Dattātreyaṃ mahātmānam varadam bhaktavatsalaṃ

Prapannārti haram vande smaṛtrgāmi sano’vatu ǀǀ

We have already discussed the meaning of the word ‘Dattatreya’. We have understood that it is a title and not his name. Dattatreya means ‘Atri’s gift’.

To understand about any being or any object in this world, there are only two methods - name and form. In the absence of these two it is impossible to understand about it. There is no third method. So far we have understood that this Lord has no name. So now we realize that we have to focus on His form in order to understand Him. Hence let us seek to understand His form (roopa).

All of us know that He has 3 heads. From this, can we decisively infer that He has a form consisting of only 3 heads? No. This is because as discussed earlier, the 33 crore Devatas, through the medium of the 3 primary deities, gifted themselves to Maharishi Atri in a form that has 3 heads. This was a form taken on by the Lord, but not His original form. So in order to learn more in detail about this Lord, it is essential to know His original inherent form (swa roopa). Only then we can understand about Him. In this hymn, this swaroopa of the Lord is being explained through the word ‘mahātmānaṃ’.

These days, the term Mahatma has lost its significance. Either people look down upon those who are addressed as Mahatmas, or as seen in Northern India, they address everybody who wears saffron clothes as Mahatma. Anyone who wears saffron clothes, long beads of rudrakshas, who grows a long beard or locks is considered to be a Mahatma or Sadhu irrespective of whether he is deserving of that title or not. Southern India follows yet another strange practice. Anyone who performs miracles i.e. who creates coins or coffee powder is addressed as Mahatma. This is the present funny situation. None of these are the apt definitions of the term Mahatma. Who then is a Mahatma?

Mahātmānaṃ :

He whose atma (self) does not have divisions/ limbs, He who considers himself to be the entire creation and He, who sees himself everywhere in this creation is a true Mahatma. He is also called as ‘antaryāṃi’ (inner being) or ‘sākśi’ (witness). This is the true original form (swaroopa) of Lord Dattatreya.

Therefore do not be under the assumption that Datta is an ordinary being. He does not go around wearing saffron clothes or performing miracles. Taking shelter under Him is itself a great miracle! He sees himself everywhere in the creation. He exists everywhere. This is the form of that Lord who, as we discussed earlier, does not have a name!

Thus the hymn begins with the words ‘Dattātreyaṃ mahātmānam’ through which Swami Vasudevananda Saraswati emphasizes that this Lord has no name and no form!

What is the benefit that we could get from such a Lord? This is now explained.

Varadam: He who fulfills the desires;

Bhaktavatsalam: ‘He who has tender feelings of love and affection towards his devotees and looks upon them as his children.’ Here it should be understood that He showers fatherly love upon His devotees. It is far superior to mere love and affection.

Varadam is commonly understood as the Lord who fulfills every desire of ours.

The true inner meaning of this phrase is – He who grants that which is most auspiciously suited for his devotee. In other words, while granting the desires sought by the devotees, He grants only those which is best suited for him. It should be understood that He does not simply grant everything that a devotee seeks. He figures out which one is best suited and grants accordingly. Such is His compassion. If He were to fulfill every single desire of ours indiscriminately, we would be comparable to monkeys. We do not know what is needed and what is not.

That is why it is best to adopt the approach- “O Lord, You please give me whatever you feel is aptly suited for me. Do as You please, O Lord. Even this I will not ask. If you feel like giving, give. Else I am happy with what I have. I am standing before you. Take me on that path which You feel is best suited for me. If you want to make me cry, it is also acceptable to me. I will accept it as the path You have chosen for me. If you make me laugh, I will believe that this path is the correct one for me and proceed on that. But if You think that I should proceed on this path of crying, then I have a small request. Please give me the strength to endure the pain. I will withstand every pain and every obstacle, as long as You give me the energy to bear it all. But O Lord, even in that pain and even when I am crying, I request You to give me enlightenment (jnana).”

Every devotee should learn to pray in this manner. We have to exhaust our karma. There is no escape. So never pray that sorrows should be removed or that you should be happy throughout life. Who will complete your karma?

Secondly not all desires of yours are right for you. Assume a small child is playing with a blade. The mother will simply snatch the blade away from him. Similar to this, some of your desires are like blades. You are unaware that they are blades. If that desire is fulfilled, it will simply cut through and cause damage. That is why such desires are best left unfulfilled. Either there is no benefit to you from that desire or it could be possible that if fulfilled, it would ruin you totally. That is why, God takes on the responsibility of deciding which one is auspicious for the devotee and accordingly grants that.

Prapannārti haram: He dispels (haram) the distress (ārti) of those who have totally surrendered (prapanna) to him.

You could ask- Does this Lord also dispel our problems in addition to fulfilling our desires? He definitely dispels but towards this He has certain conditions. The Lord will be pleased (prasanna) only when you truly surrender (prapanna). Surrender should be whole hearted. It means that you should leave your responsibility whole heartedly and unconditionally to Him.

In the courtroom, we know that Krishna came to Draupadi’s aid. But when? When she raised both her hands, and with feelings of total surrender, called him out- ‘Krishna, Krishna…”. As long as she fought her battle, Krishna was watching her silently. When she failed totally, she gave up her fight and surrendered to the Lord. He then rushed to her rescue.

From this we learn that at first one should learn to tackle the problems to the best of his ability. It is a duty. The energy within you is also God-given. Use it therefore to tackle your problem. Else it will be considered a sin. You will automatically get the energy to tackle it further. It is wrong to go and ask the Lord to solve every small problem in life or to complete every trivial task of yours. Assume a person has worked hard and with the money he has bought food grains. Now can he say- O Lord, you have my responsibility, so come and cook for me. Or can he put a few morsels of food into his mouth and say- O Lord, now you transfer the food from my mouth to my stomach. I will not swallow. I will simply sit.” Are these practical? Why did you work then in the first place? You cannot take partial responsibility. There are certain jobs that you need to complete. He will give the energy. Can you say- I will simply sit in my house, let God do everything? In that case you have no right to walk, talk, eat etc. You should simply sit like a stone statue. It is not right that you continue to enjoy life, fulfill your desires on the one hand and expect God to take over your problematic responsibilities on the other.

If You are truly desirous that Paramatma should take over your responsibility, then at first you have to learn total self-surrender (atmarpana). As long as capacity exists, you should fight your battle. Thereafter you should leave it to his mercy.

Once upon a time a mad monk lived on earth. At every moment he would utter the Lord’s name “Shiva, Shiva..”. One day some boys noticed this mad monk and threw stones at him. Noticing that his devotee was in trouble, Lord Shiva rushed there to help. But meanwhile this monk took up stones and began to retaliate. Shiva immediately went back to his home. Goddess Parvati wanted to know the details. Shiva replied, “As he was totally lost in contemplation I thought it was my duty to protect him. So I rushed to help him. But then, he stopped contemplating upon me and instead focused upon protecting himself. So when he can take care of himself, why should I remain there? Hence I returned home.” Had the monk continued to contemplate upon the Lord, the stones would not have hurt him because Lord Shiva would have taken care. From this we should understand the essence of complete surrender.

Vande- I bow down to this revered Lord

Smaṛtṛgāmi sano’vatu- May that Lord who responds instantly when called, protect us all!

In Datta darshanam, the story of King Dharmakirti brings out the essence of this first verse.

Dharmakirti who was constantly swinging between theism and atheism (astika, nastika), once approached Lord Dattatreya and sought to be imparted with the knowledge of dharma. Dattatreya pondered over it for a while and finally agreed to teach him. Dharmakirti stayed with the Lord for a few days and learnt the rajadharma (dharma applicable to kings). He returned to his kingdom and sincerely adhered to dharmas for certain period of time. Yet, gradually he fell under the influence of atheists. Under the influence of these bad friends, he forgot all that he had learnt from the Lord. He went to the extent of forgetting the Lord himself! Even after having stayed with the Lord and after having learnt all the dharmas from the Lord and after having practiced them for a long period of time, due to the bad association he forgot them all! More importantly, he forgot the Lord who preached them to him!

In this case as the boon sought by the devotee was supreme, the Lord granted and fulfilled his desire. But the devotee had not surrendered totally to the Lord. He had only desired that he should be taught dharmas but had not anticipated that bad times could also attack him in future. As such he had not surrendered (atmārpana).

Due to these bad associations, the king got addicted to many bad habits. He got trapped in his vices. At last, when the time of death approached, he was filled with total repentance. In those last moments, he surrendered to the Lord. He realized the importance of surrendering to the Supreme Lord.

Lord Datta is smaṛtrgāmi- He responds instantly when called. The moment the king was filled with deep remorse and feelings of total surrender, Lord Datta ensured that the inner being within the king (jeevi, soul) was reborn as an infant in the house of a saint. He blessed him thus with a better birth. With this his troubles came to an end. The small boy, due to the memory of his previous birth, constantly guarded himself against bad associations. He ensured that he was always in the right company. Being thus alert he attained liberation in that birth itself!

In the story of Dharmakirti, all the definitions of Lord Datta - varadam (bestower of boons), bhakta vatsalam (who loves devotees as his children) and prapannarti haram (dispeller of all troubles) become meaningful.