Hindu Festivals No. 26A.

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Dear friends and devotees,

 

Bhakti is eternal.

 

26a. Datta Jayanthi

 

Message on the day from a venerable Guru.

 

Realise Your Divinity!

 

Worshipful homage unto Dattatreya, the trimurti avatara, the divine son of the

austere and illumined Sri Atri Maharshi and sati sadhvi, mahapativrata, rishi

patni Sri Anasuya. May the benedictions of this divine couple be upon all

married couples, in all countries, throughout the world.

 

The divine trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesvara were born as the unique

divine child Dattatreya. Actually Dattatreya was born as triplets, three

children, and yet they were not born, they were immaculate conceptions. Later on

they gave a boon that they would be born as children of Sage Atri and Anasuya in

a natural and normal way, and then they disappeared. Anasuya became the mother

of these three children, but later on two of them withdrew into their abodes.

Somatreya, the manifestation of Brahma, the creator, and Durasatreya, the

manifestation of Rudra, the dissolver, both merged into Dattatreya, the

manifestation of Lord Vishnu, and then they returned to their abodes leaving

behind their unique symbols. Brahma left the kamandalu and mala, Lord Siva left

the trisula and damaru and the sankha and chakra were retained by Lord Vishnu.

So Dattatreya is the manifestation of all the trinity, brahma vishnu sivatmaka

svarupa.

 

And this unique manifestation was the direct result of the irresistible

devotion of a chaste dharmapatni, Sati Anasuya, the wife of the great sage Atri

Maharshi. Her chastity was well known throughout the three worlds, the celestial

worlds, the heavenly worlds and this earth plane. She was known to be the symbol

of the highest purity as a housewife. And it was the power of her chastity that

rendered the three murtis into little infants. Later on it was the same power of

chastity and her chaste love for these infants that made them grant the boon

that she desired.

 

May the blessings of sati sadhvi Anasuya be upon all women throughout this

world today. May they be filled with the lofty, supreme power of

life-sanctifying chastity and may the power of the tapasya of Atri Maharshi

bless all sad-grihasthas and make them shine with sadachara, shine with the

power of purity, self-control and fidelity to their life-partner. This is the

one thing needful in the world of today.

 

For it is the character, the nature of the parents, their purity of conduct

and character, that decides the nature, svabhava, and the moral fibre of the

child that is born to them. For the child is not biologically or physically

different and apart from the father and mother. They are one. It is the parents

themselves manifesting in the form of a new generation. Therefore, what the

parents are, what their inner state or condition is, their psyche is, becomes

the nature of the child. It is that which decides its behaviour.

 

Therefore, if the world of tomorrow is to be peopled by citizens of sterling

moral character, of self-control, moderation, purity, high idealism, chastity,

good conduct and lofty character, then it is indispensably necessary that the

source from which they spring should be of the same lofty nature. If one

generation is fired with lofty idealism and is of sterling moral worth, then the

succeeding generation will also tend to be likewise and to be of great moral

worth.

 

Therefore, there is a close connection between a married couple and their

offspring. From the offspring you can judge what the parents might have been.

From the parents you can judge what the offspring is going to be, quite apart

from the fact that each jivatma, individual soul, comes with its own previous

karma-janita (born of karma) samskaras and vasanas. The austere, self-controlled

sage of sterling character and conduct, Atri Maharshi and the shining exemplar

of absolute chastity and fidelity, Sati Anasuya, thus became worthy of being

parents to no less than God Himself, the divine trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and

Mahesvara themselves. By the power of her chastity and his penance, they proved

eminently deserving and worthy of being parents of Divinity.

 

May the divine grace of Dattatreya be upon you all. He was a supreme yogi.

Like Dakshinamurti, He was the adi guru, the primal world teacher. Contemplate

His life. Meditate upon Him. Feel His divine presence. Evoke in your mind the

sacred memory of Sati Anasuya and Atri Maharshi, the power of chastity, and

divine grace in the form of Divinity taking birth at the earnest supplication

and prayer of a heart filled with devotion. The earnest prayer of a heart filled

with devotion never goes unanswered or unfulfilled. This is what the advent, the

avatara of Dattatreya represents or proves.

 

Try ever to be steeped in the lofty teachings of Guru Dattatreya. His one

admonition and His one teaching was God-consciousness. Until you realise God,

attain God- consciousness and become established in God-consciousness, ever

strive to keep yourself by continued, unbroken effort in a state of awareness of

your divinity, at least upon the intellectual level. May there not even be one

moment when there is any doubt about your divinity in your mind or intellect.

May your intellect be firmly based, with absolute conviction, upon this truth:

" I am divine. I am immortal soul, birthless and deathless, beyond time and

space, without name and form. I am Atman, formless. I have no limitations. The

body does not limit me. The mind does not confine me. I am the limitless,

all-pervading Divine-consciousness. This is my true identity. This is my real

nature. "

 

By constant affirmation of your divinity, develop within yourself, within your

interior, a state of feeling and thinking, a state of intellectual conviction of

your supreme divine nature. This is the one teaching of Jagat Guru, Adi Guru

Dattatreya. Never fall into the error, the slumber of Self-forgetfulness or

ignorance. Ever strive to keep yourself in a state of ever-wakeful awareness of

your divinity. And as His benediction and Prasad, this is the one thing we

should strive to receive from Him today. Because, He is an immortal who is ever

present. He is a nitya avatara, a pratyaksha devata, a living, immortal

manifestation of Divinity upon the earth plane. And His direct admonition is:

" Be aware, be aware. Be rooted in the consciousness of your essential nature, of

your divinity. "

 

And beloved and worshipful Guru Maharaj Swami Sivanandaji ever hammered this

fact into the minds of all his disciples and all sadhaks and seekers who came to

him for spiritual instruction. " You are not this body. You are not this mind.

You are immortal soul. Know thyself and be free. " That was Gurudev. That was

Gurudev’s central message, his central call to modern mankind. " Awake! You are

not this perishable clay, this cage of flesh and bones. You are not this

restless mind filled with ego, non-discrimination, ignorance and selfishness.

You are not this little, finite intellect prone to a hundred errors, subject to

confusion and also capable of misleading you through avichara and aviveka. Body,

mind, intellect and their functions are all characterised by limitations and

imperfections.

 

" Blessed Immortal Atman, be aware that thou art beyond these three finite

instruments, upadhis, that you have acquired through human birth on this planet

Earth. They cannot touch or alter the truth of your real identity. Enquire, Who

am I? Know thyself and be free. Thou art not this body, not this mind. Thou art

immortal soul. " Thus beloved and worshipful Holy Master Gurudev Swami

Sivanandaji echoed the great teachings of Dattatreya to twentieth century

mankind. He is to us what Dattatreya was during His times, in days of yore.

 

May the blessings of Gurudev, the blessings of Dattatreya and the benedictions

of Sati Anasuya and Sage Atri Maharshi enrich your spiritual life and elevate

you to lofty heights of divine consciousness and awareness!

(By Swamy Chidananda)

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry.

 

 

 

 

 

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