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Arvind Pindoriya & Rajesh VarsaniLord Dattatreya & His 24 Gurus

Hari Group Presentation 3

Om Namo Bhagavate Dattatreya

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Lord Dattatreya is the Vedic Trinity-the unity of LordBrahma (the Creator), Lord Vishnu (the Preserverand Maintainer) and Lord Shiva (the Destroyer).

Lord Dattatreya historically was the sixth

incarnation of Lord Vishnu, prior to Parshuram andthen Lord Ram.

During His Incarnation, Dattatreya often took theform of a madman and even spent a large percentage

of time below the oceans, for he avoided humansociety.

Lord Datta Is the giver of Knowledge, longing to giveeverything away to sincere seekers after Truth.

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Once, while he was roaming happily in a forest, hemet King Yadu, who, on seeing Dattatreya so happy,asked him the secret of his happiness and the nameof his Guru.

Dattatreya said, The Self alone is my Guru. Yet, Ihave learnt wisdom from twenty-four otherindividuals and objects. So they, too, are also my

Gurus.

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1. The earth,

2. Air/breeze,3. Sky,

4. Fire,

5. The sun,

6. Pigeon,7. Python,

8. Sea,

9. Moth,

10. Elephant,

11. Ant,

12. Fish,13. Pingala the

prostitute,

14. Arrow-maker,

15. Infant/playfulboy,

16. The moon,

17. Honeybee,

18. Deer,

19. Bird of prey,

20. Maiden,21. Serpent,

22. Spider,

23. Caterpillar and

24. Water are mytwenty four

preceptors.

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24 GURUS

1. Earth:I learnt patience and doing good to othersfrom the earth.

2. Air:

From water, I learnt the quality of purity

3. Arrow maker:

I learnt from the arrow-makerthe quality ofintense concentration of mind.

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4. Pigeons:

once saw a pair ofpigeons with their young birds. Afowler spread a net and caught the young birds. Themother pigeon was very much attached to herchildren. She fell into the net and was caught. From

this I have learnt that attachment is the root cause ofearthly bondage

5. Python:

The python does not move about for its food. Itremains contented with whatever it gets, lying inone place. From this I learnt to be unmindful of foodand to be contented with whatever I get to eat.

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6. Bees:

Bees collect honey with great trouble, but a huntercomes along and takes the honey away easily. Fromthis I learnt that it is useless to hoard things.

7. Ocean:Just as the ocean remains unmoved, even thoughhundreds of rivers flow into it, so also the wise manshould remain unmoved among all the various sorts

of temptations, difficulties and troubles.8. Sky:

I learnt from the skythat the Self is all-pervadingand yet it has no contact with any object.

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The king was highly impressed by listening tothese enlightening words of Lord Dattatreya.He abandoned the world and practisedconstant meditation on the Self.

Dattatreya was absolutely free fromintolerance or prejudice of any kind. He learnt

wisdom from whatever source it came.

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All seekers after wisdom should follow the exampleof Dattatreya.

Because of time constraint, we limit our discussionof Lord Dattatreya & His 24 gurus to only 8 for thissession, However we will take any opportunity in

future to discuss the rest of the 16 gurus.

Hari group would like to take this opportunity to URGEeveryone to at least learn something from the above

discussed gurus.

JAY SWAMINARAYAN

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www.divyajivan.org/articles/siva/Dattatreya_siva.htm