Siddhartha has been searching for fulfillment all his life. Though he was the most scholarly and respected Brahmin, this did not satisfy him. He drank knowledge, yet still felt ignorant. He could not find peace and desired fulfillment. His journey is essentially one of trial, error, suffering, mistakes, and rebirth. In this essay I will demonstrate how Siddhartha’s story both legitimates and challenges Indian religious authority, by giving examples both from Buddhism and Hinduism.
Siddhartha was the son of a Brahmin priest and gained all the knowledge he could acquire, learned and practiced the ways of the Brahmin, but found that it did not bring joy to him, he did not delight himself. Everything was unworthy of his eyes, everything lied, …show more content…
Siddhartha also was not curious about the Teaching, he did not believe that it could teach him anything new. Even when he sees that Gautama has attained enlightenment, Siddhartha does not stay with Sublime One to practice the ways of the Buddhism. Siddhartha realizes that he must take his own path, find his own peace, and attain Nirvana on his own. Therefore, he sets out on this quest alone, only then he discovers and realizes the mistakes of his ways. Siddhartha realizes that the world is not an illusion, there is a beauty in life. The reason that he was afraid of himself, he was fleeing himself. He was seeking Atman, Brahma in himself. He was willing to dismember his ego, and peel it apart in order to find the core of all peels. He was challenging his own religion, by seeking Atman, seeking the meaning of Life, by seeking the Divine, and the Ultimate. However, Siddhartha awakened. From that moment he did not challenge his religion, did not start his thinking and living with Atman and suffering of the world. He rejected Yoga-Veda, Atharava- Veda, the Samanas, and the Buddha himself and other teachings, which challenged both Hindu and Buddhist teachings. Siddhartha went to live among the common people in a small town where he became a successful business man. He learned the art of love, business, and human nature. However, the new world had captured him pleasure, lustfulness, sluggishness, and finally the vice that he …show more content…
However, as he bent down , he heard a sound from a remote part of his soul, which awoke him from the gravity of mistakes that he was about to make. It was the sound Om, a word of Brahmin prayers that saved his life and lulled him to sleep. When Siddhartha awakened he found himself changed, renewed and reborn. He did not recognize himself and even his old friend Govinda who was watching him sleep didn 't recognize him. Siddhartha found himself again only by losing everything. Usually, the same story happens with people in the real world. When people become rich, they become greedy , they do not appreciate what they have, they always think about wealth and power. Money obscure their eyes. However, only when they lose everything they find their true natures and appreciate what they have. All of us learn from our own mistakes and sins. Everything from Siddharta’s past have slipped away from him. ”Nothing is mine, I know nothing, I possess nothing, I have learned nothing... Now, when I am no longer young, when my hair is fast growing gray, when strength begins to diminish, now I am beginning again like a child," he thinks to himself, "I had to become a fool again in order to find Atman in myself. I had to sin in order to live again. Whither will my path yet lead me? This path is stupid, it goes in spirals, perhaps in circles, but whichever way it goes, I will follow it” (Hesse,
Siddhartha was the son of a Brahmin priest and gained all the knowledge he could acquire, learned and practiced the ways of the Brahmin, but found that it did not bring joy to him, he did not delight himself. Everything was unworthy of his eyes, everything lied, …show more content…
Siddhartha also was not curious about the Teaching, he did not believe that it could teach him anything new. Even when he sees that Gautama has attained enlightenment, Siddhartha does not stay with Sublime One to practice the ways of the Buddhism. Siddhartha realizes that he must take his own path, find his own peace, and attain Nirvana on his own. Therefore, he sets out on this quest alone, only then he discovers and realizes the mistakes of his ways. Siddhartha realizes that the world is not an illusion, there is a beauty in life. The reason that he was afraid of himself, he was fleeing himself. He was seeking Atman, Brahma in himself. He was willing to dismember his ego, and peel it apart in order to find the core of all peels. He was challenging his own religion, by seeking Atman, seeking the meaning of Life, by seeking the Divine, and the Ultimate. However, Siddhartha awakened. From that moment he did not challenge his religion, did not start his thinking and living with Atman and suffering of the world. He rejected Yoga-Veda, Atharava- Veda, the Samanas, and the Buddha himself and other teachings, which challenged both Hindu and Buddhist teachings. Siddhartha went to live among the common people in a small town where he became a successful business man. He learned the art of love, business, and human nature. However, the new world had captured him pleasure, lustfulness, sluggishness, and finally the vice that he …show more content…
However, as he bent down , he heard a sound from a remote part of his soul, which awoke him from the gravity of mistakes that he was about to make. It was the sound Om, a word of Brahmin prayers that saved his life and lulled him to sleep. When Siddhartha awakened he found himself changed, renewed and reborn. He did not recognize himself and even his old friend Govinda who was watching him sleep didn 't recognize him. Siddhartha found himself again only by losing everything. Usually, the same story happens with people in the real world. When people become rich, they become greedy , they do not appreciate what they have, they always think about wealth and power. Money obscure their eyes. However, only when they lose everything they find their true natures and appreciate what they have. All of us learn from our own mistakes and sins. Everything from Siddharta’s past have slipped away from him. ”Nothing is mine, I know nothing, I possess nothing, I have learned nothing... Now, when I am no longer young, when my hair is fast growing gray, when strength begins to diminish, now I am beginning again like a child," he thinks to himself, "I had to become a fool again in order to find Atman in myself. I had to sin in order to live again. Whither will my path yet lead me? This path is stupid, it goes in spirals, perhaps in circles, but whichever way it goes, I will follow it” (Hesse,