World Lit Two: The River Speaks Om

Siddhartha, a spiritual pilgrim, is consumed by his quest for spiritual enlightenment. This quest leads him to experience many different ways of life. Siddhartha’s relentless soul allows him to fail many times, and to continue on until he is able to reach his ultimate goal: transcendent understanding. On the many paths that Siddhartha journeys, he comes upon a river. The river proves importance throughout the novel. The symbol of the river is one of eternal life. The river is continuous representing the cycle of life, as well as the cycle of Samsara.
Siddhartha comes upon the river several times throughout the novel, and each time that he approaches the river, he views it in a different light. Every encounter that Siddhartha has with the river signifies a new period in the man's life.
In the beginning of the novel, Siddhartha was very much involved with the river. He lives "in the sunshine of the river bank by the boats." The exposure to the river as a young man was the foundation of the message sent to Siddhartha by the river; the unity of all things.
Siddhartha, born the son of a wealthy Brahmin, leaves this life to join the Samanas. He departs after he believes that he has attained all of the knowledge that his father can provide. The questions he has about his existence cannot be answered among the Brahmins. With the Samanas, he learns how to free himself from the traditional trappings of life, and loses his desire for property, clothing, sexuality, and all sustenance except that required to live. Dissatisfied with the teachings of the Samanas, Siddhartha realizes that the faith in Buddhism cannot provide him with the answers to existence that he yearns for. Siddhartha reveals a strong notion, in which he must gain experience himself in order to find his Self.
Beginning his search for the meaning of life, he embarks on a journey to a new life, free from meditation and spiritual quests. Along this journey, Siddhartha encounters a friendly ferryman, content with his simple life. The ferryman leads Siddhartha across the river, onto his new life. The ferryman proves important as the novel progresses, since he has attained enlightenment. While taking Siddhartha across the river he speaks that one can learn much from a river, "I love it above everything. I have often listened to it, gazed at it, and I have always learned something from it." This conversation between the ferryman and Siddhartha shows foreshadowing in the novel, for later Siddhartha will return to the river, as a student. “I have learned that from the river too; everything comes back. You too, Samana, will come back." The ferryman also tells of the symbolism of the river, in which the river symbolizes the cycle of life, and the concept of the passage of time. The ferryman's wise words are not heard by Siddhartha yet, as he will realize, "one cannot learn wisdom from words." Siddhartha's initial encounter with the ferryman at the river proves importance as it separates the two sides of Siddhartha's persona. One side of the river is his spiritual side, with Govinda, the Brahmins, and the Samanas. The other side is his life of materialism, and his sensual side with Kamala, and Kamaswami. The middle of the river symbolizes the intermediary between the two extreme sides of Siddhartha's personality.

Many teachers of wisdom appear in the novel, but each fails to lead him to enlightenment. The ferryman, however, shows Siddhartha how to find enlightenment within oneself. When Siddhartha first approaches the river, he views it simply as a beautiful obstacle in w ay of his new life. The river symbolizes the path to enlightenment for Siddhartha. The ferryman points Siddhartha in the right direction, acting as an intermediate between Siddhartha, and his final instructor, the river.
"For a long time Siddhartha had lived the life o f the world without belonging to it. His senses, which he h ad deadened during his ardent Samana years, were again awakened." The transition into the world of materialism has transformed Siddhartha; the world around him has seeped into his soul, "made it heavy, made it tired, and sent it to sleep." This transition awakened his senses, they learned a great deal, experienced a great deal. During the years Siddhartha spent with Kamala in the world of materialism, he grew tired. "The bright and clear inward voice that had once awakened in him and had always guided him in his finest hours had become silent." Realizing that the reliance he has with the material world and material good is deteriorating his true Self, Siddhartha goes to the river to gain solace. "It seemed to him that he had spent a life in a worthless and senseless manner; he retained nothing vital, nothing in any way precious or worthwhile. He stood alone, like a shipwrecked man on the shore.”
Returning to the river for a second time, Siddhartha immersed in the water, hears a sound. The river, a symbol as life itself, provides knowledge without words. "It was one word, one syllable;" the holy Om. Hearing the sound of Om, Siddhartha's slumbering soul suddenly became awakened. The sounds that the river produces, suggests the sounds of all things living. The sound saves Siddhartha from his previous materialistic life, from his desires of modem conveniences and pleasure. Encountering the river, Siddhartha experiences a renewal on life. The river provides him with rebirth, "The past now seemed to him to be covered with a veil, extremely remote, very unimportant. At the moment of his return to consciousness his previous life seemed to him like a remote reincarnation, like an earlier birth of his present self. "
The river symbolizing the path to enlightenment for Siddhartha awakened him to a newfound happiness which he had yet to experience. "Never had a river attracted him so much as this one. Never had he found the voice and appearance of flowing water so beautiful. It seemed to him that the river had something special to tell him, something which he did not know, something which still awaited him... The new Siddhartha felt a deep love for this flowing water and decided that he would not leave it again so quickly." The change that has overcome Siddhartha signals a new beginning for him, and ultimately the last journey he will ever go upon. Hearing the river’s voice, he makes a decision to stay near, to observe the river, and to attain its wisdom. It seems to him that whoever understood this river and its secrets would understand much more, many secrets, all secrets. He goes to find the ferryman he once crossed paths with, to start him new life from there, as he did before. Siddhartha believed that the wise ferryman would provide him with the many answers of this river.
Encountering the ferryman many years later, the ferryman recognizes Siddhartha as the young Samana he was once. Recounting that he knew Siddhartha would return again, he introduces himself as Vasudeva, and invites him to stay near the river. Siddhartha gracefully accepted the offer, a change has come over him. Siddhartha has not come to the river as a mere passerby as before, he no longer views the river as an obstacle. Confessing to Vasudeva the voice he had heard from the river, Vasudeva guides Siddhartha to learn from the river as he had, "You will learn it, but not from me. The river has taught me to listen; you will learn from it, too. The river knows everything; one can learn everything from it. You have already learned from the river that it is good to strive downwards, to sink, to seek the depths." Studying the river for many years, Vasudeva helps Siddhartha how to learn from the river. Vasudeva, although not a direct teacher for Siddhartha, proves an external guide. He never confides in him the secrets of the river, but instead guides him on how to attain these. "He learned more from the river than Vasudeva could ever teach him. He learned from it continually. Above all, he learned how to listen, to listen with a still heart, with a waiting, open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgment, without opinions
In deep contemplation of the river, Siddhartha learns the concept of time; that there is no such thing as time. The river symbolizes the passage of time. The flow of the river, as well as the fact that the water is perpetually returning suggests the nature of time. "The river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the pas t, nor the shadow of the future." This discovery had a profound impact on Siddhartha, and he reviewed his life as a river, continually renewing, in which "nothing was, and nothing will be, everything has reality and presence." Siddhartha learns that all forms of life are interconnected in a cycle without beginning or end. Birth and death are all part of a timeless unity. Everything that Siddhartha has experienced thus far; joy, sorrow, life, death, good, evil are all part of the whole and are necessary for him to understand the true meaning of life.
The river is undoubtedly the single most important symbol in the novel, Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Throughout the novel the river signifies a new period in Siddhartha's great life journey, symbolizing life itself, the passage of time, and the ultimate path to enlightenment. The river proves to be the intermediate between the two types of lifestyles Siddhartha pursues in his quest for enlightenment, as he goes back and forth across the river to each separate side. The river also symbolizes rebirth as Siddhartha's spirit is renewed as h e returns to the river for solace. Through the river, Siddhartha was able to achieve his ultimate goal, transcendent understanding of his Self.