Siddhartha
By Hermann Hesse
Siddhartha is a novel written by Hermann Hesse in 1921 during the existentialism period. The book was published in the United States in 1951. Existentialism is the key to the book’s prophetic perception of the human condition. Existentialism is a viewpoint that highlights individual freedom of choice during each person’s life. Each person has a personal decision to pursue reason in an irrational world.
Hesse starts the novel out with Siddhartha and his childhood friend Govinda leaving the comfort of their home and family to live a traditional Hinduism spiritual path. They denounce all worldly possession and become part of an ancient religious sect of wandering beggars called Samanas.
Siddharth starts to realize that being part of a spiritual or religious order is not the way to enlightenment. Siddhartha and Govinda eventually seek the wisdom of the living Buddha. Duality is created by Hesse by which Siddhartha, fashioned after Prince Siddhartha, who becomes the Buddha, meets the Buddha in the book.
The meeting between Buddha and Siddhartha challenges the teaching of the Buddha as another religion that has devotees following a doctrine created by another being, instead of a spiritual person following their inner compass. This meeting highlights the period of existentialism created by Søren Kierkegaard and expounded upon by Friedrich Nietzsche, which dictates that everyone is free to make choices towards their enlightenment.
After the meeting with Buddha, Siddhartha decides to leave the traditional path towards enlightenment to follow his own heart. Govinda chooses to stay and follow the teachings of the Buddha. Their paths intertwine throughout the book, and most notably, at the end.
Siddhartha follows a path towards Samsara indulging in the ego, by which he becomes a businessman, a gambler, and a patron of a teacher of intimacy and love. He realizes that enlightenment comes from within. The ending of this novel is poetic in that Siddhartha realizes that he is a spiritual being having a physical experience, and the world is ultimately an illusion.
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