Lord Dattatreya & 24 Gurus

1. Om Namo Bhagavate Dattatreya Lord Dattatreya & 24 Gurus Arvind Pindoriya & Rajesh Varsani Lord Dattatreya & His 24 Gurus Hari Group Presentation 3

2. Who was Lord Dattatreya? • Lord Dattatreya is the Vedic Trinity-the unity of Lord Brahma (the Creator), Lord Vishnu (the Preserver and Maintainer) and Lord Shiva (the Destroyer). • Lord Dattatreya historically was the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, prior to Parshuram and then Lord Ram. • During His Incarnation, Dattatreya often took the form of a madman and even spent a large percentage of time below the oceans, for he avoided human society. • Lord Datta Is the giver of Knowledge, longing to give everything away to sincere seekers after Truth.

3. Origin of 24 Gurus • Once, while he was roaming happily in a forest, he met King Yadu, who, on seeing Dattatreya so happy, asked him the secret of his happiness and the name of his Guru. • Dattatreya said, “The Self alone is my Guru. Yet, I have learnt wisdom from twenty-four other individuals and objects. So they, too, are also my Gurus.”

4. Shri Dattatreya had twenty-four teachers from nature "many are my spiritual teachers" he told King Yadu, "selected by my keen sense, from whom acquiring wisdom freely, I wander in the world : • The earth, • Air/breeze, • Sky, • Fire, • The sun, • Pigeon, • Python, • Sea, • Moth, • Elephant, • Ant, • Fish, • Pingala the prostitute, • Arrow-maker, • Infant/playful boy, • The moon, • Honeybee, • Deer, • Bird of prey, • Maiden, • Serpent, • Spider, • Caterpillar and • Water are my twenty four preceptors.

5. 24 GURUS • 1. Earth: I learnt patience and doing good to others from the earth. • 2. Air: From water, I learnt the quality of purity • 3. Arrow maker: I learnt from the arrow-maker the quality of intense concentration of mind.

6. 24 GURUS • 4. Pigeons: once saw a pair of pigeons with their young birds. A fowler spread a net and caught the young birds. The mother pigeon was very much attached to her children. She fell into the net and was caught. From this I have learnt that attachment is the root cause of earthly bondage • 5. Python: The python does not move about for its food. It remains contented with whatever it gets, lying in one place. From this I learnt to be unmindful of food and to be contented with whatever I get to eat.

7. 24 GURUS • 6. Bees: Bees collect honey with great trouble, but a hunter comes along and takes the honey away easily. From this I learnt that it is useless to hoard things. • 7. Ocean: Just as the ocean remains unmoved, even though hundreds of rivers flow into it, so also the wise man should remain unmoved among all the various sorts of temptations, difficulties and troubles. • 8. Sky: I learnt from the sky that the Self is all-pervading and yet it has no contact with any object.

8. 24 GURUS • The king was highly impressed by listening to these enlightening words of Lord Dattatreya. He abandoned the world and practised constant meditation on the Self. • Dattatreya was absolutely free from intolerance or prejudice of any kind. He learnt wisdom from whatever source it came.

9. Did We Then Learn Anything ? • All seekers after wisdom should follow the example of Dattatreya. • Because of time constraint, we limit our discussion of Lord Dattatreya & His 24 gurus to only 8 for this session, However we will take any opportunity in future to discuss the rest of the 16 gurus. • Hari group would like to take this opportunity to URGE everyone to at least learn something from the above discussed gurus. JAY SWAMINARAYAN

10. SOURCE: • www.divyajivan.org/articles/siva/Dattatreya_siva.htm