The River

“One can learn much from a river,”(Hesse 49). In the book Siddhartha, a recurring image or motif is the river that Siddhartha visits. Siddhartha first encounter with the river and noble ferryman  is while he is on his way to the city where Kamala resides, “..it is a very beautiful river. I love it above everything... I have always learned something from it,”(Hesse 49).  This is only the beginning of his encounters with the river, and how it represents Siddhartha’s journey of carefreeness and unity with one self. Siddhartha’s second encounter with the river after he departs from the rich life he had with Kamala and Kamaswami. “Siddhartha reached the long river in the wood, the same river across which a ferryman had once taken him when he was still a young man and had come from Gotama’s town. He stopped at this river and stood hesitantly on the bank,”(Hesse 88). This is the moment when Siddhartha has to choose if he wants to go on in life, or just fall into the river and let all worries go by committing suicide at that very moment.Looking back at his journey, he has not yet reached enlightenment, but as he looks at the river, it shows him the eternity of all things and the universe and he falls into a deep sleep. Siddhartha sleeps for many hours, and when he awakes, he realizes he has attained enlightenment, all by listening and learning from the river to let things go. Siddhartha makes the decision to stay by the river, with the ferryman, named Vasudeva, and serve as an assistant and bring others across the river. “Love this river, stay by it, learn from it,”(Hesse 101), is exactly what Siddhartha was going to do because, “..whoever understood this river and its secrets, would understand much more, many secrets, all secrets,”(Hesse 102). The river is not what bestows enlightenment on someone, but rather helps to direct the thoughts of any individual who is willing to listen, which is what Siddhartha does when he repeatedly returns to the river for words of advice.