Indra's Net - with Gratitude

I snapped this photo on an early morning. The forest was saturated with fog, and I was stunned by the beauty of individual water droplets suspended at the end of pine needles, each drop a reflecting pool for the world around it. Then I came upon this spider's web, and it immediately called to mind the powerful metaphor of Indra's Net.

In the Rig Veda, we find a description of Indra's Net:

There is an endless net of threads across the universe . . .

At every crossing of the threads there is an individual.

And every individual is a crystal bead.

And every crystal bead reflects

Not only the light from every

Other crystal in the net

But also every other reflection

Throughout the universe.

Translation by Anne Adams

I see us all in this endless net, each one reflecting the other. When the web moves in the wind, the crystals shimmer in new patterns, once again reflecting each other. Each of us is an elegant and complete whole and also part of that larger web, intricately and perfectly designed and interdependent.

For many years I have prided myself on being independent, but today I reach out to acknowledge all those others in the web whose presence holds me up each day, whose light reflects back my own, and whose presence and friendship graces me with hope, laughter and renewed vision. I know that who I am is possible because we are ALL in the net, together. You know who you are, friends I know well and friends I have never met. We are part of this web, Indra's Net, and it is a strong web. I feel your presence with me in this web and I reach out to you today to say "thank you." If you are feeling alone or in need of support today, I hope you will remember your place in this net, too. We are with you.