Siddhartha- My Experience with the seeker

‘Siddhartha’ by Hermann Hesse, is the story of a seeker.  The exploratory journey, of a curious and determined young boy becoming- a man, an ascetic, a worldly soul, who submerges in ‘maya’ to emerge as a weary man who later learns and grows to find what he had been seeking all through, from a river and a simple ferryman.

The reason why i was attracted to read this book was because, i was told that it changed the lives of some of its readers, as it changed their perspective. I too, just like the protagonist- Siddhartha, was eager to find something new and life changing through this book. I thought i will immediately find a new learning or maybe answers to many of my questions.

Few pages of reading the book...

Nothing such happened. Few more pages and nothing new still didn't occur. I sighed and then decided to just read on. May be it would just help me pass time if nothing else.

I read on and on. Nowhere, i saw ‘Siddhartha’ as the hero of the book. He was someone who was somewhat defiant. Who was lost in lots of questions.  Someone who did not know what he was going to do next, but, did know what he must not do. He knew when to just go on, even when full of doubts.

My Key Learning from the Book:

1)      When life seems to hold no meaning anymore, when even the act of living becomes just passing each day and hence, it starts to feel weary. Then, it’s time to take a halt. Cos it’s life’s way of showing us that there is another plan waiting for us. There is another path already carved for us, awaiting us to choose to walk on.

2)      This choice is the time that we must say ‘Goodbye’. To all the childish things. Cos now we have chosen to take responsibility. We have chosen to act for ourselves. And, when we choose to act for ourselves, we start bringing a change for which not only us, but our entire world might not be ready for. For this conflict, we must be prepared, must be strong enough to bid Adieu to the child and all that he loves, cos he knows that it’s time to grow up.

3)      The path to good may not always be good. At times it is important to know the badness of the ‘bad’ to know the goodness of the ‘good’. And to know the both, one must experience. Experience is the key. Siddhartha explains that why is it important to be a sinner, to be a saint.

4)      It is easier to give up a pleasure that one has never experienced. True fasting is performed by the one who has had the luxury of food and taste, both. The true essence of fasting is also, understood by the one who has understood the satisfaction of the sense of taste.

5)      The most new learning was that, time and space is an illusion. Life is a full circle, like, the word ‘Om’ which means complete, perfect.

How we are visible in only one form, but, we do have another life and another form at the same time. All the other differences due to past present and future are a delusion. What we wish to become, is what we are now. What we are seeking is what we already have. Life and us, it’s all perfect in the now. 

Therefore, there has to be no seeking for peace. We are peace. 

We are the dead, the living and life itself.