Decision to leave the Samanas to see Gotama

Siddhartha's decision to leave the Samanas and seek the Buddha Gotama is a decisive rupture in his spiritual quest, born from a profound dissatisfaction with the path of asceticism and a radical rethinking of the nature of knowledge itself. After three years of extreme self-denial—fasting for weeks, enduring heat and cold, and practicing meditative escapes from the self—Siddhartha confides to his friend Govinda that he has learned nothing that could not be found more quickly in a tavern among gamblers and carters. He argues that the Samanas' exercises are merely a temporary numbing of the senses, no different from the drunkard's escape, and that the oldest Samana, after sixty years, has not reached nirvana. This realization, that the path of the Samanas leads only to a short escape from the agony of being a self, not to enlightenment, forms the intellectual and emotional foundation for his departure.

The Catalyst: News of Gotama

The immediate catalyst for Siddhartha's decision is the spreading myth of Gotama, the Buddha, who is said to have overcome suffering and halted the cycle of rebirths. The rumor reaches the Samanas in the forest, carried by pilgrims and travelers, and it speaks of a man with a cheerful brow, a man of bliss, who teaches the way to salvation. Govinda, deeply moved by the news, urges Siddhartha to go and hear the teachings. Siddhartha, though skeptical of all teachings, agrees, but with a characteristic twist: he believes they have already tasted the best fruit of Gotama's teachings, which is that the Buddha has called them away from the Samanas. This ironic acceptance reveals Siddhartha's growing distrust of all external instruction and his sense that the true value of a teacher may lie not in what he says, but in the disruption he causes.

The Confrontation with the Oldest Samana

When Siddhartha informs the oldest Samana of his decision to leave, the old man reacts with anger and crude swearwords. Govinda is startled and embarrassed, but Siddhartha responds by demonstrating the very power he has learned from the Samanas. He positions himself before the old man, captures his glance with his own, and through concentrated thought, deprives him of his free will, making him mute and paralyzed. The old Samana, now under Siddhartha's spell, bows and offers a blessing for the journey. This act is a masterful display of the ascetic's techniques—the ability to control another's mind—but it also underscores Siddhartha's critique: these powers are mere feats, not wisdom. Govinda marvels that Siddhartha could soon learn to walk on water, but Siddhartha dismisses such goals, saying he does not seek to walk on water.

The Underlying Discontent

Siddhartha's decision is not a sudden whim but the culmination of a long-brewing discontent that began even in his Brahman youth. He had felt that the love of his father, mother, and Govinda could not satisfy him, and that the teachings of the wise Brahmans, for all their knowledge, had not quenched his spiritual thirst. He had suspected that the most important thing—the Atman, the self—could not be found through learning or sacrifice, but only through one's own experience. This early suspicion, which drove him to the Samanas, now drives him away from them. The decision to leave is thus a repetition of an earlier pattern: a rejection of the current path in search of a more direct, personal encounter with the truth.

The Significance of the Departure

Siddhartha's departure from the Samanas is not merely a change of teachers; it is a fundamental shift in his understanding of the search itself. He tells Govinda that there is no such thing as learning, only one knowledge—the Atman—which is within every creature, and that the desire to know it is its worst enemy. This insight, which he will later articulate to Gotama himself, sets him on a path that will eventually lead him away from all teachers and teachings. The decision to leave the Samanas is the first step toward his awakening, the moment when he begins to trust his own inner voice over external authority. It is a necessary prelude to his encounter with the Buddha, his entry into the worldly life, and his ultimate realization by the river.