13 Aug 2021
Chapter-1 Chapter-2 Chapter-3 Chapter-4
Datta Vaiśiṣṭya Jñānam (The Knowledge of The Speciality of Datta)
1) The Veda gives a two-pointed definition of God. The first point is that He is the Creator, Ruler and Destroyer of this world. The second point is that He is only one and that there is no second God. Both these points apply perfectly to the form of Datta. His three faces stand for the three cosmic functions performed by Him, namely, creation, maintenance and destruction of this world. He is known by the three holy names, Hiraṇyagarbha, Nārāyaṇa and Sadāśiva corresponding to these three functions respectively. The word Īśvara is often used instead of Sadāśiva. Datta is the first Energetic Incarnation, who later on, also descended as a Human Incarnation called Dattātreya, when He was born as a Son to sage Atri and Anasūyā.
2) The energetic as well as the human forms of Datta are eternal. Hiraṇyagarbha indicates creation. The word garbha means the pregnant womb of the mother, which indicates the delivery or creation of a child. The child hidden in this energetic form is Parabrahman or unimaginable God. Parabrahman is called Hiraṇya or gold since gold is the greatest metal like the greatest Parabrahman (Hiraṇyaṃ garbhe yasya saḥ Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ). This word also means that God is hidden in a closed golden vessel (Hiraṇyasya garbhe yaḥ saḥ Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ), as told in the Veda (Hiraṇmayena pātreṇa...—Veda). This means that the external energetic form is also like gold, which refers to the energetic form becoming one with Parabrahman upon His merging with it. This means that both the soul and the energetic body of the first energetic form have become Parabrahman after Parabrahman merged with both the soul and the body. Note that the energetic body and the soul or the relative awareness in it were created by the Parabrahman Himself. Having become one with Parabrahman, both the body and soul of Datta are eternal and supernatural. Even when Datta merged with the human Son born to Atri and Anasūyā, both the body and the soul of that human being became one with Datta. Hence, both the body and soul of the human form of Datta (Dattātreya) are also eternal and supernatural. The pregnant womb of the mother that delivers the child, also indicates the creation of this world from God.
3) The second name of Datta is Nārāyaṇa, which indicates the maintenance and ruling of this world. Administration is always based on the knowledge of the truth. Nārāyaṇa means the basis for true knowledge (Nārasya ayanaṃ yaḥ saḥ Nārāyaṇaḥ). This word also means that Nārāyaṇa is always based on true knowledge (Nāram ayanaṃ yasya saḥ Nārāyaṇaḥ). Some say that nāram means water, but that meaning is not acceptable here because the word Nārada also means the giver of knowledge and not the cloud which gives water.
4) The third name of Datta is Sadāśiva or Īśvara. Sadāśiva means always pure (Sadā śivaḥ śuddhaḥ iti Sadāśivaḥ). Purity, here means oneness. Since a second thing other than God is non-existent, God is always pure. In the third activity of destruction of this world, God does not become impure by carrying out destruction. Īśvara means the controller (Īśate śāsti sarvam iti Īśvaraḥ). The destroyed object must be under the control of the destroyer.
5) The word Datta does not indicate any specific activity. It only means that the unimaginable God is ‘given’ to the world of souls for their imagination and vision. Datta, the first Energetic Incarnation is the form in which the unimaginable God has given Himself to the energetic beings of the upper worlds for their vision. The same form of Datta, being invisible to human beings, is given to human beings only for their imagination. Human beings can also see the Energetic Incarnation, Datta, if Datta wishes. Sages, who were human beings, could see the Human Incarnation of Datta in the Tretā Yuga by visiting the asylum of sage Atri. The human form of Datta (Dattātreya) is also visible, but it has become invisible after the Tretā Yuga. Thus, Datta can be seen by devotees in human form as well as in energetic form, whenever He wishes. He appears as an Energetic Incarnation or as a Human Incarnation, even today, as per His wish.
6) After the formation of Datta, three more Energetic Incarnations of Datta were formed, which are Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva. Datta merged with these three energetic beings individually to form the three Energetic Incarnations. In these three later Energetic Incarnations, God Datta exists independently in each. Hence, it is correct to call the three as Brahma Datta, Viṣṇu Datta and Śiva Datta respectively. This means that the same Datta carries out the three cosmic functions even though He appears to be in these three forms separately.
7) Unable to understand this point, all the sages headed by Atri and Anasūyā, did very long penance on Ṛkṣa Mountain. This time of their penance was called Kṛta Yuga, which means the period when penance was done (Kṛtaṃ tapaḥ asmin iti kṛta yugaḥ). Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva appeared to Atri saying that the three of them together can be treated as the God performing the three cosmic activities. Atri refused to accept it saying that God only exists in a single form, as per the Veda. Atri means ‘not three’. The name Atri thus became meaningful since Atri refused to treat the three Gods as one. This time was called the Tretā Yuga since God appeared in three forms.
8) Then, Datta, the first Energetic Incarnation, appeared in a single form bearing three heads and six hands, belonging to Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, respectively, to clear the doubt of the sages. Then, on the request of Atri and Anasūyā, Datta was born to them in human form as their Son. Actually, three children were born to them and they were the Incarnations of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, respectively. Later, the three merged to become one human form with one head and two hands. Now and then, this human form of Datta turns into the original energetic form with three heads and six hands, to preach to the devotees that the three Gods are ultimately one.
9) Throughout the Tretā Yuga, the human form of Datta was available as a sage who preached to devotees. Along with other sages, He too had attended the function of Rāma sitting on the throne and He had blessed Rāma. In fact, Rāma too was another Human Incarnation of God Datta. Hence, the word Datta comes associated with the name of any Incarnation, be it human or energetic. Datta blessed Rāma Datta and this is like a single actor acting in two roles simultaneously, as we see in movies. In the movie, the double role played by the actor is accomplished by photographic tricks, while the simultaneous multiple Incarnations of Datta are made possible by the divine māyā of Datta.
10) After the Tretā Yuga, the eternal human form of Datta became invisible, appearing to devotees only whenever He wished. Both energetic and human forms of Datta appear to devotees, as per His wish. Dvāpara Yuga means appearance of both forms of Datta. The prominent Human Incarnation of Datta in the Dvāpara Yuga was Krishna Datta. In the Kali Yuga, Datta appears in the form of several new Human Incarnations to provide a correlation among various philosophies, bring a unity among them about the existence of one God, avoid mutual quarrels between religions and philosophies and to establish world peace. The word Kali means quarrels.
11) In this Kali Yuga, Datta will be coming in several human forms in every generation to establish peace and harmony in the world by correlating the religions of the world as well as the sub-religions of Hinduism. He will try to preach to human beings for their reformation until the end of Kali Yuga. In previous ages, some human souls were angels and some human souls were demons. Datta incarnated often, to destroy the demons and to protect the angels on this earth. But in this Kali Age, every human soul is a mixture of an angel and a demon. Sometimes, the soul acts like an angel due to the predominance of the sattvam quality. At other times, the same soul acts like a demon due to the predominance of the rajas or tamas qualities or a combination of rajas and tamas. In this present special context, to destroy evil, everybody would have to be destroyed. This will finally take place at the end of Kali Yuga when Datta incarnates as Kalki. Until then, Datta constantly tries to bring reformation among souls by appearing in the form of Human Incarnations, in every generation and preaching to them.
12) The identifying marks of an Incarnation of God Datta are always the three characteristics which are mainly related to God Brahmā, God Viṣṇu and God Śiva respectively. The preaching of spiritual knowledge is related to Brahmā. Reforming human beings through love and sacrifice is related to Viṣṇu. Helping genuine devotees, proving the unimaginable nature of God and punishing the undeserving souls through miraculous powers, is related to Śiva. Every human Incarnation of God Datta preaches wonderful spiritual knowledge. He shows wonderful love and sacrifice towards devotees, by sometimes transferring their diseases on to Him. He also shows wonderful miracles, whenever there is a genuine and justified necessity.
13) The main activity of Datta is giving knowledge, which is the most important requirement of the spiritual effort of souls who are interested in attaining the grace of God. If you are travelling by a vehicle towards your destination, what is the most important point? Is it your journey which is actually carried out by your vehicle, which is karma yoga (action)? Or is it the speed of your vehicle, which is bhakti yoga (devotion)? Or is it knowing the correct directions to your destination, which is jñāna yoga (knowledge)? If the directions are wrong, the journey of your vehicle and its speed are simply wasted! If you know the right direction and if you are on the right path, even if you walk towards the destination slowly, you will reach your destination, one day or the other. The correct path is always given by knowledge. Hence, Datta, treated as the Preacher (Guru) who gives right knowledge, is the most important part of your effort.
14) Datta is called Satguru (Sadguru) meaning that He is the ultimate truth (Sat) or the goal and also simultaneously, the Guide helping you to reach the goal, which is Himself. This means that at first, you should approach Him as a disciple seeking true spiritual knowledge. In course of time, you will realize that your Preacher, Datta, Himself is God. Then you will become His devotee. You are the disciple-devotee and He is the Preacher-God (Gurudeva). If you approach a person who is merely a Guru (preacher), you will get the true spiritual knowledge which has already been established by the Satguru. But if you approach a false preacher (Asatguru), you will not get even this true spiritual knowledge. Instead, you will receive twisted false knowledge, which will divert you to the opposite direction, away from your goal.
15) All the three faces of Datta always speak only the excellent and true spiritual knowledge. The face of Brahmā is famous for spiritual knowledge since Brahmā is the author of the Veda. The Veda itself means knowledge and Brahmā is said to be knowledge personified (Prajñānaṃ Brahma—Veda). The face of Nārāyaṇa is also famous for spiritual knowledge since Nārāyaṇa means the source of knowledge. Nārāyaṇa is a personification of the sattvam quality and knowledge is related to sattvam. The face of Īśvara (Sadāśiva) is also famous for knowledge since it is said that knowledge can be obtained from Īśvara alone (Jñānaṃ Maheśvarādicchet). As a result, we conclude that Datta is totally related to the spiritual knowledge and hence, He is always called Preacher-Datta (Guru Datta).
16) God is always in the form of the Preacher, who guides the soul in the right direction, be it on the path of worldly justice (dharma or pravṛtti) or be it on the path of spiritual devotion (bhakti or nivṛtti). God Datta is following every soul seriously, like the doctor following the treatment of the patient. A teacher also carefully follows the progress of his student during his academic life. God Datta as the Creator is the Divine Father of all souls and follows the development of each soul, which is His son or daughter.
17) The efforts made by Datta to always uplift every soul is like the training given by the teacher to his student. Generally, the sins and merits are to be enjoyed by the soul in hell and heaven respectively after death. This is so that during its life in this world, the soul is always free to put in effort for its reformation and spiritual progress. Hence, this world is called the place of action (karma loka) and hell and heaven are places meant for the enjoyment of the fruits of our actions (bhoga loka). But this classification is not very rigid because God has full freedom to give any fruit, at any time and place, in this world or other worlds, based on the need. It is just like a doctor having full freedom in deciding the treatment of the patient, including changing the course of the treatment as required.
18) Every Energetic or Human Incarnation is formed only when God Datta merges with the respective medium and this is a universal concept. Datta means simply ‘given’ since the unimaginable God has given Himself to the world for their vision. So, Datta cannot belong to any specific religion in this world. Nobody can say that the unimaginable God belongs to any specific religion because the unimaginable is not understood at all. Only the medium can belong to a specific religion since the medium (body) follows the culture and dress of that religion. The medium or body of God belonging to any religion is made of the same five elements, even though some very negligible aspects like features, colour and so on, may differ. After merging with the unimaginable God, the medium becomes the unimaginable God attaining all miraculous powers. Merged in each Human Incarnation, belonging to different religions, is the same Datta. Datta only means ‘given’ and He does not belong to any religion. Merged in Datta, is the single unimaginable God. All that differs from one Human Incarnation to another, is the medium covering the common internal Datta. The different names and external appearances only belong to the medium. Ignoring those superficial differences, the God of every religion is Datta alone. In view of this common God of all religions, nobody should feel that his religion has been contaminated by the other religion.
19) The three heads of the energetic form of Datta represent the three cosmic activities of creation, ruling and the destruction of this world, which are ultimately carried out by the unimaginable God. Note that the human form of Datta always appears with only one head. The single three-headed energetic form of Datta represents that the unimaginable God is only one and not three. Thus, this form of Datta is the very personification of the Vedic definition of God. Even though every divine Incarnation is God Datta alone, the first Energetic Incarnation, Datta is very very special because whenever we see this form, we are reminded of the Vedic definition of God. Hence, this Datta Swami is greatly attracted to this divine form. But this Datta Swami, in His heart, treats every divine form belonging to all religions, as Datta alone.
20) The program of Datta is peaceful preaching till the end of this Kali Yuga. Then finally, every soul will be punished and this world will end temporarily. The peaceful preaching program of God Datta is indicated by the three hands, on one side. They include the conch-shell, the ḍamaruka, which is a small drum, and the garland of beads, which represents the repeated remembrance of God. The final punishment given by God Datta to souls is indicated by the items present in His three hands, on the other side. They include the cakra, which is a small energetic wheel or discus, the triśūla, which is the trident and the kamaṇḍalu, which is a small pot of water, out of which some water is sprinkled while pronouncing a curse. Punishment is always the final resort to bring about a temporary reformation, whereas reformation by knowledge, if received sincerely, is permanent. Hence, after the drastic punishment at the end of Kali Yuga, the souls are good in the following Kṛta Yuga. However, gradually, souls again regain their sinful nature, after the Kṛta Yuga and hence, punishment can never be the permanent solution.
21) Datta is always associated with the Veda, which is represented by the four dogs and with justice, which is represented by the cow. This means that the knowledge preached by Him is authoritative, which is the Veda. In fact, the Vedas have revealed nothing but His knowledge. This is indicated by Vedas following Him in the form of dogs. The main activity of Datta is to establish justice in the world, which is the path of pravṛtti (Dharma saṃsthāpanārthāya—Gītā), so that the souls avoid sins and keep this world peaceful and balanced. Hence, the cow is also seen to follow Him. It indicates that justice is protected by its protector, Datta (Dharmasya prabhuracyutaḥ). This means that justice can never supersede God. Through justice, one can attain the grace of God, but it does not mean that God is controlled by justice. Dharmarāja could only reach up to third upper world Svarga Loka, which is a temporary heaven since he gave more importance to justice than God.
22) Datta appears to be a drunkard, fascinated by a prostitute and so on. But this negative behavior is only meant to test the sharpness of the knowledge and the firmness of the devotion of the devotee. He tests whether the devotee is able to recognize and maintain his faith in Him. Even in the negative behaviour displayed by Lord Datta, there is a hidden preaching. Alcohol greatly harms the person who drinks it. Yet the drunkard is unable to leave it. The prostitute also harms the man attracted to her. Yet, he too, is unable to leave her. Similarly, the love of the devotee for God must not be affected, even if God harms the devotee. Alas, no such devotee is found here! Devotees leave God even if God merely keeps silent in response to their worship. How can they ever withstand His severe tests, in which He even harms them?
23) Datta appears wearing a saffron cloth, which indicates the ripened spiritual knowledge. A ripened fruit attains this colour. When Datta appears, His beauty is so amazing, with His flute-like voice and the scent of lotus flowers coming from Him, that the seer will go into a state of coma! Whenever He appears, He gives such wonderful spiritual knowledge that on hearing it, the devotee goes mad! His appearance in His original form is a blessing granted only to a deserving devotee, who can withstand that shock. Generally, He appears as a mad man or as a normal human being speaking the spiritual knowledge, so that devotees have to withstand only the single shock of His knowledge.
24) God Datta is said to be Giver of both worldly boons as well as spiritual life (Bhoga-mokṣapradaḥ). This means that He will help the devotees who are in need of help to solve their worldly problems. Similarly, He will help the devotees, who are in need of spiritual guidance. He preaches that an excess of worldly pleasures is very dangerous since it hinders the spiritual progress of the soul. If the devoted soul does not understand this truth, He gives worldly pleasures to the climax, so that the soul gets bored with such excessive worldly pleasures and develops detachment from them. This is also another the meaning of the term, bhoga-mokṣapradaḥ (Anantena bhogena mokshaṃ dadāti iti bhoga-mokṣapradaḥ). You are advised not to eat sweets since they can cause diabetes. If you do not listen, you will be locked in a house for one week with only sweets as your food. After one week, you will be so bored of eating sweets that you will develop an aversion to sweets, for the rest of your life!
25) It is a wrong statement about Datta spread by māyā in this world, that Datta spoils the worldly life (Dattaṃ chinnam) of people. Fooled by this statement, generally, devotees avoid worshiping Datta and some even avoid going to His temple! The reason this false rumour about Datta has been spread is that, in reality, Datta is very easily pleased. He can be pleased just by remembering Him (Smaraṇamātra santuṣṭaḥ) and added to this, He gives worldly boons to the climax. When a beggar asks for one rupee, people generally give him one or two rupees. Rarely, someone might give him a hundred rupees at the maximum. But Datta is the first Energetic Incarnation and the eternal Lord. For His absolute highest level, one rupee means one crore rupees! When the beggar receives one crore rupees, he is shocked with wonder (Āścaryavat…—Gītā)! The soul is shocked, not only by Datta’s excellent spiritual knowledge, but also, by His unimaginable grace! If this secret is known, everybody will only worship Him to get excessive worldly pleasures and finally, get spoiled. To avoid this danger, māyā has done this negative propaganda.
26) Datta’s nature of granting the climax of materialistic boons to devotees can be seen by observing the blessed devotee called Kārtavīryārjuna. His two hands were paralyzed, so Datta granted Him 1000 strong hands! Apart from enormous materialistic wealth, he was given several miraculous powers. The administration of Kārtavīrya was unique in the entire creation. Even if a citizen would think of committing injustice in his mind, the king would immediately appear with a bow and arrows to punish the criminal in the criminal’s mind (Akāryacintā samakālameva, pradubhavan cāpadharaḥ purastāt—Raghuvaṃśam)! Such miraculous administration has never been seen under any other king in the entire creation. The grace shown by Datta on His devotees is always of the climax-level, be it in their spiritual life or be it in their materialistic life.
27) One must know the internal meaning of Datta, Atri and Anasūyā to understand the proper sense of the preaching. Atri means the devotee who is devoid of the three types of ego. The ego of knowledge is the sāttvika ego. The ego of physical power and worldly bonds is the rājasa ego and the ego of self-greatness without analysis, is the tāmasa ego. Anasūyā means the devotee who is devoid of jealousy towards others, including the Incarnation of God. If the devotee conquers both ego and jealousy, God gives Himself to such devotee since Datta means ‘given’.
Iti Datta Vedānte Brahma Parvaṇi.
Datta Vaiśiṣṭya Jñānaṃ nāma caturthādhyāyaḥ.
The fourth chapter of the Brahma Parva in Datta Vedanta, which is the Knowledge of the Speciality of Datta, is thus completed.
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