Siddhartha Section 4

Siddhartha reached many stages, many aspects and ways of thinking throughout the book, however the only thing that didn't change was his desire to find peace. After having left the town and encountering Govinda, he heads to the river, where he reaches and old ferryman he met more than 20 years ago. Siddhartha feels a strong attraction towards the river. He decides to stay with the old man, a man who seems to have found peace, who knows how to listen and who speaks few but wise words. They are regarded as wise and holy men by travelers, foolish and crazy to others. Siddhartha learned the way of life of the ferrymen, acquired admirable patience, humbleness, tranquility , but most importantly, to listen. The river spoke to him, gave him advice, and taught him what no one could. This teachings however, could never prepare him to the past he was bound to face again. Kamala journeys, along with her son, to see the Illustrious One, but sadly passes away after a tragic snake bite. They are taken to  Siddhartha's and Vasudeva's hut where she dies and leaves her son behind. The boy experiences a strong feeling of hatred towards his father and Vasudeva. Their calm and loving manner towards his spoiled arguments brought him anger and frustration. As a result, the boy leaves one night and is never to be seen again. Siddhartha searches for him, and after many days of trying to heal the wound that his son had left behind, he realizes that he did the same thing to his father many years ago. Accepting what was happening and after a final teaching from Vasudeva and the river, he finds peace and finally understands the harmony of the "Om". 

The questions I asked in my second reading blog post were answered during this last section. When Siddhartha met Kamala, I thought that she would deviate him from the path that would lead him to find a way to conquer the self. However, having had Kamala as a lover, a luxurious life, and gambling where something he had to experience in order to reach peace. He had to know what it was like having everything, material wise, and yet finding himself empty. Siddhartha believed in learning through experience, he discovered what it was like to be rich, how  it was like to starve, to conquer the body, to leave people behind and because of all that he was able to become Gotama himself. As he explained at the ending, the bad must exist for us to be able to experience the good. "I learned through my body and soul that it was necessary for me to sin, that I needed lust, that I had to strive for property and experience nausea and the depths of despair in order to learn to resist them, in order to learn to love the world, and no longer cop are it with some kind of desired imaginary world, some imaginary vision of perfection, but to leave it as it is, to love it and be glad to belong to it" (p. 116). What appeared to be an obstacle in his path, was actually part of his journey. Siddhartha's journey to becoming Buddha.