It's refreshing to know that there are still books around that can convey the message of great saints such as Gautam Buddha, in such a subtle, elegant, and time-less fashion. The book starts of as an attempt by the author Herman Hesse to chronicle the experiences of a few remarkable years of his life. H.H uses the post-war period in Germany as a greater stage for depicting a sense of urgency in the lives of people seeking a liberation from the eternal recurrence of life.
This semi-autobiographical allegory, takes us closer to the mindsets of a selected few mavericks of a society, who wanted to experience transcendence through a deeper reflection into one's own mind. These "outsiders", "hippies", "cult-members", or as however they are ridiculed today, becomes insignificant once we get a glimpse of their purpose.
The literary genius of H.H is in not ever revealing the so called "rules", followed by this secret society but yet conveying everything one would want to know about its purpose. Every one who wants to join the society is first asked to reveal his innermost purpose for wanting to be a part of it.
No matter how ridiculous or juvenile one's reason to join the society is, all they have to do to join is state it honestly. This is remarkably different from what we see in the so called vedic societies, religious congregations who recruit individuals for a single goal of attaining eternal piece/heaven/or in some cases 104 virgins. The difference is that in these religious congregations, the will to be a part of a whole is imposed. Even the desire to be a part of the whole to attain the so called purpose, is enforced. So far as, the purpose itself is dictated to you.
This puts forth an important Question, how can you see the oneness/the whole/ the mere fabric that binds us all together in this eternal dance of energy, if we are not allowed to accept ones own true self and its desires ? If all your life has to be a journey towards a single door, that leads to hell or heaven, and if there are a fixed set of rules to guide us to the door we choose, how bland and meaningless is life ?
"The Journey to the East", as i saw it brings forth these important issues, and suggests how easily we get brought in to this so called "life", which essentially pulverizes into a tedious routine in recurrence. How are we to go beyond this cycle, and experience the energy that binds us to every animal, and life form in nature, if since birth we are bred to ignore these as irrelevant, and our minds are fixated into solving these meaningless puzzles tagged
"Get a Job", "Get a fucking Car", "Mission Let's get laid before College", "Get married", "Support a family", the list goes on till the day you die and here comes the last one "Look back and have no regrets". Is this all there is to it ?
Yes, the story ends abruptly and the Question answers itself.
PS: Thanks a lot M for the book
