought his metaphysical
identity but his epistemic and axiological position also in this world (Mileck). After losing
himself, he found himself, and this gained a new self was more transparent and more firm than
the earlier one. He did not believe in bad faith (following someone or something); instead, he
believed in himself. This whole phenomenon all made him an actual existential being.
Critical Phases of the story
It is a marvelous piece of literary work that flows like a river. There are some points
where this river has some curves. Let us discuss them.
Mukt Shabd Journal
Volume IX, Issue IX, SEPTEMBER/2020
ISSN NO : 2347-3150
Page No : 1066

6. When Siddhartha left his home
It was the beginning of the life of young Siddhartha and the first curve of the story. His
father requested him not to go, but Siddhartha requested it harder. For the first time, he moved
out of his pampered house and started living like a monk. Siddhartha started pushing his body's
limits, started to practice meditation, waiting, thinking, and fasting like an extraordinary being.
He not only surprised his friend and his colleagues in the grove of Samana but also gained a
significant change in his life, but this change was not significant enough to make him stay with
Samanas, so he left.
Encounter with Buddha
The second curve of the story is when Siddhartha came to know about Gautama Buddha.
He left with his friend Govinda to meet Buddha, the enlightened one. Siddhartha's encounter
with Buddha was the most vital point of the story. Siddhartha made Buddha silent with his wit
and a deeper understanding of the knowledge. They both greeted each other and learned
something from each other (Colby).
Indulgence in Sansara
Even after meeting with Buddha, Siddhartha could not find contentment and was still
agitated. The epistemic talk with Buddha was precious for most people but not for Siddhartha,
and here comes the third curve of the story. Siddhartha got himself involved in Sansara, got
himself attached to worldly materials, money, love, physical desires, and many more, and he set
aside his character of Samana for a while. However, this indulgence was not in vain; in fact, this
experience also taught him a lot about life, gave him uncountable experiences, and pushed him
forward on the path of salvation.
Mukt Shabd Journal
Volume IX, Issue IX, SEPTEMBER/2020
ISSN NO : 2347-3150
Page No : 1067

7. The last meeting with Govinda
The life of Siddhartha was flowing like a river. Over time, Siddhartha was growing to his
epistemic and existential maturity. In the way of maturation, Siddhartha, who was now an older
man, met his childhood friend Govinda, and this is the final curve in the story. After this event,
any reader can make a portrait differentiating Siddhartha's life and the life of Govinda.
Siddhartha got his solvation most probably because he led an authentic life, whereas his friend
Govinda found himself fail in doing so. Govinda was still agitated because he followed someone
and did not live authentically. Only after this event, Siddhartha and Govinda realized that
Siddhartha had found his true existential self and had experienced emptiness, selflessness, and
nothingness.
Critique
Siddhartha indeed is a phenomenal piece of literary work. In this story, Siddhartha, the
main protagonist, never believed and denied all the formal teachers he met, the scriptures he
read, and his father and other Brahmins' formal knowledge. This traditional rearing of Siddhartha
made him what he was distinguishing him from other ordinary beings (Butler). He should not
have waved off all the formal knowledge he had been given and should have respected it.
Sometimes Siddhartha seems arrogant, mainly when he left Samanas, but it was a part of a story
and might be needed to evolve the character like Siddhartha.
Conclusion
A lot can be written and discussed in the conclusion of the story, but as the conclusion is
a brief description of what a reader has understood, the Author would like to quote here Master
Oogway (from the movie Kung Fu Panda 3), 'The more you take, the less you have.' There could
Mukt Shabd Journal
Volume IX, Issue IX, SEPTEMBER/2020
ISSN NO : 2347-3150
Page No : 1068

8. be many ways to salvation, but it is quite clear that total detachment is not the key to salvation.
One who always seeks his/her existential self might reach salvation by leading an authentic life.
References
Butler, Colin. “Hermann Hesse ’ s " Siddhartha ": Some Critical Objections.” Monatshefte, vol.
63, no. 2, 1971, pp. 117–24, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30156543.
Colby, Thomas E. "The Impenitent Prodigal : Hermann Hesse's Hero." The German Quarterly,
vol. 40, no. 1, 1967, pp. 14–23, https://www.jstor.org/stable/403042.
Malthaner, Johannes. “Hermann Hesse . Siddhartha.” The German Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 2,
1952, pp. 103–09, https://www.jstor.org/stable/401276.
Mileck, Joseph. "The Prose of Hermann Hesse : Life, Substance, and Form." The German
Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 3, 1954, pp. 163–74, https://www.jstor.org/stable/402338
Accessed:
Misra, Bhabagrahi. "An Analysis of Indic Tradition in Hermann Hesse'S Siddhartha." Indian
Literature, vol. 11, no. 2, 1968, pp. 111–23, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23329572.
Mukt Shabd Journal
Volume IX, Issue IX, SEPTEMBER/2020
ISSN NO : 2347-3150
Page No : 1069