My spiritual awakening came early, at just nine years old. It began with an extraordinary encounter, a moment that changed everything.

The house my father built sat atop an ancient earth mound on our family farm. One morning, just after dawn, I jolted awake from a deep sleep. A voice, clear and commanding, rang through me: "Get up." Without hesitation, my body sprang upright- standing on the bed in my underwear, €”before the voice came again: "Run to the cornfield!"

I bolted. Out of the house and into the open field, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. The wet corn leaves lashed against my skin, slicing tiny lines into my bare body as I tore through the stalks, driven by something far greater than fear or reason.

Then €”suddenly €”"Stop", the word echoed in the still morning air.

I froze. Panting, soaked, and streaked red from the leaves, I stood in the mist-shrouded cornfield. Inches from my face was a spider suspended in her web, each strand hung with glistening pearls of dew. Her black and yellow body hovered perfectly in the center, and as I looked closer, I saw her reflection; €”entire and luminous- captured in a single dewdrop. Within that one drop, her entire web shimmered in miniature.

Then I noticed it wasn't just one. To my left and right, the same image repeated: spiders in their jeweled webs, each one a mirror of the next. Everywhere I turned, the pattern extended- an endless cascade of reflections. The sheer scale and beauty of it shocked my young mind.

I eventually made my way back to the house in silence, stunned and forever changed.

Years later, I came to understand what I had seen: the ancient image of Indra'€™s pearls or Indra's net, a vision of interconnectedness so profound it marked the beginning of my spiritual journey.