Description: Siddhartha, the Greatest Spiritual Teacher of Our Time A novel condensing Hermann Hesse's deep interest in and affection for Eastern philosophy. "If all the desires and impulses within the heart fell silent, then the innermost thing within his being, that which is no longer the self, the great secret, would awaken." Siddhartha, the son of a Brahmin—the highest caste in India—leaves home with his friend Govinda to seek enlightenment, despite his father's objections. He has the opportunity to study under Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, but comes to realize that he must find enlightenment through his own path rather than through the Buddha's teachings, and so leaves his friend Govinda behind to journey alone. As he grows into middle age, Siddhartha meets a woman he loves and a wealthy merchant, indulging in worldly desires, until he discovers himself consumed by them and abandons everything to become a ferryman. Siddhartha was published after Hesse recovered from a severe depression that had made creative work nearly impossible for almost a year and a half, following psychiatric treatment. The novel can be seen as a kind of religious coming-of-age story that poetically elevates the spiritual heritage of both East and West, capturing a yearning for the eternal and a will toward transcendence that probes deeply into the human inner self, all rendered in simple yet lyrical prose. Delicately portraying the anguish between rigid religious doctrine and self-sufficient spiritual reflection, the novel suggests that there is no single path to self-discovery, challenging the fixed notion of blindly relying on philosophy, religion, or any other belief system.