Analysis Of Kamala's Siddhartha

Aristotle said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” each person is made up of more than one moment, thought, or memory. We often see people as made up of simple parts, as if people do not have thoughts we’ll never hear. People are constantly experiencing life, and they will always be experiencing life until they die. A person will go through many trials in their lifetime, and how they react isn’t what makes them who they are. Buddhist would claim that Aristotle meant that you can’t sum up the parts of a person, because a person is more than a person; a person is the universe and everything within it, because every person is one. All men will experience the same things throughout their life: death, sadness, good news, bad news,

It’s a macabre thing to think about, and no one enjoys thinking about the people they love not being here anymore. If it wasn’t for the realization that everyone dies, Buddha probably wouldn’t have ventured on his path to creating Buddhism as we now know it. He didn’t welcome death, but he didn’t deny it either. In Siddhartha, Siddhartha 's old love, Kamala, dies, leaving him with a son they had borne together, but that he was never aware of. When Kamala dies, Siddhartha reacts by listening to the river. When asked if he is saddened by her death Siddhartha replies by saying, “No, my dear friend. Why should I be sad? I who was rich and happy have become still richer and happier. My son has been given to me.” (Siddhartha, 115) Siddhartha found happiness and consolement in Kamala’s death. Although any other person would be saddened by it, as his son is, but Siddhartha knows that it is just another path Kamala needs to go on. He welcomed her death because it was her time, it was what needed to happen. Once, he was ready to kill himself, to bring death upon him, “He saw his face reflected, and spat at it; he took his arm away from the tree trunk and turned a little, so that he could fall headlong and finally go under. He bent, with closed eyes-towards death.” (Siddhartha, 89) Although he was close to that point, he didn’t go through with it, simply because it wasn’t his time to do so. He was forcing it upon himself,

Every man has the right to make their own decisions, and choose what to believe. When Siddharth’s friend decides he wants to join The Illustrious One, he does nothing to stop him. “You have heard my blessing, Govinda. I repeat it. May you travel this path to the end. May you find Salvation!” (Siddhartha, 30) He is not angry that his friend is leaving him, that he has joined a different path. Siddhartha doesn’t go with him because that is not his path, and he should find his own destiny. Siddhartha discovered that the way to peace, the way to Nirvana, was not through teaching, but by experiencing life and finding your own path. “Too much knowledge has hindered him” (Siddhartha, 99) Knowledge is good, Siddhartha wanted nothing but knowledge. He soon learned that not everything he wanted could be taught to him. He goes through many types of teaching, he travels from holiness, to desires and pleasures, and finally he learns from the river. He has many teachers, but he soon realizes he must decide things for himself, and that is how he finds his peace. “It is a good thing to experience everything oneself,” (Siddhartha, 98) Siddhartha spent much of his life following the path of other people; he spent his life being taught the best way to be happy, the best way to find peace. He realizes that he is the only person