GusScrapbook2

=Gus' Scrapbook=

=With the Samanas=

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 warm showers for the health benefits cold showers are said to have, and to emulate James Bond who always took cold showers. I don't **need** a warm shower, do I?

Beginning of the Week
I had a lot of difficulty waking up and getting out of bed for the first few days of my self-deprivation. I prepare myself for the day in the shower, and I rush to get into the warmth of a shower after getting out of my cozy bed, but I found myself not looking forward to the day, and waiting until the last minute to get out of bed. I did not enjoy bathing, I looked for ways to avoid showering. I began to feel feel very unclean, I didn't feel fresh, I looked like Siddhartha,"on his shriveling fingers the nails grew long, as did the dry, stubbly beard on his chin." (pg.7) I had no doubt in myself though, I felt that I would undoubtedly complete the challenge.

Middle of the Week
By the middle of the week, I was really not interested in the "health benefits" of the challenge. I wanted the warmth of a nice shower, I wanted to relax. I did not desire the soapy feeling I had all day after quickly getting in and out of the shower, days felt rubbery, "The world had a bitter taste. life was torment." (Pg.7) My days were less energetic, I just felt no charge in my body. I was still pushing through, but I was genuinely less happy and less excited for life.

End of the Week
By the end of the week, I saw no point in continuing on, I gave up. Like Siddhartha, I asked myself, "Have we made any progress? Have we reached any goals?" (Pg.9) What would giving up a warm shower help me with? I was robbing myself of a simple pleasure that makes my day much easier. I was not as strong as I thought at the beginning of the week, I thought I would get used to the icy wake-up of a cold shower, but each day just got worse. In my self-deprivation, all I feel like I have gained is an a little appreciation for small pleasures, I don't feel like I should rid myself of these little things that make me happy. Happiness is the goal.

=Awakening= Siddhartha reached awakening after studying the ways of the Samanas and Buddha, who put saw this world as suffering and temptation. After leaving the Buddha, Siddhartha awakened, and he sees the beauty and significance of this world. Siddhartha saw a, " world (that) was beautiful strange and mysterious." (39) In the grove, where Siddhartha reached awakening he saw, "...blue, here was yellow, here was green, sky and river, woods and mountains, all beautiful, all mysterious and enchanting, and in the midst of it, he, Siddhartha, the awakened one, on the way to himself."(39) I chose to draw Siddhartha's eye during the moment of his awakening. I imagined his mind exploding from the amount of beauty he had overlooked all these years, which is depicted in the star pupils with explosions of color around them. Siddhartha saw the beauty in the blues, yellows, and greens, so I used these colors a lot in my picture. In the eye I attempted to create the scene Siddhartha found himself in, with the flowing rivers and beautiful colors.

Kamala Name: Kamala

Location: The Pleasure Grove
Eyes: Dark brown, "clever and alert" Hair: "High-piled black hair"

About Me I'm very educated in the art of love making, I can teach in many ways. I am a beautiful woman, and an essence surrounds me. But, I am clever there is some charm and intelligence to me, I am not only outer beauty.

Hobbies/ Proffession I am the local courtesan, but don't think I'm that easy! I have to be charmed, and my man needs to know that I do nothing but lie in my pleasure garden. I enjoy indulging in the finer things of life.

Looking For Like I said, I need to be charmed. I expect gifts: jewelry, clothes, money, I need to be provided for. My man must wear expensive clothes and shoes, and nice hair oil and perfumes. I will not settle for less, these are my requirements, and even then one would be lucky to have me ;)

Samsara

"The years passed by. Enveloped by comfortable circumstances, Siddhartha hardly noticed their passing. He had become rich. He had long possessed a house of his own and 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" (pg. 75) media type="custom" key="21416728" My life is very routine, it is hard not to fall into the same pattern when some tasks are a necessity to perform, routine makes those tasks comfortable. I try and not let routine define how I live, I desire change and excitement, but during the school week I do perform the same routine. In the morning I wake up, I wake up very slowly, trying to stay in the warmth of my bed and the half awake haze of that time. I rush to my shower, and after a nice shower I feel ready for the day. I eat breakfast and leave, going to school. I go to my classes, I enjoy learning but I count the minutes until they end. After school I go to practice, I run and communicate with my teammates, and I would say is one of the most important parts of my day. I eat dinner quickly, take a shower, and then do my homework. Or actually I wait to do my homework until it gets so late that I just decide not to do it- some routines are not so good. I worry about my routine though, I do not want my years to be like Siddhartha's, he, "barely felt their passing" (40) Because of this I try to avoid routine, I do not want to simply go through the movements of a day, I want each day to be different in some way. I want each day to stand out different than the last.

The River

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Johnny Cash: Big River
Lyrics: And the tears that I cried for that woman are gonna flood you Big River Then I'm gonna sit right here until I die

Quote from Book: "He ardently wished to know nothing more about himself, to enjoy repose, to be dead." (46)

Analysis After Siddhartha left the city, and left Kamala he was very sad, and felt no desire to live. Johnny Cash also has similar feelings, a girl left him, and he is accepting death. The river is a large point towards fate in this case, and death. Both characters felt down because of a loss of self, and the loss of love.

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Atmosphere: The River
Lyrics: Except Brian, Brian stared out across the field And watched the horizon blossom to cop a feel Over the edge of the world the one they're all afraid to walk Ration out for why their so high on the small talk But Brian knows where the crows all go To find the if's and the and's and the but's and all so's

If I could run through the woods and speed like the light I'd find the answers to why and be back by tonight

Quote from Book: "I felt knowledge of the unity of the world circulating inside me like my own blood."(52)

Analysis I feel that Brian from Atmosphere's song represents Siddhartha, and the narrator of the song is similar to Govinda. Brian is an exception, and is constantly searching out truth, like Siddhartha, who was an exceptional student in religion and a constant seeker. Govinda and the narrator of the song look to Siddhartha/ Brian for answers to truth, both of whom find truth from the river. This song illustrates the search for universal truth.

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Nick Drake: Riverman
Lyrics: Going to see the river man Going to tell him all I can About the plan For lilac time.

If he tells me all he knows About the way his river flows <span style="color: #474747; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">And all night shows <span style="color: #474747; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">In summertime.

Quote from Book: "Vasudeva's smile beamed brightly, a glow hovered over every wrinkle in his aged face, just as the //om// hovered over all the river's voices." (73)

Analysis The song Riverman shows a conversation with a more spiritual or wise man, in search for answers. This reminded me of Govinda and Siddhartha's relationship, or Siddhartha's relationship with Vasudeva. Both seek answers from an enlightened being, and both can only answer by showing the questioner the river. In Riverman, the author wants the riverman to "tell me all he knows/ about how the river flows" (Drake: Riverman) which ties to the search for knowledge, and the belief that there is one true answer.

=Om=

> As a young man I left home. Dissatisfaction with the teachings of the religious men of my home filled me, these men were not enlightened. I needed to find the path. My father watched as I departed, as I walked out of sight into the unknown, in search of the knowledge of truth and happiness. My search for the truth began. (INDENT) I left and lived with wise men, I gave up this world. Years I spent fasting and meditating, putting my body through so much suffering. I made myself suffer, for knowledge. Suffering, shunning the physical world, this is the knowledge that the wise men proposed, how to reach enlightenment. Their path. I was dissatisfied with this answer. (INDENT) The wisest of the "wise", this world is suffering. I saw the world, though, and its beautiful. Why suffer? Why avoid the beauty that this world holds? I saw the world as a gift I had just unwrapped, I embraced the world. (INDENT) I took a job, I pursued a woman, I became a part of this world. I found teachers of the physical world, love and business, people, I learned these things.I gave away everything that I had learned in my early days, I indulged myself in food and games. I fell into the traps of temptation and mindlessness that the wise men avoided.I walked down two roads, others lived by these ideas, I could not appreciate their ways, I was unhappy. (INDENT) Unhappiness was all that I knew; truth and happiness evaded me; unhappiness the continuity. I spent my life living the extremes. I gave up, for a period I gave up. (INDENT) But the river, the river saved me. (INDENT) I know now that the river is my enlightenment. The river speaks the truth, the truth of everything. (INDENT) The river is the middle ground, the middle between this world and the higher. Higher knowledge, and necessary knowledge. The river speaks it all. Everything together, everything is everything forever. And I have peace. (INDENT) The river is my enlightenment, I found my truth. (INDENT) But now I watch my son leave, looking for the same things Iooked for. Seeking what I sought, to find what I have found. He goes down the same path that I went. (INDENT) I suppose we must all find our path, our own truth. It is the cycle