Siddhartha's Journey Analysis Essay

Siddhartha has grown significantly throughout his journey. In the beginning of his journey he had been ignorant and in denial in his path to be a Samana. After much realization he didn't like the life that he was enduring. Even though Siddhartha leads a nice life, he is not satisfied with it. He came from a good Brahmin family, he also had good friends who were loyal to him. He is well admired, handsome, and intellectual, “Siddhartha--strong, handsome, supple-limbed… love stirred in the hearts of the young Brahmins’ daughters when Siddhartha walked through the streets of the town” (2).  Siddhartha is loved and cared about but still hasn't seemed to have found his purpose in life. He has already gotten good religious experience and training. Although Siddhartha would fit in the category as a good life at home, he fears that if he stays at home and continues to follow his father's religious beliefs, he will not seek the joy and happiness he is looking for. He wanted to find a better discovery so he sought the path of the Samanas for enlightenment, “Siddhartha had begun to feel the seeds of discontent within him. He had begun to feel that the love of his father and mother, and also the love of his friend Govinda, would not always make him happy, give him peace, satisfy and suffice him” (3). Siddhartha did not like where he was at spiritually and had not found himself.  He started his spiritual journey with the Samans by removing himself from an environment of plenty. He also starved himself for 50 days to avoid all physical comforts and pleasures. He had pushed himself away from all of his fathers old teachings. He was devoted on his path for enlightenment with the Samanas for three years, but did not find what he was looking for. Govina “Siddhartha shadow” also is on the path to enlightenment. One day they came across Gotama (the Budha) and they learned that Gotama has learned how to achieve enlightenment and take the two students through the 8 fold path. As Govinda found Gotama's teaching interesting, Siddhartha thought differently. He rejected the Ideas of Gotama and learned that he could find the true meaning of enlightenment through his own teachings. When he was on his own path, he came across a snake that had a major impact on his way of life. He saw that a snake has shed its skin and has lived on without any harm,"He realized that something had left him, like the old skin a snake sheds/ Something was no longer with him, something that had accompanied him right through his youth and was a part of him" (37). He thought As a snake sheds its skin in order to continue its physical growth, Siddhartha sheds the skins of his past.

Many people had an impact on Siddhartha, positive and negative. In his journey Siddhartha has been tested and came across many allies during his journey to enlightenment. He developed trust, tested his knowledge, and emotions. We come to the climax of Siddhartha's journey when Kamala leads him into love, partial loss, enlightenment, and material possessions. Camala lead Siddhartha into the hardest path of his journey. He endures deprivation due to falling in love with Kamala. He’s finding the meaning of what it means to buy love, Camala says to him that he will need to buy her love. Coming from a path of trying to find enlightenment, Siddhartha has lost interest for part of the story. He’s now occupied and all he needs is money, “ it has no difficulties. Everything was difficult, irksome, and finally hopeless when I was a Semana. Now everything is easy… I require closing money, that is all”(49). Siddhartha has gone opposite from what his mentors have tried to teach him. He is now hooked on material things. Kamala has gone against every other mentor Siddhartha has come across. She essentially just told him to leave his past life behind and let everything go. Siddhartha crosses one of the biggest challenges in his life. But now he has to let it go, he has come so comfortable with the life of material living that he has lost his path. He has to go beyond material things, forget what happened, and go back to what he used to be. He is seeking enlightenment and that is his major mission, “ then Siddhartha knew that the game was finished, he could play it no longer. A shudder passed through his body; he felt as if something had died”(68). Siddhartha has overcome his ordeal of material possessions, and has given up on Kamala and who he cared most about. He has overcome his shadow (Govinda) and faced his downfall. He’s now back on the path of enlightenment. Meeting Vasudeva, the ferryman, once again in which he would be his final mentor. He provides the key details in Siddhartha‘s completion of his journey. Not only is the ferryman the guide for the river, he’s the guide to the path of enlightenment. Those who seek enlightenment are open to the guidance of the ferryman. Well the other mentors that Siddhartha has met teach knowledge, Vasudeva is a teacher of wisdom. He teaches Siddhartha how to listen to the river's wisdom, “ above all he learned from it how to listen, to listen with a still heart, with a waiting, open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgment, without opinions”(87). Siddhartha has found it wouldn't lighten the means. He’s introduced to the main conflict, to be enlightened. It is his path back to enlightenment after Kamala had stopped his journey.

Siddhartha learning with true enlightenment means has been moved. He is past Kamala, but she comes back and brings his son with her, “ at the same time he looked he saw his face and hers, young, with red lips, with ardent eyes and he was overwhelmed…”(93). Siddhartha has not seen Kamala or his son in a long time. He did not know what to think. After some time to recollect with them, things begin to be normal. He enjoys his son's company and sees himself in him. But he is trying too hard to be a stereotypical dad. He hasn’t really taught him correctly with his mannerisms. One day, Siddhartha asked his son to do a chore for him, his son went into a rage and refused. He dares his father to hurt him, he does not like his father because he tried to hard to make him like his father, “The boy had ran away."I must follow him," said Siddhartha, who had been shivering with grief since those ranting speeches, the boy had made yesterday. "A child can't go through the forest all alone. He'll perish. We must build a raft, Vasudeva, to get over the water."(101). Siddharthas son had ran away. He does not want to be the same person as his father. So he runs away. He ran away at night time, he took Siddhartha‘s money in the ferryman’s boat with him. The final part of Siddhartha‘s journey, he returns to the ordinary world, in this case being his friend Govinda. He had not seen Govinder in many years and they have been on different paths. Govinda learning from Gotama, In Siddhartha learning from Kamala and the ferryman, “ never, since the time our illustrious Gotama passed into Nirvana, have I ever met a man with exception of Siddhartha about whom I felt: This is a holy man” (120). Is home, Siddhartha has completed his path. He has found enlightenment, reunited with his shadow, and most of all made a loving family. He has taken away the wisdom and knowledge of being enlightened through his experiences. He is now able to pass it on to future generations and take Gotamas place, he has returned with the elixir.