However, an ambiguity emerges as this chapter draws to a close. Govinda seems to have achieved Nirvana by kissing Siddhartha’s forehead. This description of Govinda’s transcendent understanding is remarkably similar to Siddhartha’s own experience of Nirvana. If Siddhartha can transmit Nirvana through a kiss, however, he contradicts his own central belief that Nirvana can come only from within. Possibly, Siddhartha gives Govinda merely a glimpse of true enlightenment, not enlightenment itself, essentially pointing the way for Govinda, much as Vasudeva pointed the way for him.