Siddhartha

The book opens with a description of Siddhartha’s childhood, spent in a pleasant natural environment under the care of his proud and loving parents. The young Brahmin participates in the learned elders’ debates and learns to meditate and recognize Atman, the true Self according to Hinduism. The intelligent, strong and handsome youth is admired by everyone, including the Brahmins’ daughters, but by nobody more so than his friend Govinda. Govinda is determined not to become an ordinary Brahmin but to follow Siddhartha. Despite the happiness that Siddhartha produces in all those who know him, he himself is not happy. During his daily rituals and under the stars at night, “Dreams and a restlessness of the soul came to him” (4). He questions whether the love of his parents and friend, and the wisdom and knowledge that the Brahmins have passed to him, are enough to satisfy his intellect and his heart. He asks himself whether the gods really created the world and whether they deserve his sacrifices, or whether he should better pay honor to Atman, the Only One. He ponders how he is to find Atman, “this Self, this Innermost?” (5), if even the most learned Brahmins, including his father, with all their holy books, songs and discourses, are not at peace.