Siddhartha

About This Book

Siddhartha is a wonderful fictional story based on the life of a young Brahmin from an Indian village who leaves home to seek fulfillment. Siddhartha is wise beyond his years as a young boy, as a young man, and even as a middle aged man. 

His journey of self-discovery is based on the life of Buddha and his search of enlightenment. Siddhartha leaves his childhood home of wealth and privilege to assume the life of a beggar. 

After meeting an “enlightened being” he concludes that teachers can only teach so much, and that real learning and meaning must come from self-discovery. He then goes through several stages from that of beggar to the over-privileged life of material riches and wealth while he learns the rules of secular life and business from a courtesan and a wealthy trader. During this period, Siddhartha acquires his own material wealth and all the addictions of the common man from gambling, drinking and overindulgence. Siddhartha finally comes to realize that riches and wealth fail to bring him happiness or contentment. 

Upon this realization, he suddenly walks away from all his possessions and wanders to a river where he considers suicide to be his only escape. It is here that he falls into a deep sleep and upon awakening he begins to discover the enlightenment he so desperately sought.

This fascinating book jostles the reader to ask the timeless questions and probe for the deeper meaning to existence, and the true essence of peace and joy. It also gives a fascinating look into the world of eastern mysticism. 

This is a very powerful book that I have read and enjoyed a number of times and each successive read brings an abundance of new revelation.

About the Author

Hermann Hesse was born into a family of missionaries and religious publishers in 1877. Hesse’s parents, who had served as missionaries in India, expected him to follow the family tradition in theology. Hesse entered the Protestant seminary at Maulbronn in 1891, but he was expelled from school and he soon abandoned his formal studies. 

Hesse became a freelance writer in 1904 after the publication of his novel Peter Camenzind.  A visit to India in 1911 was a disappointment, but it gave start to Hesse’s studies of Eastern religions and the writing of this novel Siddhartha in 1922. The cultures of ancient Hindu and ancient Chinese had a great influence on Hesse’s works. 

Hesse has explores the duality of spirit and nature and the individual’s spiritual search outside the restrictions of society. Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. Siddhartha and several other works depict the protagonist’s journey into the inner self. A spiritual guide assists the hero in his quest for self-knowledge and shows the way beyond the common delusions of both money and time.

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