Chapter 12:
Govinda
Feraco
Search for Human Potential
19 October 2011
Siddhartha
 “Govinda,” the last chapter of the
book, opens with a focus on its
titular character rather than on
Siddhartha – a rarity, as the book
almost never focuses on anyone
else!
 He’s resting in Kamala’s old
grove, and he’s heard of a wise
ferryman nearby (not realizing
it’s Siddhartha)
Siddhartha
 Of course, after all his long years
of seeking, “although he had lived
his life according to the rule and
was also regarded with respect by
the younger monks for his age
and modesty, there was still
restlessness in his heart and his
seeking was unsatisfied.”
 Govinda is drawn to the idea of
learning from this new teacher,
and goes to meet him
 Their final encounter provides
the book with its ending
Siddhartha
 When asked if he is still a “seeker” despite
his advanced age, Govinda replies, “I have
never ceased seeking. I will never cease
seeking. That seems to be my destiny.”
 Siddhartha says “perhaps [he] seeks too
much, that as a result of [his] seeking he
cannot find” because “when someone is
seeking, it happens quite easily that he only
sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is
unable to find anything, unable to absorb
anything, because he is only thinking of the
thing he is seeking, because he has a goal,
because he is obsessed with his goal…You, O
worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for
in striving towards your goal, you do not see
many things that are under your nose.”
 The lost 9th-grade P.E. student example…
Siddhartha
 They spend a night talking to
each other about their lives’
paths, and as Govinda leaves, he
asks Siddhartha whether he
finally uncovered “belief,
doctrine, or knowledge” that
helped him find his answers
 Once again, Govinda’s hoping
someone can fill in the bubbles on
his Scantron – as though having
someone else’s answer is worth
the same as one you earned
yourself…
Siddhartha
 Siddhartha replies that he has no
doctrine – that, indeed, he still
harbors the distrust for doctrine and
teachers that he nursed as a younger
man – but that he has had many
teachers over the years, and that he
did in fact learn from them (not
wisdom, but knowledge and insight)
 “Wisdom is not communicable. The
wisdom which a wise man tries to
communicate always sounds
foolish…Knowledge can be
communicated, but not wisdom. One
can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do
wonders through it, but one cannot
communicate and teach it.”
Siddhartha
 Next, Siddhartha goes on to make explicit
the “binary” motif that Hesse’s threaded
through his narrative…and shatters it
 “In every truth the opposite is equally true.
For example, a truth can only be expressed
and enveloped in words if it is one-sided.
Everything that is thought and expressed in
words is one-sided, only half the truth; it all
lacks totality, completeness, unity. When the
Illustrious Buddha taught about the world,
he had to divide it into Samsara and Nirvana,
into illusion and truth, into suffering and
salvation. One cannot do otherwise, there is
no other method for those who teach. But
the world itself, being in and around us, is
never one-sided. Never is a man or a deed
wholly Samsara or wholly Nirvana; never is a
man wholly a saint or a sinner.”
 The FAE in action…
Siddhartha
 He then goes on to explain to the overwhelmed
Govinda that time is an illusion
 “I am a sinner and you are a sinner, but
someday the sinner will be Brahma again, will
someday attain Nirvana, will someday become
a Buddha. Now this ‘someday’ is illusion; it is
only a comparison. The sinner is not on his way
to a Buddha-like state; he is not evolving,
although our thinking cannot conceive things
otherwise. No, the potential Buddha already
exists in the sinner; his future is already there.
The potential hidden Buddha must be
recognized in him, in you, in everybody.”
 Picking up a stone (notice the pattern?),
Siddhartha proceeds to seemingly ramble;
Govinda doesn’t quite follow, which makes
sense (for wisdom cannot be communicated),
but his words make more sense to us because
we’ve shared Siddhartha’s experience (our
context is richer)
Siddhartha
 Govinda, however, is troubled by
Siddhartha’s seeming worship of
“things,” and his corresponding
newfound disregard for thoughts
and words (remember, he’s
mastered them at this point; he’s
learned to pronounce the word
that matters most)
 Govinda’s worry has merit, for
he’s concerned that Siddhartha
has somehow lost himself in Maya,
in illusion
Siddhartha
 Siddhartha merely replies that if
the things around him are
illusory, he, too, is an illusion, and
thus he doesn’t care if his stone,
for example, is fake
 “It seems to me, Govinda, that
love is the most important thing
in the world.”
Siddhartha
 As we race towards the end of the
book, Hesse’s finishing all of his
themes off with a flourish
 He takes the time here to allow
Siddhartha to explain that
Gotama’s words (disregard
earthly love!) mattered far less
than his actions (someone who
saw such ugliness in the world
still dedicated themselves to
making it better for everyone
else…what else is love?)
Siddhartha
 At this, Govinda prepares to
leave; he’s troubled by what
Siddhartha says, and feels no
closer to enlightenment than
before
 For all of the sound and fury of
the past few pages, his Scantron
remains unbubbled
Siddhartha
 So he makes a final request of
Siddhartha: “We are now old men.
We may never see each other
again in this life. I can see, my
dear friend, that you have found
peace. I realize that I have not
found it. Tell me one more word,
my esteemed friend, tell me
something that I can conceive,
something I can understand! Give
me something to help me on my
way, Siddhartha. My path is often
hard and dark.”
Siddhartha
 Siddhartha doesn’t give him any
words; he lets Govinda kiss his
forehead
 In that moment, in that connection,
Govinda becomes aware of every
connection in his life – and in every
other life – just as Siddhartha became
aware of every connection while
listening to the river, and through that
awareness gains the understanding
he’s sought his whole life
 In other words, Siddhartha does give
him “one more word”
 The word is Om – the word of words – and
he doesn’t have to say it
Siddhartha
 With the kiss, Govinda no longer
sees Siddhartha: he sees all of
reality fused into a single
moment, thousands of faces
simultaneously appearing and
disappearing
 Only time stood between the
faces
 Hesse argues that only the
passing of time, or at least our
perception of it, stands between
us and our understanding
Siddhartha
 One can point out that desire, not
time, blinds us to the truth, for
desire is the source of suffering
 However, one must point out that
suffering results more
specifically from longing (either
for something not to change that
will, to reach for something that
can’t be won, or for something to
return that won’t)…which is why
Hesse’s translator, Hilda Rosner,
keeps using that word in “Om”
Siddhartha
 Really, what is longing except for
the word to describe the space
between a wish and its
fulfillment?
 The longing that cripples us
results when that space becomes
infinite – when fulfillment never
arrives – and that’s where we lose
ourselves: in waiting and wanting
Siddhartha
 In this moment, time breaks down in
front of him; everything is there!
 Govinda sheds his old doubts, sheds
his insistence that things are as they
are, that reality can be explained
through a static, unyielding set of
rules and doctrines to be obeyed and
followed automatically, and simply
absorbs, simply experiences life
 In this moment, Govinda is finally
free…and when he weeps, he weeps
because he finally sees the beauty of
everything he’s ever experienced, the
truth he’s always seen but never seen
 He weeps because his journey is over…
 …and so is ours!