Siddhartha: The Brahmin’s Son

1. Siddhartha: The Brahmin’s Son Feraco Search for Human Potential 17 September 2012

2. Notice the impermanence of every detail of the first sentence: • Shade (on a house – that which burns or crumbles) • Sunshine (by a river) • Shade (partnered with sunshine; whenever one disappears, so too does the other) • Handsomeness • Growing up Right from the get-go, we’re introduced to some of our fundamental concepts – in this case, anicca.

3. Part of the problem with the town is that it traps the impermanent and tries to make it permanent! Siddhartha basically begins in a bubble, and that’s not by accident. The village is meant to represent the womb, where everything is regulated and controlled by forces greater than what’s inside of it. This is the first place you should notice the birth/death/rebirth theme, which is central to the novel’s entire purpose.

4. Just as the child in utero responds to the rhythms of its mother, the members of Siddhartha’s village live according to the dictates of an ancient way of life, one composed of traditions passed down through the generations. Everyone’s following the same path their parents laid out for them, which matches the ones their parents laid out for them. The problem, of course, is that children have to leave the womb: The birth process is a painful but necessary one. You’re not supposed to leave this village; you’re basically supposed to die in utero.

5. The “permawomb” is emblematic of the samsara cycle we mentioned earlier. If you don’t take conscious steps to break free of it, you’ll never escape (and even then, it can take many, many lifetimes of failure and suffering before you learn the lessons you need). That’s why Siddhartha feels so freaked out: he suddenly realizes that his childhood and adolescence essentially served as prolonged gestation. In turn, he feels like staying there is to forego a chance to be born – so he leaves, truly entering the world for the first time.

6. Yet he is not ready for the world when he leaves the village and enters it; he thinks he’s more ready than he actually is (as his misunderstanding of Om indicates). In many ways, he greets it like a child – restless and stubborn, strong-willed, inflexible, and completely caught up in himself. True awareness and appreciation of the larger world around him will have to wait. Is this an accurate depiction of growing up? Do we all venture into the world as children, or are some ready?

7. Siddhartha seems to “have it all.” Yet Siddhartha is unhappy; he suffers. What is the source of “dukkha” here? Desire. (Of course! Desire is the source of all suffering, remember?) A better question: What does Siddhartha desire? What are the questions that Siddhartha asks – both the obvious ones, and the unstated ones?

8. Much of the reason for Siddhartha’s suffering over the course of the book is that he desires to break cycles. Here, we have the samsara cycle disguised as the town cycle; we’ll see a similar pattern once he meets Kamala. He laments that all of the wisdom that generations of Brahmins have gained has seemingly gone to waste. There was wonderful wisdom in these verses; all the knowledge of the sages was told here in enchanting language, pure as honey collected by the bees. No, this tremendous amount of knowledge, collected and preserved by successive generations of wise Brahmins could not be easily overlooked. But where were the Brahmins, the priests, the wise men, who were successful not only in having this most profound knowledge, but in experiencing it?

9. From the very beginning, Hesse emphasizes that Siddhartha has reached the peak of his life in town. “Already” is repeated three times in the first paragraph alone! Everyone in the town already respects and believes in him. There’s “happiness in his father’s heart” and “pride in his mother’s breast.” The Brahmins’ daughters love him (for his appearance), but Govinda loves him more than anyone else (for his potential – he’s sure Siddhartha will become a wonderful person). His “king-like eyes” mark him for greatness, and yet… “…beloved by all, a joy to all, there was yet no joy in his own heart…[he] had begun to feel the seeds of discontent…”

10. Siddhartha begins to question everything he’s accepted for years. If the Brahmins are wise, where are the ones who have achieved nirvana? (This is the first realization that teachers may not be as useful as he had previously believed.) Should we offer sacrifices to our gods? Where is the self? (“Nobody showed the way, nobody knew it…”) The “heavenly world [seems] near,” but Siddhartha has never met someone who has “reached” it.

11. “Om is the bow, the arrow is the soul/Brahman is the arrow’s goal/At which one aims unflinchingly.” Govinda calls to Siddhartha after Siddhartha recites this, but his friend does not respond to his calls – the first of many times that Siddhartha refuses to follow Govinda When Siddhartha hears word of the Samanas, they’re initially described as “wanderers.” This comes right after Siddhartha’s quote about aiming for a goal; might the “wanderers” be a poor fit for his quest? (Is there a difference between a searcher and a wanderer?) He unilaterally decides to leave – and Govinda finally realizes that “Siddhartha was going his own way; his destiny was beginning to unfold itself, and with his destiny, [Govinda’s] own.”

12. Note Govinda’s first concern: “Will your father permit it?” Note Siddhartha’s first words to the Brahmin: “With your permission, father…” Siddhartha’s reaction to his father’s disapproval is simply to wait. He’s not just standing still because he’s an arrow focused on his goal. This is the denial of anicca – everything is supposed to be allowed to change, and the Brahmin is interrupting the natural order of things. Also, what are Siddhartha’s gifts? “Thinking, waiting, fasting.”

13. Siddhartha agrees with his father, who says he will grow tired (as well as die). However, he disagrees when his father claims he will fall asleep. Interesting! Throughout the book, the rest of Siddhartha’s “rebirths” are signified by periods of sleeping and awakening What’s different here? “…there was no trembling in Siddhartha’s face; his eyes looked far away. Then the father realized that Siddhartha could no longer remain with him at home – that he had already left him.”

14. “You will go into the forest and become a Samana. If you find bliss in the forest, come back and teach it to me. If you find disillusionment, come back, and we shall again offers sacrifices to the gods together.” Note that the father immediately falls back into his routine. Siddhartha, of course, does neither. “You have come.” “I have come.” • Just like the meeting at the end!

15. Why does Siddhartha leave? Well, because he has to – he can’t stay there and stagnate, no matter how badly his father may want him to stay. Just look at the questions that torment him: Is there any way he could answer them while staying there? Govinda accompanies him, and Siddhartha isn’t surprised – there’s no questioning in the words of either man.

16. Symbols: Gaze (the Brahmin’s encounter with Siddhartha; it’s also worth noting Siddhartha’s “kingly eyes”) • Characters: Siddhartha, Govinda, and the Brahmin • Shell: 1 (with four more to come!) • Mental State: Lacks awareness and perspective; curious but impulsive

17. Why does Siddhartha leave home? • He’s “leveled off and boxed in”; • The vessel is full, but his heart is not still • The sense that if he stays, he’ll never have a chance to answer his questions…and that he’s too young to give up so easily • Who accompanies him? Who does he leave behind? • Govinda goes, everyone else (including the Brahmin) stays