Difference between revisions of "The Vedic Conception of Indras Net"

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The Vedic Conception of Indra's Net

Indra is the king of the gods in Vedic Indian mythology. He is one of the chief deities described in the Rig Veda which comes from the oral tradition of India and thus we are mired in variations, translations disagreements and uncertainties regarding being precise in our descriptions. The Rig Veda has been described as the oldest book existing in the Sanskrit language and potentially the oldest book in the world. Within it are described star and constellation configurations that existed in the period from 7000 BC to 6000 BC, thus providing an approximate dating. Reference for the above statements, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra) and this web site: http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/RgVeda.html As stated elsewhere, this Wiki does not have the resources to duplicate scholarship available elsewhere on the Internet and thus what is pertinent to parallels to concepts from My Big TOE will be stated and information not pertinent will not be provided.

Buddhism appropriated the conception of Indra's Net from the Vedic religion existing prior to Buddhism. An appropriate translation from the Rig Veda has however not been found describing the concept of Indra's Net. Thus we move on to the Avatamsaka Sutra, also known as the Flower Garland Sutra of Mahayan Buddhism. However again an appropriate direct description of Indra's Net translated into English has not been found from the Avatamsaka Sutra.

The Historical Description of Indra's Net

For a suitable description of Indra's Net, we end up with a paraphrasing from the book Hua-Yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra by Francis H. Cook, copyright 1977 by The Pennsylvania State University. We quote the following description from this text.

“Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artifier has hung a single glittering jewel in each "eye" of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring. The Hua-yen school has been fond of this image, mentioned many times in its literature, becuse it symbolizes a cosmos in which there is an infintely repeated interrelationship among all the members of the cosmos. This relationship is said to be one of simultaneous mutual identity and mutual intercausality.”

The Interpretation of Indra's Net as the Reality Wide Web

Note that there are variations in descriptions as in the type of jewel, both faceted jewels and pearls, and precisely what the jewels represent as in the above quotation with philosophical implications and as 'jewels of consciousness'. I will state that I as an individual have encountered 'Indra's Net' in mental exploration and it can only be described metaphorically but is an existing reality which can only be metaphorically described. At times it is represented as being a net and jewels. At other times it is represented as being a network of jewels with the 'net' represented by the mutual inter relationships. I consider it to be representative of the Individuated Units of Consciouness or IUOCs as interconnected by the Reality Wide Web or RWW and thus impossible for actual observation by an individual IUOC such as we are but only provided as a subjective mystical vision by the permission of the Larger Consciousness System or LCS.

Thus Indra's Net is a perfect metaphor for the Reality Wide Web or RWW which is a part of Tom Campbell's model of reality as the LCS as it constitutes the digital data buss which interconnects all IUOCs. The RWW data buss is part of a metaphor for the aspect of the LCS as a cellular automaton at the base of all of reality as the LCS. We as IUOCs within Tom's model of reality are fully interconnected by the RWW and thus the basis for the Meta Realities which permit free will to exist for these IUOCs and thus the rise of Consciousness and the providing of consciousness to each IUOC as it participates in the meta realities of the Virtual Realities of NPMR and PMR.

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