Mini Review of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, is a novel of spiritual striving set in ancient India.In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man living at the time of Buddha, undertakes a spiritual journey to "enlighten" himself.As such the novel is not much of literature and more of a book on theology,philosophy and psychoanalysis.Initially i was rather dimissive of the book for it seemed to me an exotic account of a foreigner in awe of ancient indian wisdom in general and buddhism in particular.Though the earnestness of his enterprise and the simplicity and honesty of the text is disarming.

The general plot is as follows : Siddhartha grows up with his friend Govinda in a small village in India.He rejects ancient hindu teachings and restlessly decides to go out and explore the world for himself.He and Govinda, both lead lives as wandering Samanas, self-exiles of society living in self-denial.After three years, Siddhartha grows weary of this ascetic life, too and meet Buddha,the enlightened one.While Govinda stays with Buddha,Siddhartha firther continues in this journey and now engages in hedonism.This reminds us of Stephen who vacillated from one extreme to another.To have the woman of his desire he acquires wealth and grows old living a worldly life.He remains in Samsara(world) for many years, until, struck by his mortality, he notices how old he has become. Driven to the point of suicide he meets Govinda again who has not changed at all.Then slowly the realization dawns on him.Only after living a life of self-denial and then experiencing sins for himself does Siddhartha finally find wisdom about the world and he realizes that the world is simply a recurring cycle.His own son grows up and leaves him to go on and find himself.He understands that noone can liberate anyone .After a few years, old Govinda appears again, wishing to learn from Siddhartha's wisdom. Govinda has remained unchanged, a devout disciple of Buddha, for he has not experienced the world like Siddhartha. Siddhartha's smile and face have finally become much like that of the Buddha, although he had never been Buddha's disciple. Govinda has been devout, faithful, and subservient while Siddhartha led a life of sin before coming to peace. The progression in Siddhartha's life is contrasted against the stagnation in Govinda's.

To someone like me the book did appear a bit of a cliche.The crux of the book's philosophy is that the salvation isn't in denial but acceptance of the world.This is very much similar to the ancient indian wisdom of four stages of human life of Brahmcharya,Grihastha,Vannprastha and Sanyasa.Govinda's mistake was in denying this cyclic way of life.
All in all it's an easy,lucid reading but nothing original or surprising comes along to someone with the slightest knowledge of the "hindu way of life".

Ravi Prakash
2007CE10449