I was at the picturesque beach of Puri, looking out to the ocean. It was late afternoon and the beach was relatively empty of people. A couple of families were around and they were taking refuge from the afternoon sun by playing with the ocean waves coming in.

I was sitting under the shade of a beach umbrella, somewhat back from the waterline to avoid the sun. There was a strong breeze, which felt nice and cool. I felt calm and idyllic. The sound of waves was acting as a sleep inducer. The random thoughts were few and far between. I wanted to close my eyes and sleep for a bit.

Unbidden, a thought intruded and it decided to play with my desire to slumber. It was a reminder of a few lines by the great poet, William Blake –

• “To see a world in a grain of sand,
• And a heaven in a wildflower,
• Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
• And eternity in an hour.”

There I was, sitting amidst as much sand as I could’ve wanted and this reminder about a grain of sand! I tried letting go. Tried to remove this thought consciously, but it proved too stubborn. I let my mind wander, let there be many thoughts so that this one goes away. It worked for a while. I thought about family, friends, work, movies. I let a random Bollywood song in and it kept nagging me for quite some time as random tunes usually do. Once my mind was tired of all these wanderings, and I was able to hear the waves again – the grain of sand came back again. This time it came as an actual grain of sand, slightly wet, somewhat shiny, stuck to the back of my right hand. As if it was mocking me and saying that it can’t be ignored.

I’m not the one who accepts defeat easily. So, I did the best thing that I could think of. I decided to get back to the grain of sand. Thinking, I’ll show you who is the boss.

I picked it up from the back of my hand and put it on my palm, and said – “You want to play games with me? Let us see. Show me the world.”

As expected nothing happened. Even the breeze didn’t drop. I smirked, and told the grain – “Now I’m not letting you go, you’ll have to show me the world.” I let it stay on my palm and went back to watching the ocean.

The combined effect of the breeze and the melody of waves started to lull me again. I felt relaxed and my eyelids started to droop. Then something happened – magic or miracle, depends on your inclination.

The grain of sand was no longer on my palm, it was being deposited on the beach by a huge wave coming in along with billions of other grains of sand. Next moment I realized, it was not being deposited, it was getting pulled back in the ocean. Somehow, I was able to identify my grain of sand among those billions others. It was pulled back in the ocean right in front of my eyes.

And I was there in the ocean, watching the grain swaying in the oceanic currents. I became a witness to its life folding backwards. The grain of sand went back deep in the ocean, and in watching it I saw the lifeforms in the sea, large and small, weird and wonderful. The grain then crossed the ocean and became another beach. I knew it was another beach because it had rocky cliffs right where the sand ended. The people on the beach were different and of multiple races. I thought it must be some tourist beach across the Bay of Bengal.

The grain then grew, as if the waves were un-grinding it. It became a small jagged stone which kept rolling in water at high tides. I saw a monster wave coming in and plastering the jagged rock in the cliffside. Now my grain of sand was the cliff. And I was a witness.

I saw the cliff becoming a mountain, and I saw that the jagged rock that was my grain of sand getting covered by more rock. The more the ocean hit the mountain, the more rocks grew over it. All kinds of minerals, fossilized plants and animals kept becoming the mountain that was my grain of sand. The people on the beach changed. In a few moments, there were no more people. There were animals, lots of them – at the beach, on the mountainside, in the ocean. Then I saw extinct animals roaming on the beach including a Raptor, I blinked.

The rock, the cliff, the mountain was now moving down in the earth. I could see a huge pressure reversed and creating a suction that was pulling the mountain into the ground. Layers of rock upon rock going down in the Earth. My grain of sand was now the Earth. I could still see it. I was there as a witness. 

The hue of the rock that was my grain of sand changed. From darker to lighter shades. Then in front of my eyes the earth, that was the grain of sand started to lose its consistency. It became soft, then jelly-like and then it became liquid. My grain of sand which was now a drop of liquid came at the surface and I witnessed that it was all an ocean. The whole earth was an ocean. The sky was dark and the ocean was cold. The darkness started to lift and it became warm.

Then it became hot, intensely hot. The liquid started to turn into gas, soon it was all gas. To my wonder, the gases started to move across the vast space, and became part of a bigger mass of gas. My grain of sand was now the Sun. But the movement did not stop. My grain of sand kept going back and became many suns, many galaxies, universe…. And then there was nothing.

My grain of sand was nothing, I was nothing. We were back at the moment of creation. There was no longer a witness, because there was nothing to witness. I was everything. It was all me, one consciousness. I felt bliss. I wanted to create and I created.

On my expansive pallet of space-time, another consciousness stirred. It was a consciousness on a beach in a place called Puri on a small round rock called Earth, which is going around a minor star called Sun. I could see that he felt fear. He was afraid of his own immensity. So, I went back to him. 

Time started again in forward motion. I felt the breeze again and heard the sound of waves. I felt lethargic and struggled to get my consciousness back. I saw I am resting on the palm of someone who is asking me to show him the world. I am the grain of sand.

I woke up. The grain of sand was still on my palm. I smiled… and hummed…

• “To see a world in a grain of sand,
• And a heaven in a wildflower,
• Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
• And eternity in an hour.”

I had been asleep for an hour.