dattAtreyA dasanAmi and aghorA connection-Part-2

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Dear Members,

 

Sri Dattatreya in the Deity form has been worshipped for millenia ever since He first appeared.

The Bhagavata-purana and the Markandeya-purana, are the most authoritative sources on the Dattatreya-avatara and they identify Him exclusively with Lord Vishnu.

atreH patny anasuuyaa triin~ jajn~e suyashasaH sutaandattaM duurvaasasaM somam aatmesha-brahma-sambhavaan

Anasuya, the wife of Atri Muni, gave birth to three very famous sons- Soma, Dattatreya, and Durvasa--who were partial representaions of Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, and Lord Brahma. Soma was a partial representation of Lord Brahma, Dattatreya was a partial representation of Lord Vishnu, and Durvasa was a partial representation of Lord Shiva. (Srimad Bhagavatam 4.1.15)

The Vishnu-dharmottara Purana describes in great detail the iconographic details of the avatara-s of Lord Vishnu and here is the reference for Sri Dattatreya:

All the characteristics of the form of Valmiki should be shown in the form of Lord Dattatreya.

The Purana describes the poet Valmiki in this way:

gaurastu kaaryo vaalmiikirjaTaamaNDaladurdRshaHtapasyabhirataH shaanto na kRsho na ca piivaraH

Valmiki should be represented as white in color and with matted coils of hair making the face invisible. He is serene and ascetic, and neither fat nor emaciated.

What exactly is the connection between Valmiki and Dattatreya is a mystery.These scriptures have revealed to us the truth regarding the form of Lord Dattatreya, free of all speculative imagination.

Although the Lord appreciates the adoration by His followers, His full blessings are accessible when worships Him according to the genuine scriptural instructions.

 

In Aghora II , Vimalananda states that Shiva was in fact a disciple of Dattatreya, But other sources state that in the Nath tradition he is an Avatar.The confusion arises here thus: Guru Dattatreya is the Guru of all Nathas and Lord Shiva being the Adinatha, is the disciple of Lord Dattatreya. But some scholars opine that Lord Shiva is called "Adinatha" because He has no guru!.

Guru Dattatreya, the first aghori, who in order to weed out through disgust(as we saw clearly even in our group, how a member expressed his disgust repeatedly upon seeing an aghori video) those of his disciples who could not look beyond their guru's outer 'clothes' took to drinking wine while a beautiful naked female sat atop his lap. The world's skin, the superficial image of reality that we call in Sanskrit maya, is a barrier that few people find easy to dismantle.

There is a Mahanubhava story of Lord Dattatreya in which He grants the boon of omniscience to Baba Kinaram, seventeenth century reformer of the modern Aghora Sampradaya.The story runs as follows:

Baba Kinaram Baba Kinaram another image

Kina Kina Sab Kahe , Kalu Kahe Na Koi

Kalu Kina Ek Bhaye, Ram Kare So Hoyi

From Junagadh, Baba Kinaram (1658-1771)made his way to Girinar where he found Lord Dattatreya in Siddheshwara rupa sitting on a Kund-Aghori-sila with a piece of human flesh in his mouth. Dattareya tore it with his mouth and made over a piece to Baba Kinaram and asked him rudely "Will you eat this?" Baba accepted it as Mahaprasada and ate it. The moment he ate it, Baba got the miraculous siddhi of divya-drishti.

 

Dattatreya said to him cryptically, " The Emperor of Delhi, going on a black horse, his white shawl slipping.....go go! go to him!"

Aghoris are called emperors of the place where they reside and it was Datta's cryptic instruction to reform the aghoris who were slipping in the path of dharma in that place and becoming worldy, rather than an attachment to kabristhaan(smashaan).

The sacred hill of Girinar consists of five principal peaks and is still considered the hub of Dattatreya worship with lot of Aghoris,Yogis, Siddhas, Sadhus roaming about in etheric forms there(unseen to naked eye). Many of them test disciples in strange ways and forms{from a leper to a veshya-stree(prostitute forms)}.The five peaks of Girinar are 1. Amba Matha(Of divine mother) 2. Gorakhnath Shikar(highest peak) 3. Oghad Shikar 4. Dattatreya Shikar and 5. Kalka shikar.

 

Among these Kalka shikar is the resort of Aghoris.

Girinar

Aghora-pantha was developed from a more serious and bhayankara path of Kapalika and was founded by Brahma-Giri a shishya of Gorakhnatha(who inturn was the shishya of Dattatreya).Thus an affront to the Aghoris is an affront and an insult to Lord Dattatreya Himself.

For further information on the Aghora Path and to better understand one may peruse the following books, which I found useful in understanding the subject:

 

1. Aghora series(three volumes) by Robert Svaboda.

2. "On Aghoris and Aghorapanthi": by Barrow

3. " Life history of an Aghori fakir": by Balfour

4. "Sacrificial death and necrophagus ascetic": by Parry

5. "Aghori ascetics of Benaras": by Parry

6. "Aghora-granthavalli: Collected works of Aghora manuscripts": by Ram Dular Singh

7. "Aghora-peetha and Baba Kinaram": by Amar Singh.

8. "Gorakhnath and Kanphata yogis": by Briggs.

Dattatreya being identified by both brahmanical satwic forms of worship and a-brhamanical forms of aghora worship shows the intergrative force of Dattatreya path.

Jai Girinaari!

Shreeram Balijepalli