Lord Dattatreya, Adi Guru of Yoga tradition

 

 

 

 

Lord Dattatreya is considered as a sannyasi (monk) who is being worshipped by different sects, sub-religions and cultures of Hindu religions. He is also termed as a pioneer of Yoga in India.In Many states of India like Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, He is worshipped as a syncretic deity. Several upanishads are dedicated to Him, as are texts of the Vedanta Yoga tradition in Hinduism. Over time, Dattatreya has inspired many monastic movements in Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism, particularly in the Deccan region of India, South India, Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan and Himalayan regions where Shiva tradition has been strong.

 

According to Datta Puran, Lord Dattatreya was born to Anasuya and Sage Atri rishi who were credited with making the largest contribution to the Rigveda. Many puranic texts differ in mentioning the place of birth of Lord Dattatreya. Some texts mentioned Atri and Anasuya lived in Mahur in Nanded District, while some texts termed sage Atri lived in western Deccan region. One puranic story claimed that Lord Dattatreya was born in Kashmir jungles. A devotee of Dattatreya Nitin alias Yogiraj Maharaj Dole, who left the medical practice and doing research on Lord Datatreya had recently claimed, “Shrikshetra Rakshasbhuvan, a sacred place of pilgrimage of Deity Datta on the southern bank of river Godavari in the Beed District and Gevrai taluka of Maharashtra as the only birthplace of Lord Dattatreya.” “Other seats of worship of Shri Dattaguru, for example Karanja, Mandgaon, Nrusinhwadi etc. are seats of human incarnations of Lord Datta and are famous in the name of the respective incarnations. But Rakshasbhuvan is the place of birth of Lord Dattatreya, hence it is a seat of worship of Principle of Deity Datta.

 

Therefore, it is said to be the first seat of worship. It is famous as Varad (meaning blessing) Dattatreya temple because the three Deities Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh had blessed Mother Anusuya at this place. As this is a nirgun (Non-materialized) seat, this temple does not have a kalash (Peak),” he stated. “In the recent period, H.H. Tembeswami discovered Karanja, Kuravpur and Pithapur and spread awareness about them because of which today these are recognised as a seat of Lord Dattatreya. Before that no one was aware that Pithapur was the birthplace of Shripad Shrivallabh. Even before that, in the Shak era 1600, 300 years before Nrusinh Saraswati, our first ancestor Dattaswami discovered Deity Datta’s place of worship in region of Rakshasbhuvan and performed spiritual practice there. He commenced festivities on the birth anniversary of Datta which is continuing even today,” Dole mentioned.