Siddhartha With The Siddhartha Analysis

Experience goes a long way

In chapter two of “Siddhartha, With the Samanas” Hesse begins to show the reader the learning experiences Siddhartha is going through. A continual process of self-discovery to help him find the Self. Just as with the Brahmins, Siddhartha learned many things from the Samanas; He learned to practice self-mortification, he learned to transcend himself from living things to inanimate objects to carcass, he even learned to hypnotize. For Siddhartha this was not enough to reach his ultimate goal of finding the Self. On the contrary, by experiencing the life of an ascetic, and learning the teachings of a Samana. Siddhartha is learning about himself towards discovering the Self.

After living for many years with the Samanas,

Siddhartha experienced the life of self-denial. In the process, he learned his limitations through self-mortification. “… he learned many ways of losing the Self.

He traveled along the path of self-denial through pain, through voluntary suffering and conquering of pain, through hunger, thirst and fatigue” (Hesse 15). Through deep concentration he learned the boundaries of his mind and transcends himself. “…and Siddhartha took the heron into his soul, flew over forest and mountain, became a heron, ate fishes, suffered heron hunger, used heron language, died a heron’s death.” (Hesse 15). In these passages, Hesse explains the many things he learned with the Samanas. However, their teachings did not reach his ultimate goal of finding the Self. “What is meditation? What is abandonment of the body? What is fasting? What is the holding of breath? It is a flight from the Self; it is a temporary escape from the torment of Self. It is a temporary palliative against the pain and folly of life. The driver of oxen make the same flight, takes this temporary drug when he drinks a few bowls of rice wine or coconut milk in the Inn… he finds what Siddhartha and Govinda find when they escape from their bodies by long exercises and dwell in the non-Self” (Hesse 17). “I suffer thirst, Govinda, and on this long Samana path my thirst has not grown less” (Hesse 18). At this point, Siddhartha begins to doubt the path he has taken. After many years with the Samanas

Siddhartha feels that he has not learned anything about the Self. However, Siddhartha is failing to realize that he is getting wiser, and learning more about himself. Sure he could have learned to escape the Self by ways of drugs and alcohol, but would have he grown wiser? As Govinda points out “The drinker does indeed find escape, he does indeed find a short respite and rest, but he returns from the illusion and finds everything as it was before. He has not grown wiser, he has not gain knowledge, he has not climbed higher” (Hesse 17). The underlying message Hesse is trying to convey in these passages with the Samanas is that books and teachings are only a small part of the journey into finding ourselves. In order for a person to truly find himself or herself, they must experience life to its fullest. Not just by way of self-denial but also to experience love, happiness, self-indulgence, and so on.
In life we go through many experiences of trial and error, but the along the way we slowly discover ourselves. And through these experiences, in a sense, we are force to gain wisdom as we mature and use them to guide us to the next journey. Though Siddhartha did not reach his goal he learned many things from the Samanas, but more importantly he is learning about himself. A forward step to help him find the Self.