Every particle of the world is a mirror,
In each atom lies the blazing light of a thousand suns.
Cleave the heart of a raindrop,
A hundred pure oceans will flow forth.
Look closely at a grain of sand,
The seed of a thousand things can be seen.
The foot of an ant is larger than an elephant;
In essence, a drop of water
Is no different than the Nile.
In the heart of a barley-corn
Lies the fruit of a hundred harvest;
Within the pulp of a millet seed
An entire universe can be found.
In the wing of a fly, an ocean of wonder;
In the pupil of the eye, an endless heaven.
Though the inner chamber of the heart is small,
The Lord of both worlds
Gladly makes his home there.

Mahmud Shabestari (1250-1320) is known through his only work the venerated “Secret Rose Garden”, a masterpiece of Sufi literature. (Translation by Johnathan Star)

This poem is very reminiscent of Blake’s “To see the world in a grain of sand…” and it also reminds me of the Hindu image/myth/belief called the Net of Indra in which every particle of life light reflects every other particle, creating a vast vibrant web or net of energy. The statement that within each atom lies the blazing light of a thousand suns sounds particularly apt within the context of quantum physics.

Within each seed lies infinite potential, universes within universes, heavens within heavens, and within all the Lord of both the manifest and unmanifest abides.