The Influence Of A River In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha
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Later in the book, after his awakening, Siddhartha comes across a river and a ferryman who reaches salvation using the environment. He is different from the other characters, as he finds his peace not by influence from other speakers, but by embracing the area he lives in. “Is this what you mean? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future?” (107) Vasudeva listens to the river, because he believes that a river is a good example of what people want to become; at peace and not bothered by things that will pass. A river lives in the moment and a reason…show more content… “Do you think, my dear friend, that anybody is spared this path? Perhaps your little son, because you would like to see him spared sorrow and pain and disillusionment? But if you were to die ten times for him, you would not alter his destiny in the slightest” (121). Vasudeva knows that Siddhartha and his son’s path are different and cannot be the same. He urges Siddhartha to let himself accept it and move on, for there is nothing he can do about it. From his words, we can tell that Vasudeva believes that salvation is accepting what is around you and to reach it, you must let go of the past and the future. “As he went on talking and confessing, Siddhartha felt more and more that this was no longer Vasudeva, no longer a man who was listening to him. He felt that this motionless listener was absorbing his confession as a tree absorbs the rain, that this motionless man was the river itself, that he was God Himself, that he was eternity itself” (133). This is the point where Vasudeva reaches salvation and the point where Siddhartha realizes it,