ZEUS'S Quote

"Love this river, stay by it, learn from it" pg 101
What is the significance of this line?

banana's quote

"'Have you attained it?' she asked. 'Have you found peace?'
He smiled and placed his hand on hers.
'Yes,' she said, 'I see it. I also will find peace.'
'You have found it,' whispered Siddhartha." (Hesse 113)
What is the significance of this excerpt?

Quote

"But he learned more from the river than Vasudeva could teach him. He learned from it continually. Above all, he learned from it how to listen, to listen with a still heart, with a waiting, open soul,without passion,without desire, without judgement, without opinions." pg 106
What is the significance of these lines?
-athena

Why did Siddhartha struggle with this Self when he was a Brahmin and an ascetic?

Siddhartha struggled with this Self for a few reasons. First of all, he felt that too much knowledge had hindered him. He had gone through too much mortification of the flesh and too many sacrificial rites. There was too much doing and striving in his life. "Hed had been full of arrogance; he had always been the cleverest, the most eager - always a step ahead of the others, always the learned and intellectual one, always the priest or the sage. His Self had crawled into this priesthood, into this arrogance, into this intellectuality. It sat there tightly and grew, while he thought he was destroying it by fasting and penitence" (Hesse 99). Siddhartha realized that inward voice had been correct, and that only he could bring himself to salvation. For this reason Siddhartha went out into the world and became an avaricious merchant, a dice player, a drinker and a man of property. He had to do all of these things until the priest and Samana inside of him were dead. Now he reproached the way he lived in his former life and had found equanimity in his new ways. Siddhartha felt as though he had died and awakened as a new person from his sleep. For the first time in a long time, Siddhartha was very happy with his life. He was content with the world around him and found joy in everything he saw. "Smiling, he listened to his stomach, listened thankfully to a humming bee. Happily he looked into the flowing river. Never had a river attracted him as much as this one. Never had he found the voice and appearance of flowing water so beautiful" (Hesse 100). Siddhartha won the battle with his Self and now understood what he was supposed to do.

Is Kamala to blame for Siddhartha's lingering Samsara?

Siddhartha set out as a young man to achieve his own personal Nirvana. Along the way he tried different methods, such as staying with the Samanas and listening to the teachings of Buddha, but they did not satiate his thirst for inner peace. On this journey, he strayed from his initial objective. He comes to a town and sees a beautiful woman named Kamala, and he then decides he would like to learn about love from her and have her as a friend. It takes time, but he eventually becomes extremely distracted and altogether forgets his purpose for leaving home in the first place. He spends years in the town growing old, rich, and essentially miserable. "The world had caught him; pleasure, covetousness, idleness, and finally also that vice that he had always despised and scorned as the most foolish--acquisitiveness. Property, possessions, and riches had also finally trapped him." (Hesse 78-79) Siddhartha realizes that he has becomes completely absorbed in all of the things he once regarded with reproach. But what was it that drew him into this trap? He had not set out to become like any other townsman, yet he is drawn to it. Clearly, Kamala had a strong enough effect on him to alter him entirely and essentially rob him of his equanimity. Her kiss and her beauty put him in an entirely different state of mind. For a while Siddhartha lived in this state of oblivion, comparable to the game of Samsara. Only once Siddhartha felt the nausea of guilt and realized he had lost his inner voice did he decide that he needed to move on with his life. Though he loved Kamala, he rocognized that she was the sole reason he had become so absorbed in the circuitous course of Samsara. Finally, he decided to leave town and return to his journey for inner peace, and discovers a river that provides ablution for his tainted life.

What does Siddhartha accomplish with the help of Kamala?

What does Siddhartha accomplish with the help of Kamala?
In chapter 5, Siddhartha meets a beautiful women named Kamala. Siddhartha has just left the path of becoming a Samana and runs into Kamala and he wants her to be his teacher of love and his friend. " I am already beginning to learn from you. I already learned something yesterday. Already I have got rid of my beard, I have combed and oiled my hair" (Hesse, 54). Siddhartha wishes to satiate Kamala with his love for her. Kamala says to Siddhartha, "Many young men come to me, including Brahmin's sons, but they come to me in fine clothes, in fine shoes; there is a scent in their hair and money in their purses." (Hesse, 54). So when Siddhartha comes again to learn from her, but this time he comes to her in fine clothes, fine shoes and money in his purse. He also tells Kamala that he knows how to do three things that will take you far in life; he knows how to think, wait and fast. Kamala is impressed at Siddhartha that he has the ability to recite good poetry and read and write, therefore she gives him a white gown. Siddhartha is suddenly overwhelmed with ardent feelings in which he was no longer a Samana and that he should no longer beg for food and that living here, in Kamala's town is going to be simpler than living as a Samana. "The life that is lived here is simple, thought Siddhartha. It has no difficulties. Everything was difficult, irksome and finally hopeless when i was a Samana. Now everything is easy..". (Hesse,58). Kamala does aid in helping Siddhartha find make his way into her town and her heart. Kamala introduces Siddhartha to Kamaswami, who is the richest merchant in town. She tells Siddhartha that if he pleases him, he will take Siddhartha into his services, but not to be made into his servant but equal to him. Kamala soon realizes that Siddhartha is having an easy time getting what he needs to in order for Kamala to accept him. "You have been lucky, one door after the other is being opened to you. How does that come about? Have you a charm?"(Hesse, 59). Kamala makes a point when she says that Siddhartha would be no where without her. Siddhartha refutes this in saying, " When I came to you in your grove i made the first step. It was my intention to learn about love from the most beautiful woman. From the moment I made that resolution I also knew that I would execute it. I knew that you would help me; I knew it from your first glance at the entrance to the grove". (Hesse, 60). Kamala does not understand, but Siddhartha explains to her that he goes after his goal like a stone sinking into the water. The stone finds the quickest way to the bottom; Siddhartha finds the quickest way to his goal. Siddhartha allows nothing to get into his mind that opposes his goal. This is what he has learned from the Samana's, in which people call magic and what other people think is caused by demons. "Everyone can preform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait, and fast". (Hesse, 60).