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Knowledge prevents us from reaching Nirvana
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Siddhartha begins his journey with knowledge he gains from his father's teachings and from the town he grew up in. This knowledge is known as what is called a "priori," referring to knowledge that a person can gain without experience. On Siddhartha's quest to enlightenment, this knowledge is superficial as shown in the quote, "teachings mean nothing to [Siddhartha]; they possess neither hardness, nor softness, nor colors, nor edges, nor odor, nor taste; they possess nothing but words” (78) which Aksa cites as part of another topic. These teachings are also the origin of Siddhartha's feelings of superiority because they do not allow him to see the world from a "regular" person's point of view. With this in mind, it can be deduced that superficial knowledge does obstruct one's quest towards enlightenment. Knowledge gained from experience (known as "posteriori"), however, is crucial to reaching enlightenment. It is until Siddhartha gains posteriori knowledge that his feelings of superiority diminish. When the perspectives of "regular" people become his own, he is then able to gain a better understanding of the world (an essential when reaching enlightenment). To summarize, the knowledge Siddhartha gains from teachings does prevent him from reaching enlightenment. The knowledge he gains from experience, however, becomes an essential part of his journey. Knowledge gained from experience is the distinguishing factor between those who achieve enlightenment and those who do not.
When Siddhartha left the Brahmin, he wanted to push his spiritual connections to be able to get closer towards finding an answer for his questions about life and his existence. Siddhartha's time with the Samana allowed him to reach beyond what he was practicing with the Brahmin. His experiences with Kamala and Kamaswami allowed him to see the world from a perspective that was different from all other positions he had witnessed in his life prior to meeting them. To me, I see the knowledge that Siddhartha gained as more of a challenge to him that he was able to overcome in order to reach what he had always pursued.
I have to agree with Mickaela on this because Siddartha essentially disregards any attempts of teachers trying to influence him on his journey. This is shown with Gotama when he decides to leave behind Govinda in search of his own path. As Mickaela previously stated knowledge through experience is what allows Siddhartha achieve enlightenment. But he needed to gain knowledge through learning before he could realize that what was best for him was experience.
I would actually disagree and say that knowledge in fact furthered his journey towards Nirvana. As explained by Mickaela, knowledge in this book is supplemented by experience. His experiences as a rich man with Kamala, as an ascetic with the Samanas, and a villager with Vasudeva are what allowed him to reach Nirvana. These are all crucial turning points which would help him step down from the pedestal of ignorance and egoism. I would actually argue that it was ignorance that derailed him from Nirvana. He wasn't able to experience the various lifestyles and perspectives of many enlightened people, and his journey allowed for that.
I agree with Jieleen on the fact that knowledge does actually help drive Siddhartha's journey to attain Enlightenment. When Hesse writes “‘Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be repetitive, to have no goal’” I believe it correlates with the idea of knowledge and wisdom (140). You seek to gain knowledge because that is something particular you go looking for in a sense, and you can't really go looking for wisdom because it comes to you on it's own with the understanding of things. Wisdom also comes with the events you experience in life, so overall as Siddhartha starts to gain more understanding of the things around him he is getting closer to reaching Nirvana. For example, when Siddhartha goes to the river to die, he ultimately starts to understand what is going on around him at that moment and with that he reaches an awakening.
During Siddhartha’s journey, Siddhartha went through a time period of feeling superior compared to regular people. However, as time went on, he became increasingly similar to those people and the feeling of superiority diminished. His superiority complex could be explained with the wisdom he gained, throughout his journey. Is it fair to say that as time went on, the knowledge he gained about the world, derailed his quest to Nirvana? Also, does that make knowledge the distinguishing factor those enlightened and those who are not.