Holding infinity in the palm of your hand....

William Blake says, “To see a world in a grain of sand, And heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour”.

While the lines are inspiring, what is the poet trying to convey?

In India, a poet is called a “kavi”- “kraanta darshi iti kavih”. He sees more than meets the eye.  He knows to connect the dots.

As children, we did a particular exercise. The page had a set of dots strewn in a haphazard way. It made no sense initially. The moment you drew lines, connecting the dots in sequence, a beautiful figure emerged!

In the above lines, Blake conveys a certain vision- of seeing the “macrocosm” in the “microcosm”- infinity in the palm of your hand.

Indian mythology has a story to elucidate this point. At Mount Kailash, Lord Shiva and Parvati were with their children- Ganesha and Kartikeya.  Narada came to Kailash with a mango. Both Ganesha and Kartikeya clamored for the fruit. Narada laid a condition that the full mango could go to only one child. A competition was held- whosoever went around the world first, got the fruit.

Kartikeya immediately mounted his peacock and started on a world tour. Ganesha thought of an “out of the box” solution. As the primeval couple, Shiva and Parvati represented the entire world. Ganesha went around Shiva and Parvati and claimed the prize. We love this story- how Ganesha outsmarted Kartikeya.

The story makes an important point especially for today’s time and age. Social media is awash with pictures of friends and acquaintances. They are off to the most exotic destinations. Some post pictures from Alaska, while others from the Fjords of New Zealand. Some are frolicking on a Caribbean cruise while others are lounging in the Land of the midnight sun. It’s as if the entire world is having a gala time. Further, “bucket lists” are created, as though human life is complete only if all the boxes are ticked.

Some of us have a more anchored lifestyle. Either we cannot afford such trips due to financial compulsions, or health may not permit such an indulgence. A brooding sense of self evaluation sets in. Did I lose the plot entirely in life?

It is here that Blake’s lines and the mythological story come to our aid. Any place, be it Alaska or Norway, is but a rearrangement of the same elements- sea and sky, mountain and trees. Those elements in a different configuration exist outside my home too.  

The “happiness quotient” experienced in Alaska, I can order the same at home, provided I make an attitudinal change.

I sit by the window and look outside. A magical world is unfolding at this very moment. I consciously take in the details- the blue of the sky, speckled with fleecy white clouds. I observe the tree forming an enormous canopy, the graceful curl of the branches and the leaves with a fresh coat of green. Birds flit in and out, their collective chirp converging in a symphony. The colors change by the hour, in a fascinating interplay of light and shadow.

A child walks by the tree and looks up. It spots your face pressed by the window. It waves at you and smiles. You smile back. At that instant, happiness permeates your entire being. It is a moment of fullness- you are at peace with yourself and the world at large.

You may go to the Grand Canyon and miss this fullness. Sitting at home, you can get it. All it takes is a change of vision- for “happiness is as old as this world and as new as this moment”.

The poet has rightly said, “You can hold infinity in the palm of your hand” here and now.