CREATION OF DATTATREYA

The sage Narada went to the Goddesses Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati, saying that Anasuya, wife of Atri, was the most virtuous woman in any of the worlds.



The Goddesses sent their husbands, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to test the piety of this women. Anasuya washed her husband’s feet and then sprinkled the Gods, who were disguised as Brahmins, with this water. They were turned into babes. The three Gods deprived of the power to return to their original form, were trapped at her hermitage. Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati came in search of their husbands, but she said she had some claim as she had nursed them so long.



The Gods agreed to create a combined form with three heads and six arms if she released them. This three headed divinity was named Dattatreya. The Central head represents Vishnu, the right head represents Shiva and the other Brahma. The dogs which are depicted with Dattatreya represent the perfect devotees, faithful to their master.



And Guru Dattatreya is the archetypal Guru, that is, He is the prototype or original model form which all gurus emerge. He is the Guru principle. As the Adi Guru, He has incarnated many times to guide mankind. He came as the ten great Primordial Masters. From Janaka through to Sai Nath, this great principle has incarnated to give form to God’s love for mankind, returning again and again to correct our mistakes and bring us back to a God-centered life.




The patience and love of the true guru is clearly illustrated in Shri Dattatreya’s repeated, preserving, incarnating guidance. It is Guru Dattatreya who leads mankind across the Void, bringing us from the treacherous oceans of illusion to the safety of the far shore where Shri Mataji, as Shri Durga, waits for us with outstretched arms! Lord Dattatreya had only one job to do, to establish our dharma, so that we could evolve. Each of his manifestations had only this to do.




Lord Dattatreya himself is the essence and innocence of Shri Brahmadeva, Shri Vishnu and Shri Shiva. He is the integration of all the three Gunas, and above all is innocence itself. One is constantly reminded of Shri Mataji’s emphasis on the first, and most important aspect of the Guru, Shri Ganesha. Innocence is the wellspring of the guru of wisdom. In his manifest forms, as Confucius, Zarathustra, Lao Tze, Nanaka, Moses, Abraham and Muhammad, Lord Dattatreya has been the foundation of great religions, preserving man’s dharma.



Shri Mataji has explained, “Adi Guru Dattatreya worshipped Mother along the banks of the River Tamasa. Tamasa is the same as your Thames. And He Himself came and worshipped here…. in this great country of Shiva, of the Spirit.


(DCB January- February 2005)