Nirvana, A Universal Understanding Of Life In Siddhartha, By Siddhartha

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Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, consists of the search to find nirvana, a universal understanding of life. On his quest, Siddhartha realizes the paths he was following were not going to help him achieve his goal of nirvana and he continually makes changes in his course and goal when and where needed. These changes introduce him to exactly what was needed to fulfill his intellect and get rid of his “Self,” his inner identity, by looking into himself for enlightenment. He finally achieves his goal by realizing that everything in the universe is one with one another like a stream of water flowing together and that nirvana cannot be found through seeking, but rather accepted, as you must fall in love with the world and it's perfection. At the …show more content…

He plunges into the water and is overwhelmed with a great sense of serenity, the water conceives him. Siddhartha falls in love with the water. This newfound love then cements his decision to stay near the water when the river told him to, “Love this river, stay by it, learn from it” (Hesse, 83). As he wanders down the river bank he comes across the ferryman, Vasudeva, that had once taken him across the river. For years he lives alongside Vasudeva and learns how to listen to the water, which in return teaches him that time is an illusion that keeps people infatuated with the past or the future. The issue with that is that all things exist at all times at the same time, the past influences the future as much as the future influences the past, everything flows together.
Sometime after this discovery, Siddhartha falls into a deep sorrow due to the loss of Kamala and the running away of his son, young Siddhartha. He doesn’t know what to do any more until he finally accepts the fact that his son ran away on his own journey in a similar way that he did, leading him to accept the fact that there is nothing else he can do to hold back his son. He realizes that he was doing what his father had done to him, forcing him to become a mirror image of himself. When he puts into perspective what he was doing, he decides it’s okay for his son to also venture out and experience life for

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