Words that Strike: Siddhartha
Thought-Provoking words from Siddharta will change your perspective.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse follows the journey of a young boy who leaves his house, his family behind, pursuing knowledge and true happiness.
On his journey, Siddhartha spends his years as a Samana (ascetic), he encounters Buddha, becomes a lover, a rich man, lives with a ferryman, meets and loses his son, in the end, he becomes aware of the truth after viewing his life’s reflection in the almighty river.
The book is full of insightful conversations and monologues that motivate us to take a deeper look at ourselves. Here are a few of those sagacious quotes:
“Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else … Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.”
A man becomes wise through experiences, by questioning the very nature of things. It is not possible to convey those experiences through words. One can teach and tell the lessons those experiences taught yet the true wisdom couldn't be passed on.
“I shall no longer be instructed by the Yoga Veda or the Aharva Veda, or the ascetics, or any other doctrine whatsoever. I shall learn from myself, be a pupil of myself; I shall get to know myself, the mystery of Siddhartha.”
The protagonist defies all the teachings from his childhood, from his teachers or his father. He even denied the teachings of the Buddha.
In this content-driven world, we have access to millions of lectures on spirituality, consciousness, awareness, and whatnot but we are going away from ourselves.
We have to examine ourselves. Question ourselves.
“It is not for me to judge another man's life. I must judge, I must choose, I must spurn, purely for myself. For myself, alone.”
“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.”
One of the core lessons of the book and the whole ideology of Stoicism is what we make out of our experiences. These experiences play a huge part in shaping our understanding of life and there are always teachable lessons in the worst of situations.
Siddhartha is one of those books that makes you question yourself. It takes you on a journey and leaves you on a cliff of a mountain, you look around, look within and finally find yourself.
