Siddhartha Analysis - Research Paper Example

Buddha taught that the key to life was the middle way. As a young child, Siddhartha had been prophesized that he would grow up into a great king or a great sage depending upon the sites that greet him in his life. His father, King Suddhodana was determined to make a great king of his son, so he confined Siddhartha to the palace. However, at the age of 29, Siddhartha made a number of visits out of his home ground and encountered four major sites that changed his life forever. Siddhartha saw an old man, a sick man, a dead man and finally an ascetic who seemed thoroughly content with his life.

This motivated Siddhartha to leave his home in search of greater knowledge and seek refuge in spiritual quest. Hence, the first thing that he did was to go on a penance, or extreme suffering to seek the spiritual knowledge. He purposefully exposed him to pain and practiced prolonged fast and breath-holding. But, these sufferings only made him physically weak and he was nowhere near achieving spiritual quest than when he had started it. Hence, in a life defining moment, Siddhartha went ahead and accepted some rice and milk from the hands of a village girl to make an end to his sufferings.

He now practiced anapanasati meditation that ultimately brought him spiritual enlightenment. Hence, this form of devotion as practiced by Buddhists is known as the Middle Way. It is known as the Middle Way because it was not like the lavish self indulgent way followed by the Hindus of that time nor did it propagate extreme physical torture like the Shramanas. Buddha took a middle path or middle way of non extremism. 2. Buddha compares life with river. Just as a river, life is continuous process of ups and downs.

Life like river has a continuous movement. It is a successive series of dissimilar moments, combining together to create an impression of one continuous flow. The river continuously changes its shape and direction. It becomes deeper or shallower depending on the weather conditions. So, the river of yesterday would be different from the river of today. Similarly, the life of a person is continuously changing to adopt new things in his life. A person faces different experiences every moment of his life.

No moment in a person’s life can be compared to each other. To assume that a person would remain the same throughout his life would be fallacy. His emotions, his thoughts, his reasoning, everything suffer the change of time. Change and impermanence are therefore an undeniable truth of the life. The present is more important than the past or the future. A person has no control over his past but he can rectify the future by correcting his presence. A man undergoes many stages in his life. He is first a child, and then he grows up into an adult who matures into an old man.

The feelings or thoughts of that man will differ at each and every stage in his life and every time you meet him you will find a different person. So, one must accept change as a way of life and this acceptance will give liberation from the sorrows and pleasure of the life and help you lead a contented life. 3. Govinda is one of the major characters of the novel. He is Siddhartha’s best friend and his loyal companion since the times of childhood. Govinda’s love for Siddhartha is genuine. He like Siddhartha is also in search for enlightenment, but unlike Siddhartha he does not strays from the path but instead continues to benefit from the teachings of individual seekers.

Govinda is forever on the lookout for learning new things in aesthesis, and he continuously benefits from them. Govinda is not sure of his pursuit for knowledge and relies on other people’s judgments to guide him through life. Ultimately, Govinda is able to seek enlightenment, but his means of attaining is quite different from his friend, Siddhartha. Thus, we can say that there is no one fixed path to enlightenment, but people can travel any sort of means to reach this blissful state of knowledge.

The most important thing in reaching spiritual fulfillment is a strong sense of patience, determination and perseverance. If an individual is possessed of these qualities then he would indeed attain spiritual enlightenment in his life. Siddhartha and Govinda are very much alike in their quest for supreme knowledge. Govinda acts as moral supporter and offers companionship to Siddhartha. Yet, when he accepts the teachings of Buddha, he unwillingly let go of the company of his friend. Later Siddhartha and Govinda are reunited at the bank of the river, where Govinda keeps vigil of sleeping Siddhartha (not recognizing him in the process) and instead falling asleep himself.

Later he helps Siddhartha in his search for spiritual quest and ultimately helps him gain ultimate enlightenment. Thus, Govinda acts as a bridge that helps Siddhartha cross the line between ignorance and enlightenment.