As a young boy, Siddhartha was a son of Brahmin and when he grew older he wanted to find enlightenment in himself and didn't know how. Siddhartha and his friend Govinda had left their hometown and went on with their lives trying to achieve their goal. Throughout Siddhartha's journey he had learned different things from different teachers and how to find enlightenment but failed to learn from them. On his journey he finds a river that is not just an ordinary river but a river that speaks to Siddhartha throughout the book. Siddhartha learns shortly after that the river shows enlightenment in himself and not through the teachers he has been taught by.
The awakening that Siddhartha had for enlightenment was love,
the river in which he found enlightenment, and the loss of his son running away.
The Semanas was a group that Siddhartha and his friend Govinda had joined to find enlightenment. All they did was fast all the time where Siddhartha saw no enlightenment in. Siddhartha and Govinda had met Gautama and the Buddha which were the leaders of the Semanas. Gautama was the only person that had actually achieved enlightenment in life. "I never doubt for a movement that you are the Buddha, that you have reached the goal, the highest goal, toward which so many thousands of Brahmins and Brahmins' sons are striving. You have found redemption from death. It came to you as you were engaged in a search of your own, upon a path of your own; it came to you through thinking, through meditation, through knowledge, through enlightenment"(Heffe 30). Buddha tries to teach Siddhartha and Govinda that having enlightenment is the main goal that really completes life and happiness. "... He has robbed me of my friend, the friend who believed in me and now believes in him, who was my shadow and is now Gautama's shadow. But he has given me Siddhartha, given me myself"( Heffe 32). Govinda had stayed with the Semanas and Siddhartha had moved on his search of enlightenment.
Siddhartha goes on with his life leaving Govinda behind and comes across a stage in his life were he feels awakened. Siddhartha was now in a new chapter in his life were he had to found himself." That I know nothing of myself that Siddhartha has remained such a stranger to me, such an unknown, comes from one cause, from a single cause: I was afraid of myself, was running away from myself"(Heffe 34)! It was the first time he has ever lived on his own with know one to tell him what he can and can't do. A river comes across Siddhartha's view and gets across it by boat from a ferryman that later becomes a good friend to Siddhartha at the end of the book.On the other side of the river Siddhartha finds his love for the first time ever. Her name was Kamala where she was found in her beautiful garden. While falling deeply in love for one another Siddharth had gotten a job to earn money but he had made to much and spent his money on gambling and drinking. "Despising himself, mocking himself, he won thousands and threw thousands away, gambled away money, gambled away jewelry, gambled away a country house, won again, lost again" ( Heffe 67). Siddhartha had found happiness in these addictions he was doing such as gambling, drinking, and having sex. He had lost himself again.
Siddhartha comes back to the river and sees the ferryman there again. They two become very good friends and Siddhartha starts living with the ferryman also known as Vasudeva in his hut by the river. One day a young boy comes running to the river followed by a women who looked like Kamala chasing after the boy. Later on she had died from a snake bite when she was resting by the river and Siddhartha realized it was his beautiful Kamala from years ago. Siddhartha had a son that he had never met before."Slowly, too, he began to realize that this eleven-year-old was spoiled mama's boy; he had been raised among all the amenitiesof wealth and was used to fine meals,a soft bed, and giving orders to servants"( Heffe 98). Young Siddhartha was his son's name loved his mother dearly. He was used to the way his mother had lived and not doing chores like what Siddhartha had commanded his son to do. Young Siddhartha had enough of the different life style that his father lived and ran back home to his home town where Kamala had lived. Siddhartha was worried about where his son had gone but Vasudeva had said for Siddhartha to give up on his young Siddhartha for he wants to live on his own. After his son tragically leaving Siddhartha's side, he had found enlightenment when his old friend Govinda came back with his Semana followers. Govinda wanted to hear the words of wisdom from Siddhartha which Siddhartha didn's believe in words but in symbols. "He no longer saw the face of his friend Siddhartha; instead he saw other faces, many of them, a long series, a lowing river of faces, by the hundreds, by the thousands, all of them coming and fading..."( Heffe 125). Govinda had found enlightenment in Siddhartha's soul while kissing his forehead. He saw a new man and not the friend Govinda saw years ago.
Throughout Siddhartha's journey in the search of enlightenment he learns a lot about himself. He found a new life that he has never experienced before. He figures out that the thing in achieving a goal in life is not through teachers like Buddha, the Semanas, or Vasudeva who was a mentor of Siddhartha but the belief that there is enlightenment without any of those things. The river had brought images to Siddhartha that led him to enlightenment. After Govinda kisses Siddhartha's forehead Nirvana finally comes insight of Siddhartha. The river, falling in love, and letting go of his son really lead him to his goal were he achieved it and progressed from it. Siddhartha was awakened from this point forward.
