Siddhartha was born and brought up as a Brahmin's son. He was rich and talented and everyone liked him. His father was happy because Siddhartha was intelligent and eager for knowledge. He saw his son growing up to be a learned man, an intellectual. His mother was proud because Siddhartha was strong and handsome. All the girls in the village fell in love with him. He was a man to be loved. 

Everybody loved Siddhartha because he delighted and made everybody happy; But he himself was not happy. There was somthing more that he wanted--something more than his family, friends and his talents could give him. He wanted to find himself. He wanted answers to the questions that troubled him. 

The novel tells the story of how Siddhartha leaves home and goes off in search of himself and of happiness. First he joins the Samanas--a group of ascetics who look for happiness in self renunciation, poverty and discipline. But the answer is not there. 

Siddhartha spends some time with the Buddha, but soon realizes that he will not be happy as another man's disciple. He must find the answers himself. He must work out his own destiny and solve his own doubts. So he goes through a torturous love affair with the beautiful courtesan named Kamala, only to realize that sexual love is not the answer. 

He then becomes a rich and prosperous merchant under the direction of Kamaswami, only to learn that riches and prosperity are but a children's game adult's play. Finally, Siddhartha leaves Kamala and Kamaswami and goes to live with a simple ferryman on the banks of a river. There Vasudeva, the ferryman, teaches Siddhartha to listen to the river. Vasudeva tells him: "Love the river. Stay by it. Listen to the river. Learn from it." 

From that moment on, Siddhartha begins to find peace. He sits by the river and he listens. He sees that the water continually flows and flows and yet it is always there. It is always the same and yet every moment it is new. Like life. Like GOD. Like himself. Always different. Always new. Always the same. Siddhartha sits by the river and he lsitens. 

There, by the river, Siddhartha learns the most important lesson of all; you have to let go. You will find happiness only when you stop chasing it. You will find yourself only when you stop pursuing the things that are not yourself--like money, pleasure and possessions. You will find yourself only when you stop and listen and stop running after substitutes for the self. 

Siddharthadiscovered that it is only when you let go of things that you find true happiness. Buddha had taught Siddhartha that we are unhappy because we want too many things. We have to stop wanting. We have to let go of things and we will be happier people. But Siddhartha had not believed Buddha. He had to find it out for himself. 

Herman Hesse has a beautiful passage on letting go when siddhartha leaves Kamala to return to the river. When Kamala first heard the news of Siddhartha's disappeareance she went to the window where she kept a rare songbird in a golden cage. She opened the door of the cage, took the bird out and let it fly away. Like Siddhartha, Kamala too had to let go. 

Later, Siddhartha's son comes to him at the river. Siddhartha tries to own him, control him, possess him. But the son rebels and finally runs away. Siddhartha, too, finally learns he can keep his son only by letting him go. 

There is an old story, I often use in retreats for young people who are thinking of marriage. It's a story about possessiveness and letting go. Sometimes, like Kamala, we find a bird we love very much and want to hold on to it at all costs. So, we grip it tight in our hands so it won't fly away--and run the risk of crushing it. Or we can open up our hands, and the bird is free to fly away. But if the bird stays there in our open hand, then we know the bird loves us. 

One of our big problems in life is that we don't know how to let go. We want too many things. We hang on to things too tightly. It is bad enough when they are material things like money and possessions. It is even worse when they are people. Like Siddhartha, we can only find ourselves and be truly happy when we learn to let go of things and people. Let them go free. 

That's why we have to sit by the river and listen sometimes. Am I too possesive? Do I dominate people too much? Am I running after happiness too anxiously and too fanatically? "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and then all these other things will be added unto you."