English > ESSAY > Essay 1: Govinda’s Path to Enlightenment In the novel, Siddhartha: an Indian Tale, by Hermann Hess (All)

Essay 1: Govinda’s Path to Enlightenment In the novel, Siddhartha: an Indian Tale, by Hermann Hesse,

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Essay 1: Govinda’s Path to Enlightenment In the novel, Siddhartha: an Indian Tale, by Hermann Hesse, we are told the story of a boy, Siddhartha, who leaves every one and everything he has ever kno... wn in order to seek out enlightenment. Enlightenment, by definition, is being advanced and having gained necessary information or knowledge, especially spiritual knowledge. Siddhartha was bright and intelligent, and people in his community gawked over him, but he never achieved a level of spiritual knowledge, and peace within. He starts on his rough and long journey to enlightenment, and his friend, Govinda, joins him. The boys seek out Buddha in hopes of learning Nirvana and achieving enlightenment. While Govinda finds a sense of peace through Buddha’s teachings, Siddhartha is left hungry for more, and thus leaves Govinda, and continues his journey. Siddhartha does in fact achieve enlightenment, but at the end of the book we are left wondering, does Govinda too, in fact, achieve enlightenment? When reading the summary of the book on Spark Notes, we are informed that Govinda does achieve enlightenment; he just arrives there in a different way, but is this true? In my opinion, the book leaves you hanging on that statement and while there is no written confirmation that Govinda finally reaches enlightenment, I think the scenarios described in Siddhartha and Govinda’s last meeting, confirm that enlightenment was, in fact, achieved for Govinda [Show More]

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