Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Siddhartha is a short 1922 novel about spirituality by Hermann Hesse - an author of European roots. I’ve read this novel a few times and it gives me something new each time. I’ll always recommend this book to anyone interested in spirituality or eastern philosophy. I had not tried to learn much about the author, but turns out that he has won the Nobel prize in literature.
The story feels familiar with characters like Gautam Buddha, but it spins off in various directions. Siddhartha in this book is not related to Buddha. The essence of the book is the journey Siddhartha takes to achieve enlightenment and happiness. Starting from an ascetic direction, he goes through multiple transformations taking various paths on his journey. His friend Govinda is on a similar journey and diverges in the path. They keep meeting over the years and share experiences.
This story is based on an ancient time, but it still feels extremely relevant even today. The ideas seem so basic but are not attainable by most. The name Siddhartha is based on “Siddha” ~ achieving and “Artha” ~ “what was searched for”.
The book is available in the public domain at standard ebooks. A movie based on the book was also made which I’ll watch some day.