Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 10 - The Son - Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter ten, the sun timid and weeping, the boy had
- 0:06Speaker 1: attended his mother's funeral, gloomy and shy. He had listened
- 0:11Speaker 1: to SidD Arthur, who greeted him as his son and
- 0:14Speaker 1: welcomed him at his place in Vasadeva's hut Pale. He
- 0:20Speaker 1: sat for many days by the heel of the dead,
- 0:23Speaker 1: did not want to eat, gave no open look, did
- 0:27Speaker 1: not open his heart. Met his fate with resistance and denial.
- 0:33Speaker 1: Sad Arthur spared him and let him do as he pleased.
- 0:37Speaker 1: He honored his mourning. Sid Arthur understood that his son
- 0:41Speaker 1: did not know him, that he could not love him
- 0:44Speaker 1: like a father. Slowly, he also saw and understood that
- 0:49Speaker 1: the eleven year old was a pampered boy, a mother's boy,
- 0:54Speaker 1: and that he had grown up in the habits of
- 0:56Speaker 1: rich people, accustomed to finer food, to a soft bed,
- 1:01Speaker 1: accustomed to giving orders to servants. Sir Arthur understood that
- 1:07Speaker 1: the morning pampered child could not suddenly and willingly be
- 1:12Speaker 1: content with a life among strangers and in poverty. He
- 1:16Speaker 1: did not force him. He did many a chore for him,
- 1:20Speaker 1: always picked the best piece of the meal for him. Slowly,
- 1:24Speaker 1: he hoped to win him over by friendly patience, rich
- 1:28Speaker 1: and happy, he had called himself when the boy had
- 1:31Speaker 1: come to him. Since time had passed on in the meanwhile,
- 1:36Speaker 1: and the boy remained a stranger and in a gloomy disposition,
- 1:40Speaker 1: since he displayed a proud and stubbornly disobedient heart, did
- 1:44Speaker 1: not want to do any work, did not pay his
- 1:47Speaker 1: respect to the old men, stole from Vasudiva's fruit trees.
- 1:53Speaker 1: Then Sir Arthur began to understand that his son had
- 1:56Speaker 1: not brought him happiness and peace, but and worry. But
- 2:02Speaker 1: he loved him, and he preferred the suffering and worries
- 2:06Speaker 1: of love over happiness and joy without the boy. Since
- 2:11Speaker 1: young Siddarthur was in the hut, the old man had
- 2:14Speaker 1: split the work. Vasudiva had again taken on the job
- 2:19Speaker 1: of the fairy man all by himself, and said Arthur,
- 2:23Speaker 1: in order to be with his son, did the work
- 2:25Speaker 1: in the hut and in the field for a long time.
- 2:30Speaker 1: For long months, said Arthur waited for his son to
- 2:33Speaker 1: understand him, to accept his love, to perhaps reciprocate it.
- 2:40Speaker 1: For long months, Vasudiva waited, watching, waited, and said nothing.
- 2:46Speaker 1: One day, when Saddarthur the younger had once again tormented
- 2:50Speaker 1: his father very much with spite and an unsteadiness in
- 2:54Speaker 1: his wishes, and had broken both of his rice bowls.
- 2:58Speaker 1: Vasudeva took in the evening his friend aside and talked
- 3:02Speaker 1: to him. Pardon me, he said, from a friendly heart,
- 3:08Speaker 1: I am talking to you. I am seeing that you
- 3:10Speaker 1: are tormenting yourself. I am seeing that you are in grief.
- 3:15Speaker 1: Your son, my dear, is worrying you, and he is
- 3:19Speaker 1: also worrying me. That young bird is accustomed to a
- 3:23Speaker 1: different life, to a different nest. He has not, like you,
- 3:28Speaker 1: run away from riches and the city, being disgusted and
- 3:32Speaker 1: fed up with it. Against his will, he had to
- 3:36Speaker 1: leave all this behind. I ask the river friend, many
- 3:41Speaker 1: times I have asked it. But the river laughs. It
- 3:45Speaker 1: laughs at me, It laughs at you and me, and
- 3:48Speaker 1: is shaking with laughter at our foolishness. Water wants to
- 3:54Speaker 1: join water. Youth wants to join youth. Your son is
- 3:59Speaker 1: not in the place where he can prosper. You too
- 4:03Speaker 1: should ask the river. You too should listen to it,
- 4:08Speaker 1: said Arthur looked into his friendly face in the many
- 4:11Speaker 1: wrinkles of which there was an incessant cheerfulness. How could
- 4:16Speaker 1: I part with him, he said, quietly, ashamed. Give me
- 4:21Speaker 1: some more time, my dear. See, I'm fighting for him.
- 4:25Speaker 1: I'm seeking to win his heart with love and with
- 4:29Speaker 1: friendly patience. I intend to capture it. One day, the
- 4:34Speaker 1: river shall also talk to him. He also is called upon.
- 4:40Speaker 1: Vasudeva's smile flourished more warmly. Oh, yes, he too is
- 4:46Speaker 1: called upon. He too is of the eternal life. But
- 4:51Speaker 1: do we you and me know what he is called
- 4:54Speaker 1: upon to do? What path to take, what actions to perform,
- 5:00Speaker 1: what pain to endure? Not a small one his pain
- 5:05Speaker 1: will be. After all, his heart is proud and hard.
- 5:09Speaker 1: People like this have to suffer a lot, er a lot,
- 5:14Speaker 1: do much injustice, burden themselves with much sin. Tell me,
- 5:19Speaker 1: my dear, you're not taking control of your son's upbringing.
- 5:23Speaker 1: You don't force him, you don't beat him, you don't
- 5:26Speaker 1: punish him. No, Vasudiva, I don't do anything of this.
- 5:32Speaker 1: I knew it. You don't force him, don't beat him,
- 5:35Speaker 1: don't give him orders, because you know that soft is
- 5:39Speaker 1: stronger than hard, water stronger than rocks, love stronger than force.
- 5:46Speaker 1: Very good, I praise you, But aren't you mistaken in
- 5:51Speaker 1: thinking that you wouldn't force him, wouldn't punish him. Don't
- 5:55Speaker 1: you shackle him with your love? Don't you make him
- 5:59Speaker 1: feel in fear every day? And don't you make it
- 6:02Speaker 1: even harder on him with your kindness and patience? Don't
- 6:06Speaker 1: you force him, the arrogant and pampered boy, to live
- 6:10Speaker 1: in a hut with two old banana eaters, to whom
- 6:13Speaker 1: even rice is a delicacy, whose thoughts can't be his,
- 6:18Speaker 1: whose hearts are old and quiet, and beats in a
- 6:22Speaker 1: different pace than his. Isn't forced? Isn't he punished by
- 6:27Speaker 1: all this? Troubled? Said Arthur, look to the ground. Quietly,
- 6:33Speaker 1: he asked, what do you think I should do, quoth Fasudeva.
- 6:39Speaker 1: Bring him into the city, Bring him into his mother's house.
- 6:44Speaker 1: There'll still be servants around, give him to them, And
- 6:48Speaker 1: when there aren't any around anymore, bring him to a teacher,
- 6:52Speaker 1: not for the teaching's sake, but so that he shall
- 6:55Speaker 1: be among other boys, and among girls, and in the
- 6:58Speaker 1: world which is his? Have you never thought of this?
- 7:03Speaker 1: You're seeing into my heart? Said Arthur, spoke sadly. Often
- 7:09Speaker 1: I have thought of this. But look, how shall I
- 7:12Speaker 1: put him who had no tender heart? Anyhow into this world.
- 7:18Speaker 1: Won't he become exuberant? Won't he lose himself to pleasure
- 7:21Speaker 1: and power? Won't he repeat all of his father's mistakes?
- 7:26Speaker 1: Won't he perhaps get entirely lost in Sansarah? Brightly the
- 7:32Speaker 1: ferry man smile lit up softly. He touched Arthur's arm
- 7:37Speaker 1: and said, ask the river about it, my friend, hear it,
- 7:41Speaker 1: laugh about it? Would you actually believe that you had
- 7:45Speaker 1: committed your foolish acts in order to spare your son
- 7:49Speaker 1: from committing them too? And could you in any way
- 7:53Speaker 1: protect your son from Sensarah? How could you by means
- 7:58Speaker 1: of teachings, prayer, admonition? My dear, have you entirely forgotten
- 8:05Speaker 1: that story, that story containing so many lessons, That story
- 8:10Speaker 1: about Siddartha, a Brahman son, which you once told me
- 8:14Speaker 1: here on this very spot. Who has kept a Samana
- 8:19Speaker 1: Saiddartha's safe from Sansara, from sin, from greed, from foolishness.
- 8:26Speaker 1: Were his father's religious devotion, his teacher's warnings, his own knowledge,
- 8:31Speaker 1: his own search able to keep him safe. Which father,
- 8:36Speaker 1: which teacher had been able to protect him from living
- 8:39Speaker 1: his life for himself, from soiling himself with life from
- 8:44Speaker 1: burdening himself with guilt, from drinking the bitter drink for himself,
- 8:50Speaker 1: from finding his path for himself. Would you think, my dear,
- 8:55Speaker 1: anybody might perhaps be spared from taking this path, That
- 8:59Speaker 1: perhaps your little son would be spared because you love him,
- 9:03Speaker 1: because you would like to keep him safe, because you
- 9:06Speaker 1: would like to keep him from suffering and pain and disappointment.
- 9:11Speaker 1: But even if you would die ten times for him,
- 9:14Speaker 1: you would not be able to take the slightest part
- 9:16Speaker 1: of his destiny upon yourself. Never before Vasudeva had spoken
- 9:23Speaker 1: so many words kindly. Siddartha thanked him, went troubled into
- 9:29Speaker 1: the hut, could not sleep for a long time. Vasudeva
- 9:35Speaker 1: had told him nothing he had not already thought and
- 9:38Speaker 1: known for himself. But this was a knowledge he could
- 9:42Speaker 1: not act upon. Stronger than the knowledge was his love
- 9:46Speaker 1: for the boy. Stronger was his tenderness, his fear to
- 9:50Speaker 1: lose him. Had he ever lost his heart so much
- 9:54Speaker 1: to something? Had he ever loved any person thus thus kindly,
- 10:00Speaker 1: thus sufferingly, thus unsuccessfully, and yet thus happily. Sir Darthur
- 10:09Speaker 1: could not heed his friend's advice. He could not give
- 10:13Speaker 1: up the boy. He let the boy give him orders,
- 10:16Speaker 1: he let him disregard him. He said nothing and waited daily.
- 10:21Speaker 1: He began the mute struggle of friendliness, the silent war
- 10:25Speaker 1: of patience. Vasud Diva said nothing and waited friendly, knowing patient,
- 10:34Speaker 1: they were both masters of patience. At one time, when
- 10:39Speaker 1: the boy's face reminded him very much of Kamala, Siddartha
- 10:44Speaker 1: suddenly had to think of a line which Kamala, a
- 10:47Speaker 1: long time ago, in the days of their youth, had
- 10:50Speaker 1: once said to him. You cannot love, she had said
- 10:54Speaker 1: to him, And he had agreed with her, and had
- 10:57Speaker 1: compared himself to a star while comparing the childlike people
- 11:01Speaker 1: with falling leaves. And nevertheless, he had also sensed an
- 11:05Speaker 1: accusation in that line. Indeed, he had never been able
- 11:09Speaker 1: to lose or devote himself completely to another person, to
- 11:14Speaker 1: forget himself, to commit foolish acts for the love of
- 11:18Speaker 1: another person. Never he had been able to do this.
- 11:22Speaker 1: And this was, as it seemed to him at that time,
- 11:25Speaker 1: the great distinction which set him apart from the childlike people.
- 11:30Speaker 1: But now, since his son was here, now, he said,
- 11:34Speaker 1: Arthur had become completely a childlike person, suffering for the
- 11:39Speaker 1: sake of another person, loving another person, lost to a love,
- 11:45Speaker 1: having become a fool on account of love. Now he
- 11:49Speaker 1: too felt late. Once in his lifetime, this strongest and
- 11:54Speaker 1: strangest of all passions suffered from it, suffered miserably, and
- 12:00Speaker 1: was nevertheless in bliss, was nevertheless renewed in one respect,
- 12:07Speaker 1: enriched by the one thing. He did sense very well
- 12:12Speaker 1: that his love, this blind love for his son, was
- 12:15Speaker 1: a passion, something very human, that it was sansara, a
- 12:21Speaker 1: murky source, dark waters. Nevertheless, he felt at the same
- 12:26Speaker 1: time it was not worthless, It was necessary, came from
- 12:30Speaker 1: the essence of his own being. This pleasure also had
- 12:35Speaker 1: to be atoned for. This pain also had to be endured.
- 12:39Speaker 1: These foolish acts also had to be committed. Through all this,
- 12:45Speaker 1: the son let him commit his foolish acts, let him
- 12:49Speaker 1: court for his affection, let him humiliate himself every day
- 12:54Speaker 1: by giving in to his moods. This father had nothing
- 12:58Speaker 1: which could have delighted him, and nothing which he would
- 13:01Speaker 1: have feared. He was a good man, this father, a good, kind,
- 13:07Speaker 1: soft man, perhaps a very devout man, perhaps a saint.
- 13:13Speaker 1: All these were no attributes which could win the boy over.
- 13:18Speaker 1: He was bored by his father, who kept him prisoner
- 13:21Speaker 1: here in this miserable hut of his. He was bored
- 13:25Speaker 1: by him, and for him to answer every naughtiness with
- 13:29Speaker 1: a smile, every insult with friendliness, every viciousness with kindness.
- 13:36Speaker 1: This very thing was the hated trick of this old sneak.
- 13:42Speaker 1: Much more the boy would have liked it if he
- 13:44Speaker 1: had been threatened by him, if he had been abused
- 13:47Speaker 1: by him. A day came when what young Saddhartha had
- 13:52Speaker 1: on his mind came bursting forth, and he openly turned
- 13:56Speaker 1: against his father. The latter had given him as he
- 14:01Speaker 1: had told him to gather brushwood. But the boy did
- 14:05Speaker 1: not leave the heart. In stubborn disobedience and rage, he
- 14:09Speaker 1: stayed where he was, thumped on the ground with his
- 14:12Speaker 1: feet clenched his fists, and screamed in a powerful outburst
- 14:17Speaker 1: his hatred and contempt into his father's face. Get the
- 14:23Speaker 1: brushwood for yourself, he shouted, foaming at the mouth. I'm
- 14:28Speaker 1: not your servant. I do know that you won't hit me,
- 14:31Speaker 1: you don't dare. I do know that you constantly want
- 14:35Speaker 1: to punish me and put me down with your religious
- 14:39Speaker 1: devotion and your indulgence. You want me to become like you,
- 14:44Speaker 1: just as devout, just as soft, just as wise. But
- 14:50Speaker 1: I listen up just to make you suffer. I rather
- 14:54Speaker 1: want to become a highway robber and a murderer and
- 14:58Speaker 1: to go to hell, than to become like you. I
- 15:01Speaker 1: hate you. You're not my father, and if you've been
- 15:05Speaker 1: ten times my mother's fornicata, rage and grief boiled over
- 15:10Speaker 1: in him. Foamed at the father in a hundred savage
- 15:14Speaker 1: and evil words. Then the boy ran away and only
- 15:18Speaker 1: returned late at night. But the next morning he had disappeared.
- 15:23Speaker 1: What had also disappeared was a small basket woven out
- 15:27Speaker 1: of bast of two colors, in which the ferrymen kept
- 15:30Speaker 1: those copper and silver coins which they received as a fair.
- 15:35Speaker 1: The boat had also disappeared. Sad Darthur sought it, lying
- 15:39Speaker 1: by the opposite bank. The boy had run away. I
- 15:45Speaker 1: must follow him, said Saddarthur, who had been shivering with
- 15:48Speaker 1: grief since those ranting speeches the boy had made yesterday.
- 15:53Speaker 1: A child can't go through the forest all alone. He'll perish.
- 15:57Speaker 1: We must build a raft, Vasudeva. To get over the water.
- 16:02Speaker 1: We will build a raft, said Vasudeva, to get our
- 16:06Speaker 1: boat back, which the boy has taken away but him.
- 16:11Speaker 1: You shall let run along, my friend, he is no
- 16:15Speaker 1: child any more. He knows how to get around. He's
- 16:19Speaker 1: looking for the path to the city, and he is right.
- 16:22Speaker 1: Don't forget that. He's doing what you've failed to do yourself.
- 16:27Speaker 1: He's taking care of himself. He's taking his course alas,
- 16:33Speaker 1: said Arthur, I see you suffering. But you're suffering are
- 16:37Speaker 1: pain at which one would like to laugh, at which
- 16:41Speaker 1: you'll soon laugh for yourself, said Arthur. Did not answer.
- 16:46Speaker 1: He already held the axe in his hands and began
- 16:49Speaker 1: to make a raft of bamboo, and Vasudeva helped him
- 16:53Speaker 1: to tie the canes together with ropes of grass. Then
- 16:57Speaker 1: they crossed over, drifted far off their course, pulled the
- 17:02Speaker 1: raft up river on the opposite bank. Why did you
- 17:06Speaker 1: take the axe along, asked Siddartha. Vasudeva said, it might
- 17:12Speaker 1: have been possible that the awe of our boat got lost.
- 17:16Speaker 1: Patsidartha knew what his friend was thinking. He thought the
- 17:21Speaker 1: boy would have thrown away or broken the oar in
- 17:24Speaker 1: order to get even and in order to keep them
- 17:27Speaker 1: from following him. And in fact there was no owe
- 17:31Speaker 1: left in the boat. Vasudeva pointed at the bottom of
- 17:35Speaker 1: the boat and looked at his friend with a smile,
- 17:38Speaker 1: as if he wanted to say, don't you see what
- 17:41Speaker 1: your son is trying to tell you? Don't you see
- 17:44Speaker 1: that he doesn't want to be followed? But he did
- 17:48Speaker 1: not say this in words. He started making a new awe.
- 17:53Speaker 1: Patsidartha bid his farewell to look for the runaway Vasudeva
- 17:58Speaker 1: did not stop him. When Suddartha had already been walking
- 18:03Speaker 1: through the forest for a long time, the thought occurred
- 18:06Speaker 1: to him that his search was useless, either so he
- 18:11Speaker 1: thought the boy was far ahead and had already reached
- 18:14Speaker 1: the city, or if he should still be on his way,
- 18:18Speaker 1: he would conceal himself from him the pursuer. As he
- 18:23Speaker 1: continued thinking, he also found that he, on his part,
- 18:27Speaker 1: was not worried for his son, for he knew deep
- 18:30Speaker 1: inside that he had neither perished nor was in any
- 18:34Speaker 1: danger in the forest. Nevertheless, he ran without stopping, no
- 18:39Speaker 1: longer to save him, just to satisfy his desire, just
- 18:43Speaker 1: to perhaps see him one more time, and he ran
- 18:47Speaker 1: up to just outside the city. When near the city
- 18:52Speaker 1: he reached a wide road, he stopped by the entrance
- 18:55Speaker 1: of the beautiful pleasure garden which used to belong to Kamala,
- 19:00Speaker 1: where he had seen her for the first time in
- 19:02Speaker 1: her sedan chair. The past rose up in his soul again.
- 19:07Speaker 1: He saw himself standing there, young, a bearded, naked Samana,
- 19:13Speaker 1: his hair full of dust. For a long time, Saddartha
- 19:17Speaker 1: stood there and looked through the open gate into the garden,
- 19:21Speaker 1: seeing monks in yellow robes walking among the beautiful trees.
- 19:26Speaker 1: For a long time, he stood there, pondering, seeing images,
- 19:31Speaker 1: listening to the story of his life. For a long time,
- 19:35Speaker 1: he stood there, looked at the monks, saw young Saddartha
- 19:39Speaker 1: in their place, saw young Kamala walking among the high trees. Clearly,
- 19:46Speaker 1: he saw himself being served food and drink by Kamala,
- 19:50Speaker 1: receiving his first kiss from her, looking proudly and disdainfully
- 19:55Speaker 1: back on his Brahmanism, beginning proudly and full of the
- 19:59Speaker 1: de desire his worldly life. He saw Kamaswami, saw the servants,
- 20:06Speaker 1: the orgies, the gamblers with the dice, the musicians, saw
- 20:12Speaker 1: Kamala's songbird in the cage. Live. Through all this once
- 20:17Speaker 1: again breathed Sansara was once again old and tired, felt
- 20:24Speaker 1: once again disgusted, felt once again the wish to annihilate himself,
- 20:30Speaker 1: was once again healed by the holy om. After having
- 20:35Speaker 1: been standing at the gate of the garden for a
- 20:38Speaker 1: long time, Saddarthur realized that his desire was foolish, which
- 20:42Speaker 1: had made him go up to this place, that he
- 20:45Speaker 1: could not help his son, that he was not allowed
- 20:48Speaker 1: to cling him deeply. He felt the love for the
- 20:53Speaker 1: runaway in his heart like a wound, And he felt
- 20:56Speaker 1: at the same time that this wound had not been
- 20:59Speaker 1: given to him him in order to turn the knife
- 21:01Speaker 1: in it, That it had to become a blossom and
- 21:05Speaker 1: had to shine. That this wound did not blossom, yet
- 21:10Speaker 1: did not shine yet at this hour made him sad.
- 21:15Speaker 1: Instead of the desired goal which had drawn him here
- 21:19Speaker 1: following the runaway sun, there was now emptiness. Sadly he
- 21:24Speaker 1: sat down, felt something dying in his heart, experienced emptiness,
- 21:30Speaker 1: saw no joy anymore, no goal. He sat last in
- 21:36Speaker 1: thought and waited. This he had learned by the river,
- 21:41Speaker 1: this one thing waiting, having patience, listening attentively. And he
- 21:48Speaker 1: sat and listened in the dust of the road, listened
- 21:53Speaker 1: to his heart beating tiredly, and sadly waited for a
- 21:57Speaker 1: voice hour. He crouched listening, saw no images anymore, fell
- 22:05Speaker 1: into emptiness, let himself fall without seeing a path, and
- 22:11Speaker 1: when he felt the wound burning, he silently spoke the olm,
- 22:17Speaker 1: filled himself with olm. The monks in the garden saw him,
- 22:22Speaker 1: and since he crouched there for many hours and dust
- 22:25Speaker 1: was gathering on his gray hair, one of them came
- 22:29Speaker 1: to him and placed two bananas in front of him.
- 22:33Speaker 1: The old man did not see him. From this petrified state,
- 22:38Speaker 1: he was awoken by a hand touching his shoulder. Instantly
- 22:42Speaker 1: he recognized this touch, this tender, bashful touch, and regained
- 22:47Speaker 1: his senses. He rose and greeted Vasudeva, who had followed him.
- 22:54Speaker 1: And when he looked into Vasudeva's friendly face, into the
- 22:58Speaker 1: small wrinkles, which were as if they were filled with
- 23:01Speaker 1: nothing but his smile, into the happy eyes, then he
- 23:06Speaker 1: smiled too. Now he saw the bananas lying in front
- 23:11Speaker 1: of him, picked them up, gave one to the faeryman
- 23:15Speaker 1: ate the other one himself. After this he silently went
- 23:19Speaker 1: back into the forest. With Vasudiva returned home to the fairy.
- 23:25Speaker 1: Neither one talked about what had happened to day. Neither
- 23:29Speaker 1: one mentioned the boy's name, neither one spoke about him
- 23:33Speaker 1: running away, neither one spoke about the wound in the hut.
- 23:39Speaker 1: Said Arthur lay down on his bed, and when after
- 23:42Speaker 1: a while Vasudeva came to him to offer him a
- 23:45Speaker 1: bowl of cocoanut milk, he already found him asleep. End
- 23:52Speaker 1: of Chapter ten.