Shree Duttatrya

Shree Duttatrya

मालाकमंडलुरधः करपद्मयुग्मे, मध्यस्थ पाणियुगुले डमरूत्रिशूले

यस्यस्त उर्ध्वकरयोः शुभशंखचक्रे वंदे तमत्रिवरदं भुजषटकयुक्तम

(I bow to the son of Atri, who has six hands and whose lowest two hands have maalaa and kamandalu, middle pair of hands hold damaru and trishool and top two hands have holy Shankh and Chakra

Significance of Lord Dattatreya Idol

Kamandalu (water pot) and japamala   (rosary) (Representing Creator Brahmadev)

Conch and discus (Representing the Protector Lord Vishnu)

Trident and small hourglass shaped drum (damaru) (Representing the Destroyer Lord Shiva)

·         The cow (behind the idol): The earth (kamdhenu)

·         The four dogs: The four Vedas

·     The holy fig tree (oudumbar): A symbol of Datta, worthy of worship as the Datta principle exists in it in a greater amount.

Around 1000 A. D. the idol of Lord Datta became three-faced (trimukhi). Before that it had only one face.

Some of the sources claim that he was born in Kashmir jungles near the sacred Amarnath. 

Dattatreya left home at an early age to wander naked in search of the Absolute. He seems to have spent most of his life wandering in the area between and including North Karnataka, through Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, and into Gujarat as far as the Narmada River. He attained realization at a town, now known as Ganagapura in Karnataka. The original footprints of Datta are believed to be located on the lonely peak at Girnar. The Tripura-rahasya refers to the disciple Parasurama finding Dattatreya meditating on Gandhamadana mountain.  Lord Dattatreya did tapas for 12,000 years in mount girnar.

Sects that originated from Lord Dattatreya

1.   Aghori Sect

            Aghor tradition believes that Jagadguru Dattatreya propounded the tradition of Aghor later followed in the sixteenth century by the great saint Baba Kinaram.

The direct lineage of the twelve Aghoreshwars that began with Bhagwan Dattatreya extends from the sixteenth century until the present day.^[17]

1.    Baba Kalu Ram (Bhagwan Dattatreya)

2.    Aghoraacharya Baba Kinaram (16th century)

3.    Baba Bija Ram

4.    Baba Dhouta Ram

5.    Baba Gaibi Ram

6.    Baba Bhavani Ram

7.    Baba Jainarayan Ram

8.    Baba Mathura Ram

9.    Baba Saryu Ram

10. Baba Dal Singar Ram

11. Baba Rajeshwar Ram

12. Baba Bhagwan Ramji

13. Baba Siddharth Gauam Ram

2.   Nath Sect

It was Gorakshanath who changed/removed the aghori traditions and made the Nath sampradaya in the acceptable civil form of today.

The Avadhut state as described in the Avadhutgita compiled by Datta, is similar to that in Siddhasiddhant-paddhati compiled by Gorakshanath.

Yogis belonging to the Nath sect are also referred to as Avadhuts. They are beyond restrictions and accept food from all classes of society with the exception of the Shudras . These yogis emulate pythons and spend all their time in contemplation of the soul. In the Brahmanirvantantra four types of Avadhuts have been described.

·       Brahmavdhut: These worshippers of Brahman are from any stage (ashram) of life.

·     Shaivavdhut: They are the ones who have ritualistically taken the vow of celibacy. They matt their hair, observe silence (moun), and sit beside a fire place. They also smear mud onto their bodies.

· Viravdhut: Their hair is long and unruly. They wear a necklace of bones or rudrakshas and carry a staff, an axe and a small hourglass shaped drum (damaru). These yogis smear their bodies with holy ash (bhasma) and wear a loin cloth (langoti).

·        Kulavdhut: These yogis are initiated into the Koul sect and are householders.

Avadhut ascetics consider Sage Gorakshanath as their Guru. (Refer point ‘Avadhut’.)

The Navnath are the nine saints, Masters or Naths on whom the Navnath Sampradaya, the lineage of the nine gurus is based. They are worshipped collectively as well as individually.

The nine teachers, collectively known as Navnaths, are considered representative of great teachers in this tradition or parampara:

The lineage starts with Rishi Dattatreya, mythological deity-founder.

1.   Machindranath or Matsyendranath

2.   Gorakshanath or Gorakhnath

3.   Jalandharnath or Jalandernath also known as Jan Peer

4.   Kanifnath

5.   Gahininath also known as Gaibi Peer

6.   Bhartrinath or Bhartarinath or Raja Bhartari

7.   Revananath

8.   Charpatinath

9.   Naganath or Nageshnath

Twelve Nath Panthi	Sub Sects further
·         Satya natha ·         Dharam natha ·         Daria natha ·         Ayi Panthia ·         Vairaga kea ·         Rama ke ·         Kapilani ·         Ganga nathi ·         Mannathi ·         Rawal ke ·         Paava panth ·         Paglaa panthi	·         Machhindranath ·         Adinath ·         Minanatggg ·         Gorakhnath ·         Khaparnath ·         Satnath ·         Balaknath ·         Golaknath ·         Birupakshanath ·         Bhatriharinath ·         Ainath ·         Khecharanath ·         Ramachandranath

3.   Mahanubhav Sect

     In this sect the lineage is of Dattatreya - Changdev Raul - Gundam Raul - Chakradhar. Literature of this sect states that Datta isBrahman.

4.    Chaitanaya Sect 

Raghav Chaitanya, the founder of this sect undertook the spiritual practice of Dattatreya at Girnar

5.   Anand Sect

Here Datta is considered as the foremost (adi) Guru.

6.   Shripad Shrivallabh & Shri Nrusinha Sarsvati sect

Shripad Shrivallabh was the first incarnation of Lord Datta. He began worship of Datta in Maharashtra in the 15^th century. Shri Nrusinha Sarasvati was His second incarnation. The Shri Gurucharitra gives information on both these incarnations.

·         Prominent saints from the Datta sect: They are Eknath, Manikprabhu, Swami Samarth of Akkalkot, Vasudevanand Sarasvati, Pantamaharaj Balekundrikar (Balekundri is a village near Belgaum in India.)

·         Incarnations: ‘In the historical age the three incarnations assumed were Shripad Shrivallabh, Shri Nrusinha Sarasvati and Manikprabhu. The fourth incarnation was Shri Swami Samarth. These four are absolute incarnations but there are several partial incarnations. Shri Vasudevanand Sarasvati (Tembeswami) is included in Them.’

To avoid disturbance from people Shri Nrusinha Sarasvati retired to the Kardali (the plantain tree) forest after informing His disciples. When performing austerities there, ants covered His entire body with anthills. Several years later when a woodcutter was cutting wood in the forest his axe lightly struck the anthill. Seeing the blade of the axe stained with blood frightened him and he dug up the anthill. Nrusinha Sarasvati emerged from it as Akkalkot Swami. The Swami used to live at the present hermitage (math) below the holy fig (oudumbar) tree at Akkalkot.

·         Incantation of the Name: ‘Digambara Digambara Shripad Vallabh Digambara. Come quickly O Lord Shri Nrusinha Sarasvati Digambara

·         (दिगंबरा  दिगंबरा श्रीपादवल्‍लभ दिगंबरा । धावा पावा त्‍वरा करा श्री नृसिंह सरस्‍वती दिगंबरा ।।)’ is one of the incantations of this sect.

Others

Jains worship Dattatreya in the form of Neminath while Muslims remain in the attire of a mendicant. A mendicant is always a devotee of Lord Datta.

Main Holy Texts

1. Datta Puran: This Puran has the following three parts.

·         A. Part of ritualistic worship (karmakand)

·  B. Part of mental worship (upasanakand) : H.H. Vasudevanand Sarasvati (Tembeswami) has translated this into Marathi. It is called ‘Dattamahatmya’.

· C. Part of spiritual knowledge (dnyankand): This is referred to as ‘Tripurasundarirahasya’.

2. Avadhutgita: This is one of the main holy texts of the Nath sect. This Gita was preached by Dattatreya to Kartikeya.

According to the International Nath Order of the Nath Sampradaya, the "Avadhuta Gita is a distillation of the sublime realization sung by Dattatreya and transcribed by two of his disciples, Swami and Kartika." Originally a work of seven chapters, some of the ideas in this Gita are however common to both Shaivite and BuddhistTantras, and Vaishnava Agamas.

3. ‘Shri Dattaprabodh’ by Viththal Anantsut Kavadibova

4. Shri Gurucharitra: This tradition follows from Shripad Shrivallabha and Shri Narasimha Saraswati. Several very famous Datta-avatars are from this tradition. Such traditionally include Shri Janardanswami, Eknath, Dasopant, Niranjan Raghunath, Narayan Maharaj Jalwankar, Manik Prabhu, Swami Samarth, Sai Baba of Shirdi, Gajanan Maharaj of Shegoan, Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati et al. The disciples of Shri Narasimha Saraswati were Trivikrambharati from Kumasi, Sayamdev, Nagnath, Devrao Gangadhar and Saraswati Gangadhar from Kadaganchi. There are two major traditions started by Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot and Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati alias Tembe Swami, and they are described in their respective articles.

Incarnations of Lord Dattatreya

Name of the incarnation	Name of the father	Name of the mother	Period of birth	Native Village	Site of the mission	Total surrender	Renunciation of the body
1. Shripad     Shrivallabh	Apalraj	Sumatibai	Shake 1245	Pithapur (Andhra Pradesh)	Andhra Pradesh	At 7 years	Twelfth day of the dark fortnight of Ashwin Shake 1275
2. Shri     Nrusinha     Sarasvati	Madhavrao	Ambasati	Shake 1339	Karanja (Vidarbha)	Gangapur (Karnataka)	At 12 years	Third day of the bright fortnight of Magh Shake 1380
3. Shri    Manik-    Prabhu	Manohar- pant	Bayamma	Shake 1739	Ladvanti (Karnataka)	Maniknagar	In child- hood	Tenth day of the bright fortnight of Margashirsha Shake 1787
4. Shri     Swami     Samarth    (Akkalkot)	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Akkalkot (district Solapur)	Unknown	Thirteenth day of the dark fortnight of Chaitra Shake 1800
5. Shri     Saibaba	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Pathari	Shirdi	Unknown	Tenth day of the bright fortnight of Ashvin Shake 1839
6. Shri     Bhalchandra     Maharaj	Parshuram	Anandibai	Shake 1825	Mhapan	Kankavli (district Sindhudurga)	At 22 years	Seventh day of the bright fortnight of Margashirsha Shake 1899

According to the book "Shridattareya Shodashavatar Charitanee" by Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati, Dattatreya is supposed to have taken 16 Avatars. The names and their birthdate (as per the Lunar calendar) are given in brackets.

1.   Yogiraaj (Kaartik Shu.15)

2.   Atrivarad (Kaartik Kru.1)

3.   Dattatreya (Kaartik Kru.2)

4.   Kaalaagnishaman (Maargashirsha Shu.14)

5.   Yogijanvallabh (Maargashirsha Shu.15)

6.   Lilaavishambhar (Paush Shu.15)

7.   Siddharaaj (Maagh Shu.15)

8.   Dnyaasaagar (Faalgun Shu.10)

9.   Vishambhar (Chaitra Shu.15)

10. Maayaamukta (Vaishaakh Shu.15)

11. Maayaamukta (Jyeshtha Shu.13)

12. Aadiguru (Aashaadh Shu.15)

13. Shivarup (Shraavan Shu.8)

14. Devdev (Bhaadrapad Shu.14)

15. Digambar (Aashwin Shu.15)

16. Krishnashyaamkamalnayan (Kaartik Shu.12)

In the Dasopanta tradition, all 16 are worshipped and Dasopanta is considered as the 17th avatara.

Dattatreya must have been a very powerful sage existing before this time and over the centuries.

OM SHREE GURUDEVA DATTA 
Shree gurudeva Datta is GURU Ascept hence should be worshipped as a GURU