Enlightenment at Last

Siddhartha becomes the embodiment of hypocrisy when he tries to impose his views on his son. He does not realize that he left his own father and future as a Brahmin for the group of Samanas. Siddhartha's central belief when it comes to enlightenment is that it must be found within one's own self. His son, however, is not being given this opportunity because his father's love is getting in the way. Siddhartha influences the character of his son through a lack of discipline. This results in the stubbornness, unhappiness, and downright depression that characterize the son's life and ultimately lead him to stealing the ferrymen's money and running away. However, this wound to Siddhartha's emotional health results in his enlightenment of the idea that all time is captured in the present moment. In himself, Siddhartha sees both his father and his son and realizes that life is a unity of all time, space, and experience. This brings in another theme in the novel--one of a recurrent cycle of time--a unity of all time that makes up the present. Not only does all time become one entity, but so do the all of the different voices of the river. When Siddhartha listens to them, he hears voices "entwined in a thousand ways . . . the great song of a thousand voices consisted of one word: Om--perfection" (135-136). It is at this point that Vasuveda leaves Siddhartha in Siddhartha's newly found "serenity of knowledge" (136).