Siddhartha Climax Apotheosis and Ultimate Boon

The climax of a novel or another literary work, such as a play, can be defined as the turning point at which the conflict begins to resolve itself for better or worse. The climax of Siddhartha occurs in the chapter entitled “By the River,” when Siddhartha hears the word Om while standing at the river as he considers drowning himself. This mystical sound heartens him, restoring his will to live. The moment represents a turning point that eventually leads to his achievement of nirvana. One day Siddhartha’s pain becomes too much and Siddhartha sets off in a desperate search of his son, but stops as he hears the river laughing at him.

He looks into the river, sees his own father whom he had left, and turns back, concluding that “everything that was not suffered to the end and finally concluded, recurred, and the same sorrows were undergone”. Returning to his hut, Siddhartha tells Vasuveda all of this, but as he does, Siddhartha notices a remarkable change in the old man. After listening to Siddhartha, Vasuveda leads Siddhartha back to the river, telling him to listen deeply. At first Siddhartha hears only the voices of sorrow, but these voices are soon joined by voices of joy, and at last all the voices are under the great sound of “Om. Realizing the unity of these voices, Siddhartha’s pain fades away and “his Self had merged into unity”. He has at last found salvation. Recognizing his friend’s achievement, Vasuveda departs into the woods to die, thereby joining the unity he had helped Siddhartha find at last. Siddhartha realizes the unity of all things in the world which is the apotheosis of the novel. The ferryman is a guide for both the river and the path to enlightenment. The ferryman is positioned between ordinary world and enlightenment, and those who seek enlightenment and are open to guidance will find what they need within the ferryman.

The ferryman, however, shows Siddhartha how to find enlightenment within himself. The first time Vasudeva meets Siddhartha, Siddhartha wants only to cross the river, and that is all Vasudeva helps him do. Vasudeva is not a teacher who will simply tell Siddhartha what he should know, but a guide who will lead him where he wishes to go. Years later, Siddhartha searches for knowledge from the river itself, and Vasudeva guides him in his attempts to hear what the river has to say. Siddhartha himself becomes a ferryman after he achieved his goal of attaining nirvana.