MohanScrabook7

=Mohan Danis's Self Realization Scrapbook=

=With the Samanas= =The Assignment=

To get a feeling for how the Samanas, Indian ascetics that are found in the novel //Siddhartha//, try to reach enlightenment, we gave up something we enjoy for a week. I chose to give up golfing, because it's technically not something I **need**. Technically.

Getting Started[[image:http://jgeitner.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/golfing.jpg width="163" height="131" align="left"]]
The first day I thought about the assignment, I thought it was fairly easy to do, I was wrong. Golfing is an activity that i do everyday, and if I don't golf then i feel bored and sad. I had to think of other things to do to keep me preoccupied for one week. Every time I thought about golfing I thought about how long the week was, "Life was pain" (Hesse pg. 14), Siddhartha had said when he was going to be an ascetic. The second day was one day down, but for me 6 more days to go until i could play golf, just thinking about it made my self control decrease, this was going to be hard to do. All I had to do was to keep my mind on the thing I was doing then I could get through the week easier. The third day felt like the hundredth day, time was going by so slow now that i couldn't do my favorite activity.

[[image:http://theplanetd.com/images/sad-face.jpg width="198" height="157" align="left"]]Mid-Week
On the fourth day I managed to contain myself from thinking too much about golfing. I learned to focus my thoughts on other things. This made me think, "Have i reached my goal" (pg.16), the reason is because, my goal was to have more self control by the end of the week, and experience new things i haven't done in a while. I got lucky on this day because tomorrow was a different day. I had thought i forgot all the stuff i taught myself on the fourth day. I couldn't focus that well, couldn't really control my thoughts as i did yesterday, it was another long day. ==By The End== I had so far lasted a full 5 days without playing golf, but was that enough I thought, if i played golf, "Would I be on the right road" (pg.17). I knew I had to resist the temptation, it was only two more days, today and tomorrow. On the bright side of this experiment i would learn something that i hadn't before. I learned that self control is harder then you think, because you never know when you will give in. The last day had come and I remained calm throughout the day, which was surprising. By the end of the day i was ready for tomorrow, and finally it came. That was a good experiment, teaching me that wants can be harder to control then you think. If I ever did this for a longer period of time, I wouldn't be able to do it, i wouldn't want to anyway because ill end up playing gold anyway.

When Siddartha reached awakening, he saw features and their colors; "Here was blue, here was yellow, here was green: the sky and the river flowed, the forest and the mountains were fixed in places"(Hesse 39). Siddartha couldn't believe it, "All of this- the yellow and blue river and forest entered Siddartha for the first time through his eyes" (40). This is what Siddartha's awakening pictured in his mind; a blue river with the reflection of the sun reflecting in the river, and a grove of trees right by the river, with a path from which he was walking on, this was Siddarthas awakening. Siddartha described the scene that he saw, "Blue was river, river was river, and if the divine principle lay hidden within the blue and the river that lived with Siddarthas, so it was divinities way and purpose for there to be yellow, here blue, there sky, there forest, and there Siddartha" (38).
 * Awakening**

Kamala
== **Name**: Kamala **Location**: The Pleasure Grove **Eyes**: Black **Hair**: Plain Black **About** **me**: Kamala seems like a humble, nice, giving person. She is appealing to Siddartha because he thought she was beautiful and was willing to help him, to teach him. She thought it was weird and laughed at the fact. **Hobbies/Profession**: "He beckoned the servant who was last in the procession, and asked him to announce to his mistress that a young Brahmin asked to speak to her" (52). According to this quote Kamala is a servant as her profession. When of her hobbies could be giving advice, because she gives good advice to Siddartha who wants to know how to obtain money, clothes, and shoes. **Looking** **For**: She wants a good look in a man or fine clothes, fine shoes, and money with him. Also she likes clean hair, as one of her other wants in a man. When Siddartha came to her, he didn't have any of this stuff, although he was a semana so she considered talking to him.

=Samsara=

My Daily Life
1. Get up from bed 2. Eat breakfast 3. Brush teeth 4. Get ready for school 5. Go to school 6. Get home and play soccer 7. Eat dinner 8. Do homework 9. Get ready for bed 10. Go to sleep

"He had become rich. He had long possessed a house of his own servants, and a garden at the outskirts of town, by the river. People liked him; they came to him if they wanted money or advice" (75). My day has alot of routine. I wake up around 7:30 for school. Then a little bit later after the struggle to get out of bed I eat a healthy breakfast to get my day going. After i brush my teeth, and get ready to go to school around 8:00. I then drive or ride the bus to school, and spend most of my day at school. I then come home bored and tired, but i always have enough of energy to have time to hang out with my friends and play soccer, thats why im "liked by people" (75), like Siddhartha was when, "He had become rich. He had long possessed a house of his own servants, and a garden on the outskirts of town, by the river" (75). I wasn't living a life like this, although I was living a routine life, like Siddhartha. I then go back home and eat dinner, and finish my homework. And last but not least I get ready for bed and my life repeats similiary like that every day. This is positive toward my life because it gives me something to do and keeps me looking to something in life. media type="youtube" key="YP7UbIJkg_k" height="315" width="420"

The River Must Flow- Gino Vanelli
(the river must flow) And no man could love you more It’s like a river that flows to the seaI need you like the jasmine needs the rain. Just like a river that flows to the sea. All my nat’ral dreams will come true It’s like a river that flows to the sea. "Thinking of Om, an immersion and penetration into Om, into the nameless, into the divine" (90). The lyrics from the song make me think that the singer loved something or is loving something, Siddhartha loved this term Om because it helped him through his bad thoughts, and made him overcome his self. "thinking of Om an immersion and penetration into Om, into the nameless, into the divine" (90). This quote made me think that Siddhartha is happy and now Om is the term to help him be relaxed from his negative thoughts. Om is a loving term to Siddhartha. media type="youtube" key="SkpxBNColLQ" height="315" width="420"

River of Time- Van Morrison
Heart and soul Body and mind Heart and soul Body and mind Heart and soul Body and mind Meet me on the river of time. Meet me on the river of time Lover of soul Lover of mine Lover of soul Lover of mine Heart and soul Body and mind. "At that moment when the sound of Om reached Siddhartha's ears, his slumbering soul awakened and recognized the folly of his action" (89). These lyrics from the song make me think that the singer is lost and needs to find something within him and needs something to help him, "At that moment when the sound of Om reached Siddhartha's ears, his slumbering soul awakened and recognized the folly of his action" (89). Siddhartha was lost in Sasmara and needed to find something that could help him to get out of his agony, Om was the savior and or the thing that helped Siddhartha in a way. media type="youtube" key="VuyekDWox4U" height="315" width="420"

Cry Me a River- Harry Connick Jr.
You cry the whole night through Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river I cried a river over you Now you say you’re sorry. For being so untrue Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river I cried a river over me. "He was deeply entangled in Sasmara; he had drawn nausea and death to himself from all sides, like a sponge that absorbs water until it is full. He was full of ennui, full of misery, full of death; there was nothing in the world that could attract him, that could give him pleasure and solace" (87). I choose this quote because, the quote from the song made me think that it could be a sad tone, the singer is sad about something. I noted this to myself and tried to find a sad quote from the book. "he was deeply entangled in Sasmara; he had drawn nausea and death to himself from all sides, like a sponge that absorbs water when it is full" (87), this quote along with another quote, "He was full of ennui, full of misery, full of death; there was nothing in the world that could attract him, that could give him pleasure and solace" (87). This quote as well made me think sad thoughts because, Sasmara made him feel miserable and he could even feel death, these things especially are sad things to feel and think. Om By Mohan Danis

Siddhartha and Govinda are friends in Siddhartha's early life, until the decide to obtain enlightenment one day. Siddhartha and Govinda change a lot through out the story. He decided to leave the house one day and find enlightenment, "Siddhartha had begun to feel that the love of his father and mother, and also the love of his friend Govinda, would not always make him happy, give him peace, satisfy and suffice him. He had begun to suspect that his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmins, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of their wisdom but his soul was not at peace"(Hesse 3). Siddhartha wanted to find enlightenment but first he had to make a decision to leave everything behind and find it himself. Govinda came along with him until he found Buddha. Siddhartha and Govinda are similar and different in ways described in the story. Siddhartha is **t**he son of a Brahmin and raised to study Hindu teachings, he is greatly admired for his intelligence and handsome looks while growing up. Despite his popularity, Siddhartha leaves his family village in India to search for meaning in his life. After becoming a wandering Samana for three years and rejecting the teachings of Buddha, he matures after meeting Kamala in Samsara and discovers sin. After twenty years he rejects this life, nearly attempts suicide, and goes to live with a ferryman near the river. Here he reflects on his life, and the restlessness that has followed him is dispelled; he realizes that he has learned from his experiences. Finally, as an old man, Siddhartha finds peace and wisdom, recognizing that everything in the world is a recurring cycle. He experiences the same enlightenment as the Buddha. Govinda is Siddhartha's 'shadow' and childhood friend. When Siddhartha decides to leave his village to become a Samana, Govinda follows him out into the world, thinking him to be destined for greatness and fame. He hopes to stay close to Siddhartha so that he, too, may rise to glory, rather than finding it for himself. Inspired by Buddha's teachings, Govinda leaves Siddhartha to become a monk. Yet he remains a shadow, following behind Buddha rather than being an independent person. Govinda appears again many years later when Siddhartha contemplates suicide near the river and again when Siddhartha has found his peace near the river when they are both very old. Govinda has not changed at all through all these years. He continues searching to understand the world through other teachings instead of experiencing it firsthand. He does not develop. "From that hour Siddhartha ceased to fight against his destiny. There shone in his face the serenity of knowledge, of one who is no longer confronted with conflict of desires, who has found salvation, who is in harmony with the stream of events, with the stream of life, full of sympathy and compassion, surrendering himself to the stream, belonging to the unity of things" (111). When Siddhartha finally succeeded in finding salvation, the next time Govinda found him he became Siddhartha's 'shadow' once again. As Govinda reappears throughout the story once Siddhartha left him, Govinda stays the same because he is worshiping Buddha while Siddhartha has chosen a different path. Govinda had come a time to Siddhartha and had not even recognized him because he was deeply entangled in Samara. He had completely lost himself until the word “Om”, “Om is the bow, the arrow is soul” (93), “Om” helped him toward his path of enlightenment. As Govinda reappears throughout the story he doesn't change but Siddhartha changes. Govinda ans Siddhartha's relationship impact the ending because Govinda realizes that Siddhartha has achieved enlightenment and wants to become his friend/shadow; he wants to learn from him. If Siddhartha had not reached enlightenment Govinda would have gone back to the Buddha's teachings. I thought that Siddhartha had changed a lot more throughout the story then Govinda did, because Govinda was sure of himself finding the path to enlightenment through Buddha. Siddhartha wasn't sure of himself because he had not chosen a path yet to follow.Siddhartha had also had a lot more conflicts along the way to his enlightenment then Govinda did. For example, Kamala, who had grabbed Siddhartha's attention. This mainly set him off track because he started to work as a merchant and make money for Kamala, which got him distracted from searching for enlightenment. Govinda and Siddhartha are similar and different in many ways.