He is the combined avatar of Lord Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu… He is one of the lords in “Nithya Sanjeevi”. Every avatar has a starting and ending point. But Dattatreya has no ending so he is called “Nithya Sanjeevi”.
Birth History of Dattatreya:
The seconds rishi of sapta rishis “Athri” married to anusuya who is excellent in chastity. They lived happily in the forest. At the time anusuya’s only job is worshipping and serving to her husband. She has no child so she wishes to have a divine baby like as trinity gods (Lord Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma).
After Knowing this, three goddesses(wives of lord Shiva , Brahma, Vishnu) decide to test anusuya and suggest that if she succeeded in that test , she might get a baby …
According to that test lord Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu arrived at her hut in the monks form and asked for some food. She serves happily to them but they ask to serve food with an empty body. But she never worried about that because she has more courage in her purity and chastity. She took the theertham that performed foot worship for her husband, and said “if the work I do for my husband is true, let these monks be children” and she sprayed on top of them.
Suddenly the monks changed as babies… Anusuya made the next request to let him secrete milk. then, she breastfeed the babies. Sage Atri, who had gone out, knew what had happened by his enlightenment. The child was joined with one body, three heads, two legs, and six arms.
He named it Dattatreya Because of “Datta” Means “Given Person” and “Athri” is his father. So he is called “Dattatreya”. He was born on tamil month of “Margazhi” in the zodiac star “mirukacirita” On the day of the full moon.
24 Gurus of Dattatreya to Autodidacticism:
Hindhu Trinity Lord Dattatreya
He gained knowledge from the environment and his surrounding through
self-education. According to that he considered below 24 things as his
guru for some specific reasons.
1st master is “Earth “- Learned patience
2nd master is “Air” – Learned the maturity to face everyone without any discrimination
3rd Master is “Sky” – Learned similarity of the soul with Brahma
4th Master is “Water” – Because of that it purifies everything
5th Master is “Fire” – Learns to be austere
6th Master is “Moon” – Learns unaffected behavior
7th Master is “Sun” – Learns to help others without any expectation
8th Master is “Pigeon” – Learns detachment
9th Master is “Python” –Learns Survival with available foods
10th Master is “Sea” – Learns Acceptance
11th Master is “wasp” – Learns to meditate
12th Master is “Bees” – Learns hardworking
13th Master is “Elephant” – Learns refrain from sexual desires
14th Master is “Hunter” – Because of he lives from other hard work
15th Master is “Deer” – Learns to refrain from attachment
16th Master is “Fish” – Learns to avoid self-fulfillment (It is trapped like a worm in fishers net)
17th Master is “Courtesan” – because she dedicated her body for pleasure and hated everything and surrendered herself to god…
18th Master is “Hawk bird” – Learns to avoid sense objects
19th Master is “Baby” – Learns Innocence
20th Master is “The Bangles” – Learns to live in solitude
21th Master is “Arrow smith” – Learns Deep Concentration
22th Master is “Snake” – Learns wise behavior
23rd Master is “Spider” – It builds the web with more dedication and hard work, if it destroys, it will restart again without any thinking…
24th Master is “Caterpillar” – Learns life journey (Because of starts its journey from small nests and becomes a wonderful butterfly)
Best Mantra for him:
Lord Dattatreya
“ஓம் தத்தாத்ரேயாய வித்மஹே
யோகீஸ்வராய தீமஹி
தன்னோ தத்த ப்ரசோதயாத்”
Famous Temples for Dattatreya in India:
The lord dattatreya has temples in south and north india.
1. Suchindram, Kanyakumari.
2. Gangnapur, Karnataka.
3. Narsobawadi Datta Temple, Maharashtra.
4. Datta Temple, Pune.
Festivals for Dattatreya:
We celebrates Dattatreya’s birthday as “Dattatreya Jayanthi” in every
year.
The worshipping dattatreya is equals to worshipping the trinity gods
(Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu).
The traditional Dattatreya idol placed at Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum . For more information kindly check below link