Siddhartha enters the world of the senses: he learns love from Kamala and business from Kamaswami. He becomes rich, addicted to pleasure and gambling, until he is sick of himself. He flees to the river, where the ferryman Vasudeva waits.
Kamala teaches Siddhartha the art of love and the ways of the world. He becomes a merchant, gains wealth, plays dice, and loses himself in samsara—the cycle of desire and satisfaction. For a time he believes he is living fully; then he sees that he has only been escaping.
"I have had to experience so much stupidity, so many vices, so much error, so much disgust and disappointment and sorrow, just in order to become a child again and begin anew." — Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
One night Siddhartha sees his reflection in the river—an empty, tired man. He walks away from his life and comes to the same river he crossed years before. He considers drowning himself—but instead he hears the sacred sound "Om" from within and falls into a healing sleep.
Hitting bottom can be the moment of clarity. The river does not judge; it receives. Vasudeva, the ferryman, has learned everything from the river—and he will teach Siddhartha to listen.
The ferryman takes Siddhartha in without asking for his story. He lives in harmony with the river—patient, present, without forcing. Siddhartha will stay and learn from him and from the river until he hears what it has to say.