Please note that the points mentioned below have been taken from various sources.
This three-faced God, Lord Dattatreya, is regarded as an embodiment of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.
He is regarded as the Guru of Gurus and he is specially worshipped on Brihaspativara or Guruvara, which is the sacred Thursday.
The name or word ‘Dattatreya’ is constituted of two terms, Datta and Atreya. In Sanskrit, Datta means one who is bestowed as a gift, and Atreya is an honorific which is derived from the name of a great sage called Atri. The son of Atri is Atreya.
The avatar of Dattatreya is very ancient and even predates the Kurma avatar. According to the puranas, it took place hundreds of crores of years back in a different aeon and different age of time. Later on, Lord Dattatreya assumed various forms and avatars such as the Avadhoota and Anagha. Sixteen avataras are mentioned.
Tradition holds that he was the divine child of Sage Atri, born to his famous consort, Anasuya. He is also, therefore, known as Anasuyanandana, the darling of the great queen of chastity, Anasuya Devi.
Birth of Dattatreya: Dattatreya had descended into the realm of world as progeny of Atri and Anusuya, a sage couple of the Vedic age. Anusuya became very famous for her devotion to her husband. She was the embodiment of chastity. Such was her spiritual power that, even hard earth turned soft and smooth for her as she walked about. This pious woman induced jealousy and envy in others, however, and the three Gods decided to prove these doubting elements how wrong they were. They transformed themselves into mendicants, approached the hermitage of sage Atri and begged for alms. At that time sage Atri was away at the river offering his daily oblations. Anusuya came out and offered food to them. They made a strange request; the food be prepared and served to them by Anusuya, without clothes. In the Indian tradition any ‘athithi‘ (guest) cannot be turned away, as they are considered to be an aspect of God. Hence she was placed in a dilemma. She smiled to herself and reflected thus: ‘I am totally purified by the long association with the holy sage Atri. What harm can the god of lust ever do to me? So I do fear nothing. As they have sought food from my hands, I look upon them as my own children and not as strangers and grown up men!’ Her thoughts – the thoughts of a pious and chaste person – instantly became reality; the elderly guests became babies! Sage Atri on his return to the hermitage saw his wife Anusuya fondling three babies. Anusuya said “These children are the gift of God to us who have been childless so far”. Sage Atri was overjoyed and named them Datta, which means ‘given’. At this the three Gods reverted to their real forms and disclosed the truth. They extolled the power of chastity and purity of Anusuya which vanquished the combined and colossal powers of all three of them. Sage Atri and Anusuya prayed that they should remain as their sons. They consented and the three Gods merged into one body.
This is how Shri Dattatreya incarnated and is known as Gurudeva Datta – the Guru of all Gurus.
Though He moves from place to place, His favourite abode is the Holy Audambar tree (A type of fig type, Ficus glomerate).
Shri Dattatreya, in order to bless His devotees and the righteous ones, wanders about in the guise of a random guest at the lunch hour. That’s why it is said that a random guest has to be treated as the very embodiment of Lord Dattaterya.
Lord Dattatreya is represented as having three faces, one of Lord Brahma, the second of Lord Vishnu and the third of Lord Siva. He has six hands. The three right hands hold a trident, a rosary and a lotus flower whereas the three left hands have s discuss, a conch and a water pot. The three heads from the same trunk signify the powers of creation, preservation and destruction. It signifies the intimate unity of everything. A cow and four dogs are always with Him as His constant companions. What is the significance of this? – Lord Dattatreya was the greatest among all sages. His power to protect was such that Mother Earth herself took the form of a cow and pleaded for succor. She said, “O great sage, thou art the only refuge.” And she, in the form of a cow, is supposed to be under the protection of Lord Dattatreya. The four dogs which we see around him are the forms taken by the four Vedas – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. The Vedas knew the predicament that is going to come upon them in Kali Yuga; they knew that they would be disregarded, insulted and cast aside by people. They, therefore, took the form of dogs, and went to this Sage-Protector for protection from destruction. To Mother Earth and the four Vedas, who thus took shelter under him, Lord Dattatreya gave Abhayam; he bestowed fearlessness upon them. When we go to Lord Dattatreya for protection, not all the three worlds can shake a hair of our body. This is the spiritual meaning of this beautiful symbol that we see portrayed in the pictures of Lord Dattatreya with a cow and four dogs.
Dattatreya gives a list of twenty-four Gurus – all from nature, regarding himself as a humble student of the whole of creation. He also teaches us the lesson that the higher is one’s knowledge, the humbler is that person.
The Philosophy propounded by Lord Dattatreya is found in the ‘Avadhuta Gita’ and the ‘Jeevanmukta Gita’. Avadhuta Gita is a Vedantic text expounding non-dualism. Jeevanmukta Gita gives the characteristics of a liberated soul in 23 verses. Dattatreya is also the teacher who reveals of the secret of life to sage Parasurama in ‘Tripura Rahasya’, an ancient treatise on Vedanta. Lord Dattatreya has been mentioned in several Upanishads too.
Therevare several datta peethas in India. One of them is a famous hill in Saurashtra, Mount Girnar, which is dedicated to the adoration and worship of Lord Dattatreya. One notable aspect of these Datta Peethas is their indefinable but inseparable relationship with worship of God as Mother, the Supreme Energy -Shakti. Parasurama (sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu), approached Lord Dattatreya and was initiated into the intricacies of how to worship the Mother (Shreevidya Upaasana), before undertaking intense penance to obtain the grace of the Divine Mother.
Since ancient times Dattatreya is considered to be the presiding deity for the path of yoga. Guru Dattatreya gave Ashtanga Yoga (eight fold path of Yoga) to the world thousands of years ago. Patanjali codified this knowledge in sootra forms. As a Yoga-Avatar, Lord Dattatreya teaches us to perform all our duties skillfully and diligently. Yoga does not require outside aids, nor does it demand great physical effort. All we have to do is change our outlook and transform our attitude to life. This “change” consist of giving up the idea or feeling of “doership”, “enjoyership” and the resultant anxiety (and attachment ) for the fruits of our actions. By performing all our duties with this changed outlook, our mind will be freed from agitation and attain the restful state called “equanimity”, or the state where there is no “mind”. This is the state of Bliss that every soul ultimately aspires to. This is the state of Datta – the ultimate Gift of God.
