Govinda and Gotama's teacher-student relationship

Govinda, the son of a Brahman and Siddhartha's closest childhood friend, is defined from the beginning by his devotion to Siddhartha. He loves everything about Siddhartha—his eye, his sweet voice, his walk, his perfect decency, his transcendent fiery thoughts—and he wants to follow him as a friend, companion, servant, spear-carrier, and shadow. When Siddhartha decides to leave home and join the Samanas, Govinda follows without hesitation, joining the ascetics that same evening. For three years they live among the Samanas, sharing the same exercises, the same fasts, the same meditations, and the same rare conversations. Govinda believes they are moving upward in a spiral, ascending level by level, while Siddhartha grows increasingly skeptical that any Samana will ever reach nirvana.

The Decision to Take Refuge in Gotama

When news reaches the Samanas of Gotama, the exalted Buddha who has overcome suffering and halted the cycle of rebirths, Govinda is the one who first urges they go to hear him. He tells Siddhartha that a Brahman's son from Magadha has seen the Buddha with his own eyes and heard him teach, and that this news made his chest ache with longing. Siddhartha agrees, and they travel to Savathi, to the grove of Jetavana. There, after hearing Gotama's sermon on suffering, its origin, and the way to its cessation—the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path—Govinda steps forward and asks to be accepted into the community. He takes his refuge in the exalted one and his teachings, and is accepted. The next morning, an old monk dresses him in the yellow robe and instructs him in the first teachings and duties of his new position. Govinda embraces Siddhartha one last time and leaves with the novices, having chosen a path his friend will not follow.

A Life of Faithful Discipleship

For decades after that parting, Govinda lives as a monk in Gotama's order, traveling on pilgrimage, accepting alms, and following the rules of the teachings. He ages, but the restlessness and searching never fully perish from his heart. Even as an old man, he is still a searcher, and he admits to Siddhartha that he has never stopped searching. When he hears talk of an old ferryman who is regarded as a wise man, he chooses the path to the ferry, eager to see him. He does not recognize Siddhartha when they meet again by the river—Siddhartha is now gray, wearing a rich man's garments and shoes, with perfumed hair—but when Siddhartha calls him by name and reminds him of their shared past, Govinda is astonished and overjoyed. He spends the night in Siddhartha's hut, asking many questions about his friend's life.

The Final Teaching and Vision

Before continuing his journey, Govinda asks Siddhartha for a teaching, a faith, or a knowledge that helps him live and do right. Siddhartha tells him that wisdom cannot be passed on, that the opposite of every truth is just as true, that time is not real, and that the world is perfect in every moment—all sin already carries divine forgiveness, all infants already have death, all dying people the eternal life. Govinda listens silently, finding the thoughts strange and partially incomprehensible, and secretly thinks that Siddhartha's teachings sound foolish compared to the exalted one's pure, clear teachings. Yet he also feels that out of Siddhartha's gaze and hand and skin and hair shines a purity, calmness, cheerfulness, mildness, and holiness he has seen in no other person since Gotama's death. When Govinda asks for one more word to carry on his dark path, Siddhartha asks him to bend down and kiss his forehead. As Govinda does so, he has a vision: he sees not Siddhartha's face but a flowing river of faces—a fish, a newborn child, a murderer, a criminal being executed, naked bodies in love, corpses, animals, gods—all transforming into one another, all covered by a thin, smiling mask that is Siddhartha's face, and that smile is precisely the same as the quiet, delicate, thousand-fold smile of Gotama the Buddha. Deeply, Govinda bows, tears running down his old face, feeling the most intimate love and humblest veneration in his heart. He touches the ground before Siddhartha, whose smile reminds him of everything he has ever loved in his life, everything that has ever been valuable and holy to him.