Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 09 - The Ferryman - Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse

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09 - The Ferryman - Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse · Philosophy and Faith

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter nine, The ferry Man by this river, I want
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to stay, thought said Arthur. It is the same which
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I have crossed a long time ago on my way
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  Speaker 1: to the childlike people. A friendly fairy man had guided me.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Then he is the wine I want to go to.
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  Speaker 1: Starting out from his hut, my path had led me
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  Speaker 1: at that time into a new life, which had now
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  Speaker 1: grown old and is dead. My present path, my present
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  Speaker 1: new life, shall also take its start there. Tenderly, he
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  Speaker 1: looked into the rushing water, into the transparent green, into
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  Speaker 1: the crystal lines of its drawing, so rich in secrets,
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  Speaker 1: bright pearls he saw rising from the deep quiet bubbles
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  Speaker 1: of air floating on the reflecting surface, the blue of
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  Speaker 1: the sky being depicted in it with a thousand eyes.
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  Speaker 1: The river looked at him with green ones, with white ones,
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  Speaker 1: with crystal ones, with sky blue ones. How did he
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  Speaker 1: love this water? How did it delight him? How grateful
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  Speaker 1: was he to it? In his heart? He heard the
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  Speaker 1: water talking, which was newly awakening, and it told him,
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  Speaker 1: love this water, stay near it, learn from it. Oh, yes,
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  Speaker 1: he wanted to learn from it. He wanted to listen
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  Speaker 1: to it. He who would understand this water and its secrets,
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  Speaker 1: so it seemed to him, would also understand many other things,
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  Speaker 1: many secrets, all secrets. But out of all secrets of
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  Speaker 1: the river he today only saw one. This one touched
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  Speaker 1: his soul. He saw this water ran and ran incessantly,
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  Speaker 1: It ran and was nevertheless always there was, always, at
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  Speaker 1: all times the same, and yet knew in every moment.
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  Speaker 1: Great be he who would grasp this. Understand this He
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  Speaker 1: understood and grasped it, not only felt some idea of
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  Speaker 1: its stirring a distant memory, divine voices. Sir Arthur rose,
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  Speaker 1: the workings of hunger in his body became unbearable. In
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  Speaker 1: a daze, he walked on up the path by the river, upriver,
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  Speaker 1: listened to the current, listened to the rumbling hunger in
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  Speaker 1: his body. When he reached the ferry, the boat was
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  Speaker 1: just ready, and the same ferryman who had once transported
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  Speaker 1: the young Samana across the river stood in the boat.
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  Speaker 1: Saddarthur recognized him. He had also aged very much. Would
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  Speaker 1: you like to ferry me over? He asked. The ferryman,
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  Speaker 1: being astonished to see such an elegant man walking along
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  Speaker 1: and on foot, took him into his boat and pushed
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  Speaker 1: it off. The bank. It is a beautiful life you
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  Speaker 1: have chosen for yourself. The passenger spoke, it must be
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  Speaker 1: beautiful to live by this water every day, and a
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  Speaker 1: cruise on it with a smile. The man at the
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  Speaker 1: oar moved from side to side. It is beautiful, sir.
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  Speaker 1: It is as you say. But isn't every life? Isn't
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  Speaker 1: every work beautiful? This may be true, but I envy
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  Speaker 1: you yours. Ah, you would soon stop enjoying it. This
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  Speaker 1: is nothing for people where wearing fine clothes, said Arthur laughed.
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  Speaker 1: Once before, I have been looked upon to day because
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  Speaker 1: of my clothes. I have been looked upon with distrust.
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  Speaker 1: Wouldn't you, fairyman, like to accept these clothes, which are
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  Speaker 1: a nuisance to me from me? For you must know
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  Speaker 1: I have no money to pay your fare. You are joking, sir,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the ferryman laughed. I am not joking. Friend. Behold, once
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  Speaker 1: before you have ferried me across this water in your
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  Speaker 1: boat for the immaterial reward of a good deed. Thus
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  Speaker 1: do it to day as well, and accept my clothes
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  Speaker 1: for it. And do you, sir, intend to continue traveling
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  Speaker 1: without clothes? Ah? Most of all, I wouldn't want to
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  Speaker 1: continue traveling at all. Most of all, I would like you, fairyman,
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  Speaker 1: to give me an old loin cloth and keep me
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  Speaker 1: as your assistant, or rather as your trainee, for I'll
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  Speaker 1: have to learn first how to handle the boat. For
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  Speaker 1: a long time, the ferry man looked at the stranger, searching.
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  Speaker 1: Now I recognize you, he finally said. At one time
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  Speaker 1: you've slept in my hut. This was a long time ago,
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  Speaker 1: possibly more than twenty years ago, and you've been ferried
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  Speaker 1: across the river by me, and we parted like good friends.
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  Speaker 1: Haven't you been a samana? I can't think of your
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  Speaker 1: name any more. My name is sir Darthur, and I
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  Speaker 1: was a samana when you last saw me. So be welcome,
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  Speaker 1: said Darthur. My name is Vasud'va. You will, so, I hope,
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  Speaker 1: be my guest to day as well as sleep in
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  Speaker 1: my heart, and tell me where you're coming from and
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  Speaker 1: why these beautiful clothes are such a nuisance to you.
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  Speaker 1: They had reached the middle of the river, and Vasudeva
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  Speaker 1: pushed the oar with more strength in order to overcome
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  Speaker 1: the current. He worked calmly, his eyes fixed on the
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  Speaker 1: front of the boat. With brawny arms Siddartha sat and
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  Speaker 1: watched him and remembered how once before, on that last
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  Speaker 1: day of his time as a Samana, love for this
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  Speaker 1: man had stirred in his heart. Gratefully, he accepted Vasudeva's invitation.
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  Speaker 1: When they had reached the bank, he helped him to
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  Speaker 1: tie the boat to the stakes. After this, the ferryman
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  Speaker 1: asked him to enter the hut, offered him bread and water,
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  Speaker 1: and Saddartha ate with eager pleasure, and also ate with
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  Speaker 1: eager pleasure of the mango fruits Vasudiva offered him. Afterwards,
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  Speaker 1: it was almost the time of the sunset. They sat
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  Speaker 1: on a log by the bank, and Saddartha told the
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  Speaker 1: fairy man about where he originally had come from, and
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  Speaker 1: about his life as he had seen it before his
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  Speaker 1: eyes to day, in that hour of despair, until late
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  Speaker 1: at night lasted his tale. Vasudeva listened with great attention,
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  Speaker 1: listened carefully. He let everything enter his mind, birthplace and childhood,
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  Speaker 1: all that learning, all that searching, all joy, all distress.
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  Speaker 1: This was among the fairy Man's virtues, one of the greatest.
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  Speaker 1: Like only a few he knew how to listen without
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  Speaker 1: him having spoken a word. The speaker sensed how Vasudiva
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  Speaker 1: let his words enter his mind, quiet, open waiting, how
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  Speaker 1: he did not lose a single word, awaited, not a
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  Speaker 1: single one with impatience, did not add his phrase or rebuke,
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  Speaker 1: was just listening. Sadd Arthur felt, what a happy fortune
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  Speaker 1: it is to confess to such a listener, to bury
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  Speaker 1: in his heart his own life, his own search, his
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  Speaker 1: own suffering. But in the end of Saddarthur's tale, when
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  Speaker 1: he spoke of the tree by the river, and of
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  Speaker 1: his deep fall of the holy om, and how he
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  Speaker 1: had felt such a love for the river after his slumber,
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  Speaker 1: the ferry man listened with twice the attention, entirely and
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  Speaker 1: completely absorbed by it, with his eyes closed. And when
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  Speaker 1: Sirdarthur felt silent, and a long silence had occurred, then
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  Speaker 1: Vasudeva said, it is as I thought. The river has
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  Speaker 1: spoken to you. It is your friend as well. It
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  Speaker 1: speaks to you as well. That is good, That is
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  Speaker 1: very good. Stay with me, said Arthur, my friend. I
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  Speaker 1: used to have a wife. Her bed was next to mine,
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  Speaker 1: but she has died a long time ago. For a
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  Speaker 1: long time I have lived alone. Now you shall live
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  Speaker 1: with me. There is space and food for both. I
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  Speaker 1: thank you, said Sadartha. I thank you and accept, and
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  Speaker 1: I also thank you for this, Vasudiva for listening to
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  Speaker 1: me so well. These people are rare who know how
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  Speaker 1: to listen. And I did not meet a single one
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  Speaker 1: who knew it as well as you did. I will
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  Speaker 1: also learn in this respect from you. You will learn it,
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  Speaker 1: spoke Vasudiva, but not from me. The river has taught
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  Speaker 1: me to listen. From it, you will learn it as well.
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  Speaker 1: It knows everything, the river. Everything can be learned from it. See,
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  Speaker 1: you've already learned this from the river, to that it
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  Speaker 1: is good to strive downwards, to sink, to seek depth.
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  Speaker 1: The rich and elegant Siddhartha is becoming an oarsman servant
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  Speaker 1: the learned Brahman Siddhartha becomes a faery man. This has
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  Speaker 1: also been told to you by the river. You'll learn
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  Speaker 1: that other thing from it as well, quoth Siddhartha, after
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  Speaker 1: a long pause. What other thing, Vasudiva? Vasudiva rose, it
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  Speaker 1: is late, he said, let's go to sleep. I can't
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  Speaker 1: tell you that other thing. Oh friend, you'll learn it,
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  Speaker 1: or perhaps you already know it. See I'm no learned man,
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  Speaker 1: I have no special skill in speaking. I also have
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  Speaker 1: no special skill in thinking. All I'm able to do
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  Speaker 1: is to listen and to be godly. I have learned
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  Speaker 1: nothing else. If I was able to say and to
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  Speaker 1: teach it, I might be a wise man. But like this,
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  Speaker 1: I am only a faery man. And it is my
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  Speaker 1: task to ferry people across the river. I have transported
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  Speaker 1: many thousands, and to all of them, my river has
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  Speaker 1: been nothing but an obstacle on their travels. They traveled
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  Speaker 1: to seek money and business, and for weddings, and on pilgrimages,
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  Speaker 1: and the river was obstructing their path, and the ferryman's
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  Speaker 1: job was to get them quickly across that obstacle. But
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  Speaker 1: for some among the thousand, a few, four or five,
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  Speaker 1: the river has stopped being an obstacle. They have heard
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  Speaker 1: its voice, they have listened to it, and the river
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  Speaker 1: has become sacred to them, as it has become sacred
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  Speaker 1: to me. Let's rest now, said Arthur. Sir Arthur stayed
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  Speaker 1: with the ferryman and learned to operate the boat, And
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  Speaker 1: when there was nothing to do with the ferry, he
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  Speaker 1: worked with Vasudiva in the rice field, gathered wood, plucked
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  Speaker 1: the fruit off the banana trees. He learned to build
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  Speaker 1: an oar, and learned to mend the boat, and to
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  Speaker 1: weave baskets, and was joyful because of everything he learned.
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  Speaker 1: And the days and months passed quickly, but more than
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  Speaker 1: Vasudeva could teach him. He was taught by the river incessantly.
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  Speaker 1: He learned from it. Most of all, he learned from
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  Speaker 1: it to listen, to pay hose attention, with a quiet heart,
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  Speaker 1: with a waiting opened soul, without passion, without a wish,
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  Speaker 1: without judgment, without an opinion, in a friendly manner. He
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  Speaker 1: lived side by side with Vasudeva, and occasionally they exchanged
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  Speaker 1: some words few and at length thought about words. Vasudeva
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  Speaker 1: was no friend to words. Rarely said Arthur succeeded in
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  Speaker 1: persuading him to speak. Did you so, he asked him,
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  Speaker 1: at one time, Did you too learn that secret from
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  Speaker 1: the river that there is no time? Vasudeva's face was
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  Speaker 1: filled with a bright smile. Yes, said Arthur, he spoke.
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  Speaker 1: It is this what you mean, isn't it? That the
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  Speaker 1: river is everywhere at once, at the source and at
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  Speaker 1: the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids,
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  Speaker 1: in the sea, in the mountains, everywhere at once, and
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  Speaker 1: that there is only the present for it, not the
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  Speaker 1: shadow of the past, not the shadow of the future.
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  Speaker 1: This it is, said, said Arthur. And when I had
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  Speaker 1: learned it, I looked at my life, and it was
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  Speaker 1: also a river. And the boy, said Arthur, was only
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  Speaker 1: separated from the man, said Arthur, and from the old man,
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  Speaker 1: said Arthur, by a shadow, not something real. Also said
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  Speaker 1: Arthur's previous births were no past, and his death and
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  Speaker 1: his return to Brahma was no future. Nothing was, nothing
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  Speaker 1: will be, Everything is, everything has existence and is present.
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  Speaker 1: Sad Arthur spoke with ecstasy deeply. This enlightenment had delighted him.
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  Speaker 1: Oh was not all suffering. Time were not all forms
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  Speaker 1: of tormenting oneself and being afraid? Time was not everything hard,
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  Speaker 1: everything hostile in the world gone and overcome as soon
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  Speaker 1: as one had overcome time, as soon as time would
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  Speaker 1: have been put out of existence by one's thoughts. In
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  Speaker 1: ecstatic delight, he had spoken, but Vasu Diva smiled at
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  Speaker 1: him brightly and nodded in confirmation. Silently, he nodded, brushed
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  Speaker 1: his hand over Sir Arthur's shoulder, turned back to his work,
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  Speaker 1: and once again, when the river had just increased its
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  Speaker 1: flow in they season and made a powerful noise. Then
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  Speaker 1: said Saddarthur, isn't it so o, friend? The river has
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  Speaker 1: many voices, many many voices. Hasn't it the voice of
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  Speaker 1: a king, and of a warrior, and of a bull,
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  Speaker 1: and of a bird of the night, and a woman
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  Speaker 1: giving birth, and of a sighing man, and a thousand
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  Speaker 1: other voices? More so it is, Vasudeva nodded, All voices
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  Speaker 1: of the creature are in its voice. And do you know,
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  Speaker 1: said Arthur, continued, what word it speaks when you succeed
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  Speaker 1: in hearing all of its ten thousand voices at once? Happily,
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  Speaker 1: Vasudeva's face was smiling. He bent over to Saddartha and
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  Speaker 1: spoke the holy om in his ear. And this had
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  Speaker 1: been the very thing which Siddhartha had also been hearing.
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  Speaker 1: And time after time his smile became more similar to
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  Speaker 1: the fairry man's, became almost just as bright, almost just
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  Speaker 1: as thoughtfully glowing with bliss, just as shining out of
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  Speaker 1: thousand small wrinkles, just as alike to a child's, just
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  Speaker 1: as alike to an old man's. Many travelers, seeing the
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: two ferry men, thought they were brothers. Often they sat
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  Speaker 1: in the evening together by the bank on the log,
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  Speaker 1: said nothing, and both listened to the water, which was
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  Speaker 1: no water to them, but the voice of life, the
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  Speaker 1: voice of what exists, of what is eternally taking shape.
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  Speaker 1: And it happened from time to time that both, when
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  Speaker 1: listening to the water, thought of the same things, of
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  Speaker 1: a conversation from the day before, yesterday, of one of
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  Speaker 1: their travelers, the face and fate of whom had occupied
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: their thoughts, of death, of their childhood, And that they both,
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  Speaker 1: in the same moment, when the river had been saying
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  Speaker 1: something good to them, looked at each other, both thinking
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  Speaker 1: precisely the same thing, both delighted about the same answer
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: to the same question. There was something about this fairy
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  Speaker 1: and the two ferrymen which was transmitted to others, which
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  Speaker 1: many of the travelers felt. It happened occasionally that a traveler,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: after having looked at the face of one of the
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: fairy men, started to tell the story of his life,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: told about pains, confessed evil things, asked for comfort and advice.
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  Speaker 1: It happened occasionally that someone asked for permission to stay
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  Speaker 1: for a night with them to listen to the river.
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  Speaker 1: It also happened that curious people came who had been
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: told that there were two wise men or sorcerers or
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  Speaker 1: holy men living by that faery. The curious people asked
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: many questions, but they got no answers, and they found
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  Speaker 1: neither sorcerers nor wise men. They only found two friendly,
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  Speaker 1: little old men who seemed to be mute and to
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: have become a bit strange and gugger. And the curious
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: people laughed and were discussing how foolishly and gullibly the
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: common people were spreading such empty rumors. The years passed by,
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  Speaker 1: and nobody counted them. Then at one time monks came
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  Speaker 1: by on a pilgrimage followers of Gatama the Buddha, who
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: were asking to be ferried across the river, And by
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: then the ferrymen were told that they were most hurriedly
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  Speaker 1: walking back to their great teacher, for the news had
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: spread the Exalted One was deadly sick and would soon
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: die his last human death in order to become one
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: with the salvation. It was not long until a new
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  Speaker 1: flock of monks came along on their pilgrimage, and another one,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: and the monks, as well as most of the other
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: travelers and people walking through the land spoke of nothing
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  Speaker 1: else than of Gautama and his impending death. And as
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: people are flocking from everywhere and from all sides, when
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: they are going to war or to the coronation of
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: a king, and are gathering like ants in droves, thus
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: they flocked, like being drawn on by a magic spell,
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  Speaker 1: to where the great Buddha was awaiting his death, where
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  Speaker 1: the huge event was to take place, and the great
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: perfected one of an era was to become one with
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  Speaker 1: the glory. Often said Arthur thought, in those days of
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the dying wise man, the great teacher, whose voice had
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  Speaker 1: admonished nations and had awoken hundreds of thousands, whose voice
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: he had also once heard, whose holy face he had
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: also once seen with respect. Kindly he thought of him,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: saw his path to perfection before his eyes, and remembered
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  Speaker 1: with a smile those words which he had once as
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: a young man said to him the exalted One. They
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: had been so it seemed to him, proud and precocious words.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: With a smile, he remembered them for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: He knew that there was nothing standing between Gautama and
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: him anymore, though he was still unable to accept his teachings. No,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: there was no teaching a truly searching person, someone who
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: truly wanted to find could accept. But he who had found,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: he could approve of any teachings, every path, every goal.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: There was nothing standing between him and all the other
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: thousand anymore who lived in that what is eternal, who
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: breathed what is divine. On one of these days when
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: so many went on a pilgrimage to the dying Buddha,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Kamala also went to him, who used to be one
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: of the most beautiful of the Cortazans. A long time ago.
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  Speaker 1: She had retired from her previous life, had given her
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: garden to the monks of God Tarma as a gift,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: had taken her refuge in the teachings, was among the
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: friends and benefactors of the pilgrims. Together with Siddartha, the boy,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: her son. She had gone on her way due to
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: the news of the near death of Gautama. In simple
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: clothes on foot with her little son, she was traveling
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: by the river, but the boy had soon grown tired,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: desired to go back home, desired to rest, desired to eat,
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  Speaker 1: became disobedient and started whining Kamala often had to take
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: a rest with him. He was accustomed to having his
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: way against her. She had to feed him, had to
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: comfort him, had to scold him. He did not comprehend
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  Speaker 1: why he had to go on this exhausting and sad
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: pilgrimage with his mother to an unknown place, to a
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  Speaker 1: stranger who was holy and about to die. So what
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: if he died? How did this concern the boy? The
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: pilgrims were getting close to Vasudeva's ferry when little Saddhartha
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: once again forced his mother to rest. She Kamala herself
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: had also become tired, and while the boy was chewing
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  Speaker 1: a banana, she crouched down on the ground, closed her
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: eyes a bit, and rested. But suddenly she uttered a
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: wailing scream. The boy looked at her in fear and
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: saw her face having grown pale from horror, and from
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  Speaker 1: under her dress a small black snake fled by which
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Kamala had been bitten. Hurriedly, they now both ran along
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  Speaker 1: the path in order to reach people, and got near
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the ferry. There, Kamala collapsed and was not able to
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: go any further, but the boy started crying miserably. Only
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: interrupting it to kiss and hug his mother, and she
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: also joined his loud screams for help, until the sound
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: reached Vasudeva's ears, who stood at the ferry. Quickly he
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: came walking, took the woman on his arms, carried her
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: into the boat. The boy ran along, and soon they
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: all reached the hut, where Siddartha stood by the stove
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: and was just lighting the fire. He looked up and
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: first saw the boy's face, which wondrously reminded him of
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: something like a warning to remember something he had forgotten.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Then he saw Kamala, whom he instantly recognized, though she
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: lay unconscious in the ferry man's arms, And now he
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: knew that it was his own son whose face had
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: been such a warning reminder to him, and the heart
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: stirred in his chest. Kamala's wound was washed, but had
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: already turned black, and her body was swollen. She was
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: made to drink a healing potion. Her consciousness returned. She
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: lay on Sir Darthur's bed in the hut and bent
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: over her stood said d Arthur, who used to love
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: her so much, it seemed like a dream to her,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: with a smile. She looked at her friend's face. Just slowly,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: she realized her situation, remembered the bite, called timidly for
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the boy. He's with you. Don't worry, said sadd Arthur.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Kamala looked into his eyes. She spoke with a heavy tongue,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: paralyzed by the poison. You've become old, my dear, she said,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: You've become gray. But you are like the young Samana
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: who at one time came without clothes with dusty feet
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: to me into the garden. You are much more like
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: him than you were like him at the time when
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: you had left me and come aswami. In the eyes,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: you're like him, said Arthur. Alas I have also grown old. Old,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: could you still recognize me, said Arthur, smiled instantly, I
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: recognized you, Kamala, my dear. Kamala pointed to her boy
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: and said, did you recognize him as well? He is
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: your son. Her eyes became confused and fell shut. The
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: boy wept, said Arthur. Took him on his knees, let
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: him weep, petted his hair, and at the sight of
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the child's face, a Brahman prayer came to his mind,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: which he had learned a long time ago when he
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: had been a little boy himself. Slowly, with a singing voice,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: he started to speak from his past and childhood. The
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: words came flowing to him, and with that sing song,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: the boy became calm, was only now and then uttering
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: a sob and fell asleep. Sadd Arthur placed him Onvasudeva's bed.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Vasudeva stood by the stove and cooked rice. Sadd Arthur
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: gave him a look, which he returned with a smile.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: She'll die, said, Arthur said Quietlyvasudeva nodded over his friendly face,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: ran the light of the stove's fire. Once again, Kamala
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: returned to consciousness. Pain distorted her face, said Arthur's eyes
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: read the suffering on her mouth, on her pale cheeks. Quietly,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: He read it attentively, waiting, his mind becoming one with
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: her suffering. Kamala felt it. Her gaze sought his eyes,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: looking at him. She said, now I see that your
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: eyes have changed as well. They've become completely different. But
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: what do I still recognize that you're said Arthur. It's
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: you and it's not you, Sir Arthur said nothing. Quietly,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: his eyes looked at hers. You have achieved it, she asked,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: You have found peace. He smiled and placed his hand
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: on hers. I'm seeing it, she said, I'm seeing it.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I too will find peace. You have found it, said Arthur,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: spoke in a whisper. Kamala never stopped looking into his eyes.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: She thought about her pilgrimage to Gautama, which wanted to
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: take in order to see the face of the perfected One,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: to breathe his peace. And she thought that she had
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: now found him in his place, and that it was good,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: just as good as if she had seen the other one.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: She wanted to tell this to him, but the tongue
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: no longer obeyed her will. Without speaking, she looked at him,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: and he saw the life fading from her eyes when
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: the final pain filled her eyes and made them grow dim,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: when the final shiver ran through her limbs, his finger
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: closed her eyelids. For a long time, he sat and
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: looked at her peacefully dead face. For a long time,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: he observed her mouth, her old tired mouth, with those
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: lips which had become thin, and he remembered that he
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: used to, in the spring of his years, compare this
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: mouth with a freshly cracked fig. For a long time,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: he sat red in the pale face in the tired wrinkles,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: filled himself with this sight, saw his own face lying
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: in the same manner, just as white, just as quenched out,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: and saw at the same time his face and hers
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: being young, with red lips, with fiery eyes, and the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: feeling of this both being present and at the time real.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: The feeling of eternity completely filled every aspect of his
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: being deeply. He felt, more deeply than ever before, in
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: this hour, the indestructibility of every life, the eternity of
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: every moment. When he rose, Vasudiva had prepared rice for him,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: but Siddartha did not eat. In the stable where their
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: goats stood, the two old men prepared beds of straw
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: for themselves, and Vasudeva lay himself down to sleep. But
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Siddhartha went outside and sat this night before the hut,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: listening to the river, surrounded by the past, touched and
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: encircled by all times of his life at the same time.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: But occasionally he rose, stepped to the door of the
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: hut and listened whether the boy was sla Early in
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: the morning, even before the sun could be seen, Vasudeva
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: came out of the stable and walked over to his friend.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: You haven't slept, he said, No Vasadiva, I sat here.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I was listening to the river A lot. It has
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: told me deeply. It has filled me with the healing thought,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: with the thought of oneness. You've experienced suffering, said Arthur.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: But I see no sadness has entered your heart. No,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: my dear, how should I be sad? I who have
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: been rich and happy, have become even richer and happier.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Now my son has been given to me. Your son
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: shall be welcome to me as well. But now, said Arthur,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: let's get to work. There. There is much to be done.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Kamala has died on the same bed on which my
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: wife had died a long time ago. Let us also
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: build Kamala's funeral pile on the same hill on which
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: I had then built my wife's funeral pile. While the
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: boy was still asleep, they built the funeral pile. End
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: of Chapter nine.