At the rim of Datta-sampanna

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Dear Fellow Datta-Brathas, Today being a Thursday, is Sri Gurudeva Dattatreya's day.Let me start the punyadina with a punyavachana of Srivasudevananda Saraswathy Swami. I just finished uploading the photo above(quite a rare one) of Sri Vasudevavanda Saraswathy alias Tembe Swami(1854 to 1914) for the benefit of group members.(It is in the last photo album dedicated to Sri Vasudevananda

Saraswathy). Vasudeo(as he was called in his younger days) started the daily rituals ordained by the scriptures viz. Sandhya twice a day, 1000 recitations of Gayatri mantra, daily reading of shri Gurucharitra – the bible of Shri Datta tradition etc. He also completed a 2.4 million recitation of Gayatri. He strictly followed the religious disciplines prescribed by scriptures, particularly the Gurucharitra. He then started the study of Vedas, the holiest of the scriptures, under the guidance of Shri Tatya Bhataji Ukidave. He woke up daily before sunrise and took his bath and

insulated himself from all impurities and contamination during the religious practices. He only took fresh, pure (sattvik) and vegetarian food prepared by himself or by his mother and never ate outside his home. The food prepared in this fashion, he used to first offer to sacrificial fire (VaishvadevAhuti)the cow (Gograasana), to the crow (Kaakabali) and finally to the Lord Datta, before partaking it in the manner ordained by scriptures. During the meal any impurity in the environment led him to leave his food and fast for the day. He used to observe the fasts on the 11th moons (Ekadashichandramasa vrata) of both the fortnights, when he did not even drink water and did not sleep during the day or in the night. Vasudeo’s austerities, dedicated practices and devotion soon led to his acquiring mantrasiddhi i.e., supernatural powers operating through vedic mantras. There are numerous examples of these. Once he was traveling by foot with a fellow priest, to a nearby village through a forest. Suddenly they saw snake slithering ahead of their path and his companion

asked him whether Vasudeo could try a mantra on it. Quickly Vasudeo held some dust nearby in his hand and reciting an appropriate mantra, sprinkled it in a circle around the passing snake. Suddenly, the snake was stopped in his tracks. It could not cross the circle and started moving round and round within it. The two priests went about their way and having finished their business in the neighboring village, returned to their homes, forgetting all about the snake. Only the next afternoon, Vasudeo suddenly remembered the snake and went to the spot along with his friend. To his horror, the snake was lying listless in that circle apparently totally exhausted after unsuccessfully trying to break through the circle. Quickly, Vasudeo took some more dust and reciting an antidote mantra, sprinkled it over the poor creature. The snake, as if suddenly released from the bondage, sprang away into the bushes. This so deeply affected Vasudeo that that he never again used that

mantra. Once at his sister’s place, Vasudeo displayed his mantric prowess by turning her intractable cow docile. He also helped local police by providing an accurate description and modus operandi of a particularly evasive gang of robbers. Another time, he correctly predicted the capture of the accused by the police of another state. He also helped people in distress by relieving them of their chronic ailments. This augmented his reputation in Mangaon and the surrounding area. He was now respectfully addressed as Shri Vasudeo Shastri. However, it must be emphasized here that

Shri Vasudeo Shastri never employed his powers for either monetary gain or to impress others in any way. He only used his powers to help the needy and to relieve suffering. We shall see that this compassion for his fellow beings continued to be a major motivation in his entire life. He was always at the rim of Datta-sampanna. Many are the blessed souls who, by daily devout study of this work, have earned the grace of Lord Dattatreya and his unerring guidance respecting to their Perfect Masters. A few instances: Vasudeva Sastri (b. 1854), a very poor but devout Brahmin of Mangaon, used to read Sree Guru Charitra since his boyhood. One day, Lord Datta appeared in his dream and said, “Go to Nrisimhavadi. You will get the needed money and company too!” The next morning, a rich man who had earlier got his astrological guidance turned up and paid him Rs.250/-. Meanwhile, his neighbor, a devotee of Lord Datta, requested Sastri to accompany him on a trip to that very place! On the way, when they sojourned at a village called Boregaon, Lord Datta again appeared in his dream and said, “At Nrisimhavadi, take darshan of Govindaswami!” Accordingly, on reaching the place, even while they were enquiring where Govindaswami lived, the great saint himself approached them and addressed Sastri familiarly, by name and enquired after his welfare! At that time, Sastri was reading Sree Guru Charitra only formally, as a

part of his family-tradition, but not with zeal. One day, Govindaswami said, “Sastri, why not worship Sree Guru?” As Sastri was devoted to the japa of the Gayatri Mantra, the recitation of the Veda and tending the sacred fire, he did not agree. The same night, Lord Datta appeared in his dream and initiated him with a mantra. The next morning, Sree Govindaswami saw him and said, “Hello, you are initiated with a mantra. Now, learn the method of its japa!” and taught him the same. Sastri accepted Sree Govindaswami as his Sadguru and, under his care, grew up to be a Sadguru himself, a sannyasi, entitled Sree Vasudevananda Saraswathi. The then Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Sringeri, H.H.Sree Chandrasekhara Bharathi Swami, hailed him as the very manifestation of Lord Datta. One young Panduranga took darshan of Sree Vasudevananda Saraswathi at Nrisimhavadi and henceforth considered him as his Guru.

Unfortunately for him, the saint attained Mahasamadhi shortly after. Young Panduranga prayed to Datta for guidance when he heard a voice, “Read that sacred book!” thrice. On his way home, he visited his uncle. The latter used to revere his text of Sree Guru Charitra, which he devoutly read everyday. As he grew too old to do so, now he was anxious as to whom he could entrust it. It suddenly struck Panduranga that it was the sacred book, which Datta directed him to read and he gladly received it. He was pleasantly surprised to know that the book was personally given to his uncle by Sree Sai Baba of Shirdi, an avatar of Lord Datta. By deligent and devoted study of it, he

blossomed into Sree Sadguru Rangavadhutha Maharaj of Nareswar. To be at the rim of such Datta-sampanna one must read atleast Srigurucharitra regularly.In this process one must also stick to one's "bolster" as Sayeesha used to say of one's preceptor. acatur-vadano brahmaa, dvibaahur-aparo-harih; Aphaalalocanah sambhuh, bhagavaan baadaraayanah. 'Baadaraayana' is another name of Vyasa. He is Brahmaa without four faces. He is Vishnu with only two hands; He is Siva without the eye on the forehead. Such is the greatness of Vyasa-Baadadraayana. Substitute Vyasa-Baadadraayana with your Guru.--Na thayor bheda krit bhaveth. The eko-mAnushya-Ananda which the revered upanishad talks about will be in reach thus. In the Chandogya Upanishad itself it is declared

that only by the grace of the Guru true knowledge is possible. It says "aacaaryavaan purusho veda" (only one who has a Preceptor, gains true knowledge). It is to emphasise this subtly that Lord Dattatreya keeps the chatur-vedAni as four dogs next to Him. This was to break down a predominant brahminical thought that Vedas alone are enough. To emphasise the meta-logical aspect of the Guru being supreme and the vedas being subservient to the Guru, Dattatreya enfolded this approach. Those who found that this was a divine spark went behind Him to find Him nowhere and He hid in a lake of KausIInikayA to evade the Rishis and when all had gone one remained who adopted his path and thus found

Unamatto' A man belonging to Gandhara (now known as Kandahar,Afghanistan) was kidnapped by some dacoits and was abandoned blindfold in a forest. what will be his predicament? How could he return to his country not knowing where he was? Similar is the case with us. Maya, the deluding power, has left us blindfold in the world. In the above story, some wayfarer happens to come on the way in the forest. He removes the blind and instructs him on the way back to Gandhara. The poor man follows the instructions and reaches his place. Similarly, we are now blinded by ignorance and can, following the instruction of the Preceptor, get our ignorance removed and attain release. This is the parable in the Chandogya

Upanishad. Lord Dattatreya says that to get the Datta-sampanna one must consider Maya to be a "bitch"--Vaishiynee pravtrutaha maya chintayenmansA and then he goes on to explain to Sahurda "A bitch is a female dog which is uncouth because it fornicates with every other dog. Thus Maya deludes a sadhaka from the a-mAyA tatwa which is the true mother. The devotee asks immideately without catching the significance"Is then bitch an uncouth animal to be despised" For which Lord Dattatreya laughs and tells " Bitch is the greatest teacher of Maya and thus, I bow to the prana-shakthi in it.Please peruse the pranashakthi devI in Tantra-niroopanam where the weapons of DevI are reversed to show the inherent nature of this a-Paurusheya-adharam" He then goes on to explain contradicting His past statement "Maya too is a Mother and thus respect is to be there" Sahurda is confused but Lord Datta vanishes to reach the bed of KaushIInikaya river. Unmatto! Unmatto! Unmatto!! The snow here in Rochester falls gently upon my window as I type these lines. At the rim of eKo-mAnushya-Ananda! Shreeram Balijepalli

 

 

 

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