Siddhartha: a bilingual edition

Siddhartha, in this wanderlusting novel by Hermann Hesse, is the son of a rich family, who leaves his father’s comfortable home to seek adventures and enlightenment. Beginning as a penniless wanderer in the forest, he quickly rises in the world thanks to three essential skills: He has learned how to think, how to wait, and how to fast.

He clashes with the beautiful Kamala, who teaches him the ways and woes of love, passion, and desire. He works for a merchant, selling grains, then quickly becomes wealthy, and forgets his spiritual quest. His wild son disobeys, constantly gets into trouble, rebels, and at last abandons his perplexed father. He meets. then chooses not to follow, the renowned Buddha Gautama (“the awakened one”). One bright day, Siddhartha understands something ineffable in the smile of the famous wise one, in the peaceful murmurs of the flowing river, in the sacred silence of his seeking soul.

In the end, Siddhartha returns to his source, and learns a timeless lesson: “There is no place like OM.”