"But although the paths took him away from self, in the end they always led back to it"(15). Siddhartha became frustrated at this and even compared himself with a drunkard as to show the frivolity of his Samana excercises. "Falling asleep over his bowl of rice wine, he finds what Siddhartha and Govinda find when they escape from their bodies by long excercises and dwell in the non-Self"(17). Finding no peace with the Samanas Siddhartha becomes aware that he must depart in order to leave his Self permanently, and so begins the second stage of his excursion. .
Phase two of Siddhartha's journey is a very difficult one to overcome; difficult but necessary. Upon his departure from the Samanas, he finds salvation in a teacher of love, Kamala. Kamala teaches Siddhartha about the ways of man and of material wealth. This is where Siddhartha becomes the most distraught. He finds that with the gain of prosperity, he becomes farther away from achieving inner-peace. "Like a veil, like a thin mist, a weariness settled on Siddhartha, slowly, every day a little thicker, every month a little darker, every year a little heavier"(78) This is Siddhartha's nadir, at no time is he lower or farther from his destination than at this moment. "The world had caught him; pleasure, covetousness, idleness, and finally also that vice he had always despised and scorned as the most foolish-acquisitiveness"(79). Once again Siddhartha becomes aware of the necessity to leave this place and continue his search for inner-peace. "A path lies before you which you are called to follow"(83). While seemingly meaningless, this phase is imperative in the quest of understanding how to lose his self and to improve the road to his enlightenment.
The final destination on Siddhartha's journey is the mellisonant river, from which knowledge and understanding is dispersed. "The river knows everything; one can learn everything from it"(105).