Siddhartha: The Teachers of Siddhartha
Uploaded by kleebaby on May 09, 2002
The most important teachers in life don’t have a college degree. They didn‘t obtain a sense of life and morals by years of schooling. These individuals had lived, and have experience to back their words of wisdom. Even one person’s own life experiences can teach him a lot about life! Just like most parents, Siddhartha’s father raised him in a very sheltered environment. In the novel Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, the main character, had many instructors. He wasn‘t taught the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, he was introduced to a way of life. The most influential mentors in Siddhartha’s life were Kamala “the courtesan”, Vasudeva “the ferryman”, and Siddhartha’s father “the Brahmin”.
Before Siddhartha met Kamala all he knew of was “thinking, waiting, and fasting.”(46) He was a simple “Samana from the forest.”(45) Kamala change all of that, she converted Siddhartha from a Samana into a high-powered businessman! Besides directing Siddhartha to “Samsara”(60), Kamala taught him one of the most important things someone can be taught, how to love and be loved in return. With that, she also put him through one of the hardest things in life, a “personal” relationship with the opposite sex. Although Siddhartha could “not really love”(59) Kamala, he still influenced her to change her perspective on life. It was important for Siddhartha to enter “Samsara” because he would have been longing to had he not taken the opportunity when it arose.
“May my present path, my new life, start from there!”(82) Siddhartha was speaking of the river. The river gave Siddhartha a tranquil feeling. There he met Vasudeva, “the ferry man”(82). Vasudeva helped Siddhartha to listen to the river, he learned “that the river has very many voices”(88), and that “the voices of all living creatures are in its voice”(88). The river often laughed at Siddhartha. This laughter taught him humility. Vasudeva wasn’t scared to give his noble friend advice from time to time, he helped Siddhartha deal with his disobedient son. Vasudeva was a very serene man, he showed Siddhartha how to let his life flow like the river.
“There was something in this reflection that reminded him of something he had forgotten and when he reflected on it, he remembered. His face resembled that of another person, whom he had once, known and love and even feared. It resembled the face of his father, the Brahmin”(107). Siddhartha’s father was the only one who could help...