At a moment of despair by the river, Siddhartha contemplates ending his life. However, the word "Om" echoes in his mind, leading him to realize that escaping his suffering through death is futile. He understands that life is eternal and creation is an indivisible whole. Siddhartha acknowledges his mistake of constantly striving for action instead of simply existing. He begins to believe that the transformations and potentials of the human soul can occur both sequentially and simultaneously. He illustrates this idea to Govinda with the example of a stone: "This stone is stone; it is also animal, God, Buddha. I do not respect and love it because it was one thing and will become something else, but because it has already long been everything and always is everything. I love it just because it is a stone, because today and now it appears to me a stone." Siddhartha's Nirvana is the understanding that all existence is eternally unified and complete.