Dattatreya Litreature

March 8, 2007

Dear Sri Ravi Verma Garu, You might peruse the following information on Dattatreya litreature. I have also updated it in Wikipedia for the whole world to know. Dattatreya literature The Upanishads Avadhutopanishad and Jaabaaldarshanopanishad mention that the philosophy is given by Shri Dattatreya. The Tripura-rahasya (The Secret of [the Goddess] Tripura) is believed to be an abbreviated version of the original Datta Samhita or Dakshinamurti Samhita traditionally ascribed to Dattatreya. This more lengthy work was summarized by Dattatreya's disciple Paramasura, whose disciple, Sumedha Haritayana, scribed the text. Thus, this text is sometimes referred to as the Haritayana Samhita. The Tripura-rahasya is divided into three parts. The first part, the Mahatmya Khanda or section on the goddess is concerned with the origin, mantra and yantra of the

Goddess Tripura, also known as Lalita or Lalita Tripurasundari. The Jnana Khanda or section on knowledge elaborates on the themes of consciousness, manifestation, and liberation. Unfortunately, the last part, Charya Khanda or section on conduct, has been lost and some believe destroyed. In the Tantric tradition, the Tripuropastipaddhati is supposed to have been written by Shri Dattareya. This is mentioned in Tripurarahasya. The summary of tantra in the Parashuramkalpasutram is also supposed to have been written by Shri Dattatreya. Another

work, the Avadhuta Gita (Song of the Free) is a wonderful, compete compilation of the highest thought given to and recorded by two of Dattatreya's disciples, Swami and Kartika. Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) held it in high esteem. Originally a work of seven chapters, a spurious and misogynistic eighth chapter may be a later attempt to append sexual morality to the Natha tradition by a conservative ascetic. Some of the ideas in this Gita are however common to both Shaivite and Buddhist Tantras. Datta sampradaya books The sect or sampradaya which follows Dattatreya as the main deity have some specific books which they follow. These books can be classified to belong to two broad

categories. The first one belongs to Shri GuruCharitra tradition while the second one belongs to the Mahanubhava sampradaya and Nath sampradaya tradition. We describe briefly below the books belonging to these traditions. Shri

GuruCharitra This book was written about 250 years later than Dnyaneshwari. Dnyaneshwari is one of the first comprehensive book explaining religious philosophy to the masses. Although Shri GuruCharitra was written 250 years later, this book has an immortal place in the Dattatreya worship tradition in Maharashtra and other adjoining states. The writer of this book, Shri Saraswati Gangadhar was himself a Kannadiga, but wrote this wonderful and most influential book in the Marathi literature. Shri Datta Prabodh After Shri GuruCharitra, the next most important book in Datta-sampradaya is Shri Datta Prabodh (prabodh: enlightenment). This was written by Param Bhagwat Anantasut Vitthal alias Kaavadibaba on the 1st day of Chaitra (Pratipada, Shaka 1782 as per the lunar calendar) in

1860CE at Baroda. The book has 61 Adhyaya (sections) and total stanzas are 14,236. The first 35 Sections have the stories of Shri Dattatreya and his life-work. The sections 36 to 50 describe the stories of Matsyendranath-Gorakshanath, Kanifnath of the Nath sampradaya. The last 10-11 sections describe the

life stories of the great devotees like Shri Janaradna swami, Eknath and Nimbaraj Shri Guruleelamrut In Datta-sampradaya there are two books highly respected and worshipped, bearing the same name of "Guruleelamrut". Late Shri Vamanrao Vaidya (Vamorikar) is the author of this book. This book has 55 Chapters with 9757 ovyas or stanzas. Just like Shri Gurucharitra, this book is equally worshipped and respected in Maharashtra. The book is about the life story of Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot. The book was published after the death of Shri Vaidya, by Vinayak Sadashiv Limgaonkar, who also wrote the summary chapter to the book. The language of the book is very simple, lucid and very poetic. The second book by the same name, is written by Shri Anand Bharati (samadhi 1901CE). This book is a short book and also describes the life story of Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot. The book has 21 chapters. The book follows the standard tradition of initial worship of deities in the order Ganesha, goddess Saraswati, Prakritipurush, Saints, Gurus and Parents. The further chapters narrate the stories about Dattatreya and his incarnations. Rest of the book then describes the life and work of swamiji. The book is in the

form of question-answer, with questioner is Shri Gopal Sharma alias Haribhakta and the answering authority is Shri Anand Bharati. Krishnananda(rare and only photo available) Sri Datta Mahatmya This book is written by Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati alias Shri Tembe

Swami. He had also written in Sanskrit a book by name Dattapurana. The Marathi Datta-Mahatmya book has 51 chapters and total of 5513 stanzas. This book also has the form of disciple-teacher conversation, where the disciple is Deepak and his Guru is explaining him the importance (Mahatmya) of Dattatreya. The book has full coverage of Dattatreya's disciples and devotees and their stories. It also mentions the 24 gurus of Dattatreya and Dattatreya's philosophy. The book also describes several vratas (specific strict rituals) to be followed. This is also book revered and respected by Dattatreya

devotees. Shri Panta GuruCharitra This is the life story of Shri Pantmaharaj Balekundrikar from Balekundri written by his disciple Shri Vaman Narahar Kamat and completed in 1918 CE. Book has 54 chapters and more than 6000 stanzas. The book describes the life story of the Pant-maharaj and also describes his life

philosophy Shri Datta Charitrasar Shri Vishnu Gopal Natu from Ajgan (Sawantwadi) wrote this book which also one of the popular ones in Maharashtra. There are total 77 chapters with 7721 stanzas. The book is fully devoted to the deity Dattatreya and not to any of his specific incarnations, unlike the ones described above. The book however contains the stories of several of the prominent Datta-devotees and this book is quite modern from that point of view. The book follows the initial standard

order of chapters described above. Mahanubhava Dattatreya books The important and influential Datta-Sampradaya books described above were mainly belonged to the traditions of Shri Shripad Shrivallabha and Shri Narasimha Saraswati in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarath and Andhra Pradesh. However, before them in Maharashtra, Shri Chakradhar Swami, (from whose time the language Marathi is considered dated, as he is the first book writer in the literature history of Marathi language), founded Mahanubhava panth or sect. Considering this aspect, then Rawalobasa's Sahyadrivarnat is technically the first book in Marathi on Dattatreya. This book has 517 stanzas and 188 of them are devoted to Shri Dattatreya. According to Mahanubhava followers, among the five Krishnas they consider, the first one is Shri Dattatreya, followed by Shri Chakrapani, Shri Govindaprabhu and Shri Chakradhar. This Dattatreya of Mahanubhavas is single headed and not triple headed. Another book from this sect is Krishnadasa's Shri Dattavijaya. This has 34 chapters and 5736

stanzas. One more book that is important here is Dattatreyabalakrida by Sharangadhar poet. This book is written as a conversation between Asit and Deval. This book describes the birth story of Shri Dattatreya in Badrikasharama in Tretayuga. What is notable here is that this story is different than the one consisting of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesha story. Modern books There have been several books written on Shri Dattatreya in modern times in the 20th century and the list is quite big. Mainly these books follow the same

traditional order of the initial chapters, followed by the life stories of the specific incarnation of the swami or guru. Most of the following chapters describe how he has blessed his disciples and his life philosophy. The tradition of Datta-sampradaya is quite big and unending. Several modern swamis or gurus have enormous following and are immediately turned in to the avatar of Shri Dattatreya with their fame and following. The essential point to note here is that the Indian social tradition allows and assimilates all the sects together, as can be seen from the description of the books above. Yours in Dattatreya, Shreeram Balijepalli

Purity, Powers, Parabrahmam...

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