Happy Datta Jayanti

They say that God is formless – nirguna and nirakar i.e. one with no characteristics and no form. He is One. However, he wished to become many and so, he created this universe. He created 84 lakh species. And then the creation stopped. The final creation was human being. After creation of human being, nothing remained to be created.

During soul’s journey, they say, it progresses from mineral (khanija), to tree (vruksha), to animal and finally as human being. When soul reaches human birth, it gets an opportunity to merge back into the One, a stage called as parameshwar prapti. That is why they say that human birth is very precious and should not be wasted in pursuit of desires other than the desire for parameshwar prapti. Parameshwar prapti is the primary goal of human birth.

Humans are the leaders of this universe. In their pursuit of achieving the goal of parameshwar prapti, not only they benefit but even the animals and other species benefit. That’s why during sankalpa of any puja when we list the participants of the puja we also include animals in the house, if there are any, because they also get benefited by earning punya from that ritual.

If the goal of parameshwar prapti is not achieved or not pursued in the human birth then one is at great loss. However, the journey of achieving goal of parameshwar prapti is not easy. For those who try on their own, this journey is like the game of snake and ladder. One never knows when one can go back to the level zero and start all over again. However, for those who surrender to the Guru the success is certain. The surrender has to be whole-hearted, though.

That is why Lord Dattatreya, Guru of all Gurus, incarnates time to time, for two reasons. One – to remind the people who have deviated from their goal, and second to give darshan to the people who are pursuing the goal of parameshwar prapti. He is called Datta because his primary characteristic is to give. He is called bhukti mukti dataa, as he gives all essential things to his devotees so that they can fulfill their duties, as well as blesses them in their goal of achieving parameshwar prapti.

Lord Dattatreya first took birth to Sage Atri and Mother Anasuya. They say that He never ended his avatara. However he changes his form as suitable to the time. First he took form as Lord Dattatreya, then as Shripad Shrivallabha in Pithikapur, then as Swami Samarth in Akkalkot and then as Saibaba in Shirdi.

Today is Datta Jayanti. We are celebrating it by performing Datta puja in our temple in Dapoli. May this puja bring you all most auspicious gains and help us all in our goal of achieving parameshwar prapti.