Once Dattatreya was sitting in meditation when King Yadu passed by and saw this young person sitting unaffected, happy and calm.
King Yadu approached Dattatreya and humbly asked, “ How do you remain unaffected by troubles, happy and calm? Why do you always seem to be floating in bliss (happiness)? What has made this possible?”
Dattatreya replied, “O King Yadu I have observed the world closely and obtained a little knowledge from a number of gurus (teachers). Listen carefully! I will tell you what I have learnt.”
Datta said, “O King Yadu, listen carefully to what I learnt from the Spider.”
“The spider stirs the threads in its stomach causes them to come out of its body and with this material it weaves its web.
Observing this, it occurred to me that the process of creation also takes place in the same way.
In the beginning there is one Absolute Conscious Energy. When the desire to create comes to Him, He creates from Himself three qualities (gunas) like the threads of the spider. These threads possess creative power and from them are created the world with many different forms. Just like the web that a spider weaves with the thread from its stomach.
When the Absolute Conscious Energy wills it, He swallows up the creation and remains changeless, like the spider.
Although the web comes from the spider it looks different to the spider. Similarly, the world comes from the Absolute, but it appears to be different.
Although the thread comes from the spider, the spider is still complete. The Supreme Being remains ever full, is beyond difference (although the world with its many different objects comes from the Supreme) and the Supreme Being is full of knowledge and bliss.
O King, I learnt all this from the Spider.
I learnt how the processes of creation and destruction are caused by that One Supreme Reality.
Lesson learned from the SPIDER further illustrated
