"For different people, there are different ways to God."
~Hermann Hesse
Author: Hermann Hesse
Genre: Novel, Philosophical fiction
Originally Published: 1922
Siddhartha: An Indian novel is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life, then, restless, discards it for one of the flesh. He conceives a son, but bored and sickened by lust and greed, moves on again. Near despair, Siddhartha comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. This sound signals the true beginning of his life -- the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace, and, finally, wisdom.
Atman - [HINDUISM] - The Spiritual life principle of the Universe, especially when regarded as immanent in the individuals real self.
- A persons Soul.
- From Sanskrit, literally "essence, breath"
The concept of Atman is beautifully portrayed in Hermann Hesse's Magnus Opus (in my humble opinion). In Atman, I have found a word I have perhaps been searching for my whole life.
I, like Siddhartha in the novel, am going through my own journey to discover the power of my inner Atman, the forces that act against it and suppress it, and the actions that lead to its flourishing. My path towards Atman is nowhere near complete, and if you were to ask me, dear reader, how the Eightfold path or the Four Noble Truths manifested themselves in my life… I would be sorely lacking with an answer. However, with a little guidance from Siddhartha, I think my journey is off to a good start!
As I read Siddhartha, I found it quite astonishing how Eastern religions like Buddhism and Confucianism have avoided me my entire life, despite my birthplace being South Asia! Albeit, the heavily Christian state of Kerala does little in terms of educating its children of the religions of the world, especially religions like Buddhism that bear many similarities!
However, a blessing in disguise it may have been, as Hermann Hesse, through his most popular novel, Siddhartha, has touched my soul perhaps at the most appropriate time in my life. A time where I can understand and absorb the spiritual knowledge that emits from almost every word in that book. Siddhartha, like his venerable namesake (Siddhartha Gautama The Buddha) lives his whole life in pursuit of Nirvana. Bending his will to its utmost capabilities, he lived the life of a Samana (Ascetic), renouncing all worldly desires and wants, performing deep meditations and intense fasting. Through absolute meditation, he managed to control his mind and even project it to other beings in the world. However, in parallel to the life of the famous Buddha, ironically, after a fateful meeting with the actual Buddha himself, Siddhartha discards his ascetic lifestyle to go through a cycle of Samsara. He does so after the realization that one cannot reach enlightenment through another's teachings, but by personal experience and findings 'one's own way'.
While in Samsara, he engages in worldly matters, takes on matters of business, learns the art of love from a courtesan, Kamala, and becomes a wealthy man. However, he finally realizes that he had been playing a game all along, and that such actions brought him no spiritual fulfillment. Finally, in old age, Siddhartha takes shelter with a ferryman and gains the secrets of life by continuously listening to a flowing river across which they ferry passengers. He gains enlightenment and the wisdom that just like the river is always the same yet constantly new at every moment, so then is life. That existence is present and always reacting in everything. That all human experiences, all non human objects, everything, is part of one higher existence - the perfect unity of nature. And through the recitation of the word, Om, Siddhartha is able to enter into this state of perfect existence (Atman), where time does not exist.
The great realization of the novel is that, in order for Siddhartha to have reached that state of enlightenment, he first must have gone through every experience of his life that led to that stage. Sure, as a child he may have been well educated by visionary Brahmans, but learning and experience are two different beings all together - with learning comes knowledge, with experience comes wisdom.
"Wisdom cannot be passed on. Wisdom which a wise man tries to pass on to someone else always sounds like foolishness."
Another wonderful insight the writer provides through the story is the concept of the cyclical nature of eternity. Where everything that has happened will happen again and will continue to happen endlessly. Siddhartha realizes this when, upon receiving a child from Kamala, comes to realize that the boy is unhappy in his presence and wants to leave and go explore the world for himself, just as Siddhartha had forced his father to let him go and join the Samanas. How painfully beautiful to realize that what we went through with our parents will inevitably happen with our children. That everything we go through now will be reflected in our children's actions. Will my child also read Siddhartha one day and come to the same conclusions? Will he pick up the pen as I did? Only time will tell...
So dear reader, if you have been wondering to yourself… 'I have studied hard the Four Noble Truths, and completed the Noble Eightfold path in its entirety, yet why do I not feel enlightened?'
Siddhartha would teach us to wait. Be patient, stop searching for that concept of enlightenment, stop looking for some faux spirituality to parade around and gain admiration, instead stop. Stop and look around at the beauty of existence. Stop and study the raging rivers of your mind, take a breath, whisper an Om, take in your surroundings. There is a perfect bliss happening all around us, we just have to open our eyes to see it. The mere fact of existence is Nirvana, the mere paradoxical probability of being in this cycle, of all cycles that could have manifested, is wonderous. Stop, accept, and live a good life.
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