ChristianScrabook7

=CHRISTIAN RENWICK'S SELF-REALIZATION DIGITAL 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 cereal because my mom always says that I eat tooo much cereal.

Getting Started
The first day was by far the easiest. I was enthusiastic and had a lot of will power to go for one week without any cereal. From there it only went downhill. By my second day I was already missing my bi-daily bowl of cereal and was prepared to give up. I was trying to "learn tricks" (Hesse, 18), by which I could overcome my craving for cereal.

Mid-Week


My third day of fasting was one of the worst days of my life. I saw no way that I could survive without my precious cereal. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that if I got past this day, I would be half way over. By the fourth day, I was "filled with pain and thirst,"(14) just as Siddhartha was because we both had to give up thing vital to our living. I wanted sooo much to give up and go back to eating my cereal.

By the End
I almost gave up on my 5th day without cereal. There was nothing I could do but lay in agony due to my cereal withdrawal. To me "Life was pain," (14), because I could not live without my cereal any longer. By the 6th day I finally just gave up. I felt that if I didn't give up that I would surely die from deprivation. I couldn't continue on without the cereal by which I live for. I don't understand how Siddhartha could give up everything. 

Awakening


In this drawing, you will notice that there is a path originating from a grove of trees. I chose to draw the grove because "he felt that he had also left his former life behind him in the grove," (37). This drawing incorporates mountains trees, and a river because when Siddhartha left the grove he saw that "here was blue, here was yellow, here was green, sky and river, woods and mountains," (39). Siddhartha had his eyes opened up to the world around him when he left the grove and as such I drew a colored world.

Kamala
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Name: Kamala

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Location: The Pleasure Grove (52)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Eyes: Dark Brown

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Hair: Chocolate Brown with Streaks of Caramel

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">About Me: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">I am a clever, beautiful woman. I am kindly and generous to all. My appearance alone is able to attract even the most magnificent of men. When Siddhartha approached he "saw how beautiful she was and his heart rejoiced" (51).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Hobbies/ Professions : <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">I am a "well-known courtesan," (52). I have a house in the town beside the grove of Kamala.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Looking For :
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">I like a man with "clothes, fine clothes, and shoes, fine shoes," (54) and who is wealthy enough to buy me presents. He must have a soothing voice and be wise and worthy.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Samsara
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">I usually wake up at 7:00 when my mom leaves to go to work. After I am awake I lazily take a shower and eat my breakfast. At 8:15, I leave to go to the bus. While I am at school, the hours "[pass] by... [and I] hardly [notice] their passing" (75). The time I am at school is what I look forward to every do, because I enjoy learning. After school, I arrive home at 4:30 from the bus. I spend the next few hours doing my homework. My family and I usually have dinner around 6:00 pm. After dinner we watch TV and then go to bed around 9-9:30 pm.
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Wake up around 7:00 every morning.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Eat cereal (usually Lucky Charms or Mini-Wheats).
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Lazily pack up my stuff for school.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Head of to the bus at 8:15 am.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">School
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Arrive home at around 4:30 pm.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Do my homework.
 * 8) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Eat dinner.
 * 9) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Watch TV.
 * 10) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Go to sleep at 9:30 pm.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The River
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">media type="youtube" key="VN_Aq2W2Yi0" height="315" width="420"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Lyrics:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Cause it grows stronger, like a river flows <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">And it gets bigger baby, and heaven knows"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Quote:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"It was the goal of all of them, yearning, desiring, suffering; and the river's voice was full of longing, full of smarting woe, full of insatiable desire" (134-135).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Analysis:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This song is about love and loss. Tina sings about how if she lost her love that she would suffer and be full of longing. Tina sings about how she wants to get past yearning for love. Like Siddhartha her goal was getting past "yearning, desiring, suffering," (134-135) and loving for the sake of loving. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">media type="youtube" key="54XRNQ2C2x0" height="315" width="420"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Lyrics:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Big wheel keep on turning <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Proud Mary keep on burning <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">And we're rolling, rolling <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Rolling on the river"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Quote:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Siddhartha learned something new on every step of his path, for the world was transformed" (45)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Analysis:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This song is about Proud Mary, who like Siddhartha moved on with her life, 'rolling like a river.' She kept on moving and "learned something new"(45) as she went on with her life. Proud Mary, also has to deal with Siddhartha, because she is 'rolling' throughout her life and the Buddhist ideal of Samsara is depicted as a wheel rolling.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">media type="youtube" key="pEnKEcBvBvw" height="315" width="420"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Lyrics:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Ain't no river wide enough <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">To keep me from getting to you babe."

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Quote:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"May my present path, my new life, start from there!" (101)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Analysis:
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This song is about getting back home to loved ones. Diana Ross is trying to get back home, to happiness, across the river. Her "present path," (101) will take her home to where she is happiest, and where her new life will begin.