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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Siddharta by Hermann Hesse, August 14, 2005
Hermann Hesse is a Swiss Nobelist. The story commences with
conversations between Siddharta and Govinda who are friends.
Siddharta grows to become a learned person amongst the Brahmins.
The love of his parents, knowledge passed down from posterity and
time in the local community are not enough for Siddharta. He routinely practices meditation near a banyan tree. Siddharta makes a pact to go into the forest. If he succeeds in finding bliss as a Samana, he will return to teach the experiences gained in absentia. If he becomes dis-illusioned, he will return to offer special sacrifices.
Siddharta began his journey stripped of worldly possessions. He
entered the forest with only a loin cloth and an unstitched cloak. He spent time fasting to become empty of thirst, desire,
dreams, pleasure and sorrows. The experiential domain of this
exercise was supposed to lead him to purity of mind and thought.
Ultimately, Siddharta came to a realization that knowledge can be communicated but not wisdom. Wisdom only comes with the experiential aspect of life's tribulations. The book provides an important lesson on Eastern philosophical and religious thought.
The contents will be appreciated by philosophers, religionists
and literary experts everywhere.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A simple, affecting parable of life...Spiritually enriching, May 27, 1999
By A Customer
Hesse's tale of a young Brahmin's son about to embark on the adventure of life is a wonderfully simple and concise story - it is a parable about the struggle of life, and has a wonderfully optimistic message. Hesse's strengths as an author lie in the way he imbues a strong narrative with a dual meaning - one comes away with the impression of having read a good book, but at the same time with the realisation that the story was merely a framework on which Hesse has hung a touching spiritual tract.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Beautiful Story to Describe The Subjective Non-Descriptive, September 28, 2004
This review is from: Siddharta (Spanish Edition) (Hardcover)
A great book that had me completely subjective to the storyline, into the journey of Siddhartha and the many other characters: his childhood friend - Govinda, his father, his later lover - Kamala, his son, his acquaintance with the Buddha, his friend and teacher - Vasudeva the ferryman and others.
It's a very interesting story of a spiritual seeker who at the very end of the novel manifests his enlightenment, as his childhood friend, Govinda, experiences. The journey of spiritual seeking, of learning and taking in knowledge, of asceticism, of sexuality and love, of power seeking and money making, of both poor homelessness and luxuriant living and its eventual culmination, the outcome of the spiritual enlightenment: the subjective experience beyond all knowledge and teachings, transcending all the relative and transitory existence into a unity of Being.
Now it's the way Hesse writes and his descriptive and artistic style that weigh his story of the enlightened soul and I found it outstanding. Similar to his other book, Journey to the East, the story leads up to the final outcome, the ending of the novel, the last chapter, explains what can not be explained culminating from the entire story line.
The story itself depends on the readers individual experiential spiritual seeking and both external and internal search. The external eventually leads to the internal where all lies in mystical experience and the internal and personal spiritual development.
I can't help but continue visualizing the last scene of the book with the sudden flash of Siddhartha's translucent smiling face overseeing the realm of multifaceted relativity in its complete unity under the mystical kiss of Govinda on Siddhartha's farhead and his perceived subjectivity of consciousness and marvel at Hesse's attempted descriptive undertaking of the Nirvana and subjective experience. What an awesome attempt to convey such a non-thing and Hesse is a great and unique writer.
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