Siddhartha

 

Siddhartha was a young man who wanted to achieve spiritual enlightenment. To attain his goal, he left his family and home behind, along with his friend Govinda. He then intensely followed the ascetic practices such as fasting and meditation. His ultimate aim was to find the ultimate spiritual meaning of life and the universe.

 

The story of Siddhartha is set in the time when Gautama Buddha lived, so one day Siddhartha came across Buddha during his wanderings. Buddha, who achieved Nirvana, presents Siddhartha with the teachings which will show him the path. His friend Govinda decided to stay with Buddha because he thought Buddha’s teachings were perfect and will show him the path.

 

Siddhartha appreciated the beauty of Buddha’s teachings but he said that those teachings were Buddha’s truth. And that every person has his own truth and his own path to follow. But his friend chose to be with Buddha, and Siddhartha continued his journey alone. After a while, he reached a city where he saw a beautiful woman who asked her earn a lot of money and become rich. Then she will accept him as her lover and then they spent many years together.

 

 

But the attraction of worldly pleasures slowly lost all the interest for Siddhartha. He finally realized that without spiritual enlightenment, his life will never feel complete. So one day, he gives up all his wealth and property in the city, left his lover, and decided to end his life. But just when he was about to kill himself, he had a spiritual experience.

 

Then he decided to give up the idea of suicide and start living by the riverside with a humble ferryman named Vasudeva. Vasudeva was a simple and illiterate person who had spent most of his life as a ferryman. And yet, Siddhartha slowly realizes that Vasudeva knows more about the ultimate spiritual truths than Siddhartha himself. So he became a humble helper and his soul gained a new level of peace and calm.

 

As Siddhartha lived with Vasudeva, he learnt many important things. For example, Vasudeva taught him how the river spoke with many voices and languages, and one can see all of them behind the veil of the single body of the river. Siddhartha realized that this is a metaphor of all the life as well.

 

Siddhartha’s previous love came to the river one day. She wanted to cross the river with a young boy. Kamala was bit by a snake and died in Siddhartha’s arms. And he came to know that the little boy was his own son. He then started spending all his energy on teaching wisdom to the young boy. But the boy refused to listen and ran away for good one day.

 

Siddhartha felt grief and then Vasudeva asked him to listen to the river once more. This is when Siddhartha realized that all the pain, suffering, grief, joy, pleasure, and everything else in life is united in a single truth. And knowing and understanding that truth finally granted him spiritual enlightenment.

 

 

Spiritual enlightenment has no fixed formula and I personally think that every human being has to find their ultimate truth in their own mystical ways. Every human being is unique but the ultimate truth is the same for everyone. Siddhartha is the embodiment of the significance of the individual and the importance of the Whole.