Siddhartha tells Govinda, "I needed lust, the desire for possessions, vanity , and the most shameful despair in order to learn how to surrender all resistance, love the world, and stop comparing it to some kind of world that I imagined or wished for- a perfection that I had dreamed up. I had to learn how to leave the world as it is, to love it, and to enjoy being part of it."
In a well-developed and textually supported post, explain how Siddhartha came by this wisdom, and why this advice is appropriate for Govinda. Avoid plot summary.
Siddhartha basically came by this wisdom by seeing that everything is equal. He was the son of a Brahman and wanted to become a samana. He eventually got tired of that life. Then he lived a life that revolved around material things. That lifestyle disgusted him. The significance is that no matter what changes he made in his life it wasnt satisfied. He thought the life of material things would be better than the life of spirituality but neither were no better than the other.. "Therefore, I see whatever exists as good, death is to me like life, sin like holiness, wisdom like foolishness, everything has to be as it is, everything only requires my consent, only my willingness, my loving agreement, to be good for me, to do nothing but work for my benefit, to be unable to ever harm me. I have experienced on my body and on my soul that I needed sin very much..."
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha poured his thoughts on Govinda about how he found himself as a whole. He took Govinda on a journey through the wrong turns and mistakes he made on his way to finding his awakening. He didn't talk about the journey in its entirety, but hit on all the key points. He hit on the most important points, the mistakes he made! He showed Govinda the struggles he put amongst himself, by making bad choices that later affected decisions made by he. Siddhartha made life tough on himself, from giving up on the journey of his awakening altogether, to ending up with a child in the long run: one whom he just became a part of his life towards the end of his (Siddhartha) awakening. He fully realized when he was with Vasudeva, with the river's ensuing thoughts, that he had to let himself love, not make himself try to love. When Siddhartha learned love and fully gained the wisdom and knowledge by himself through the ferry rides, with people of different lifestyles, then he had fully awaken himself to his inner-being. He then made it a point to reach that helping hand back out to others and show and teach them the way to their awakening, and not taking the path he took, because the path he took was not promising, and left himself, as well as others, with holes to fill. He set the notion onto Govinda that he'll find his awakening when he learns the value of loving, and Govinda set out to do that, and in the end, the advice set on the heart of Govinda as his promising awakening became true.
ReplyDelete-Andrew Pryor
To give up something you must experience it first and then only can you give it up, just as Siddhartha says it here like a beggar who says he has given up money is just worthless talk as he has not experienced money to give it up for good. Sid here says he needed to experience all this to give his attachment towards these things and mental states.
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