Pathless Path to Immortality.pdf

The Pathless Path to Immortality

The Wisdom of Bhagavan Dattatreya

Shri Gurudev Mahendranath

First American Electronic Edition, 2002.

This edition typeset by Adityanath using the L A T E X Documentation System.

production, typeset and layout of this publication. No part of this document may be

copied without the written permission of the publisher.

Revision History:

Version 1.1 (27 May 2002) Added INO trailer.

Version 1.0 (25 May 2002) Document cre-

ated from 1991 INO print edition.

The Pathless Path to

Immortality

The Wisdom of Bhagavan Dattatreya

The name Shri Bhagavan Dattatreya is still practically unknown outside of India. More

lamentable still is the fact that, although still worshiped by millions of Hindus, he is

thought of more as a benevolent God rather than a teacher of the highest essence of

Indian thought. In the basic essence which runs through the three patterns of thought

which I have classied as the Diamond Dharmas, we nd their earliest expression in

the Guru teachings of Dattatreya. These teachings preceded them all, and later became

embraced in Brahma-Vidya.

Shri Dattatreya was a dropout of an earlier age than the period when the Veda and

Tantra merged to become one simple cult. It was men like Dattatreya who helped to

make this possible. Three of his close disciples were kings, one an Asura , and the other

two both belonging to the warrior caste. Dattatreya himself was regarded as an avatar

of Maheshwara (Shiva), but later was claimed by Vaishnavas as the avatar of Vishnu.

Not such a sectarian claim as it appears: Hindus regard Shiva and Vishnu as the same,

or as manifestations of the Absolute taking form.

The teachings of Dattatreya during his lifetime were probably adjusted to meet the

needs and understanding of the the disciples. We have an example of this in the case of

Parasurama, a Brahman who became a disciple of Dattatreya. In accord with the Guru’s

correct assessment of his stage, he was rst initiated into the rituals for the worship of

the Mother Goddess (Shakti) in her from as Tripura (Destroyer of the Three Cities or

Gunas). In time, Parasurama developed to understand the higher teachings, where his

opportunity for understanding might have been lost in confusion if it had not been done

gradually. Parasurama is a great story on its own, and will be dealt with later.

The gems which can be described as the higher teachings of Dattatreya (often used

in a shorter form as Datta) come to us in many ways. The least obvious and most

important was the way in which he lived. If chance had not given him several disciples

of an unusually high level of understanding, there may not have been any other medium

through which we could know him.

Another is the scripture or wisdom texts which record their teachings. They are

found in several ancient Upanishads, one a Tantrik text known as Haritayana Samhita ,

a work of three sections. The last section, Charya Khanda , or section on conduct,

has been lost and some believe destroyed. The other important works are to Gitas

— the Jivanmukti Gita and the Avadhuta Gita . The latter is a wonderful, complete

compilation of the highest thought given to and recorded by two disciples, Swami and

Kartika.

The Upanishads describe Dattatreya with glowing praise, and enumerate his great

qualities. Typical of most dropouts of the ancient Pagan world, he lived completely

naked. This was a great spiritual era when all world renouncers were mostly naked, or

near naked. The Sanskrit idiom used to describe this condition was digambara , having

a literal meaning of ‘clothed in the sky’ or ‘sky as garment’, but also an idiomatic

meaning that the sadhu was one with his environment. This was the world of Shiva-

Shakti where the way of life of Nature was the highest ideal. Civilization and cities had

already by this time appeared, but men knew that only articial men could live and be

produced in them.

The manner and way of life of these ancients was something beyond words and ex-

planations, yet sufcient in itself. Brahma-Vidya had no meaning if theory was not put

into practice. Academic and theoretic knowledge was helpful toward realization, but

alone it could not reach the goal. Physical patterns were considered vital and essential

to help overcome the past conditionings of the mind. Before the soul could be free, the

mind must be made free; before the mind could be free, the body must be made free.

While we are forced to accept that nudity are a regular part of sadhu practices, the true

and fuller meanings might not be so obvious. There may have been important factors

well known in the past, but lost to us today.

A vast number of religions have had forms of religious nudity. Even the Old Tes-

tament records an incident where David, the King of Israel, reverted to an older Pagan

custom and danced naked before the shrine of the Lord in the temple. It could not have

been a sudden, spontaneous act, but a practice rooted in ancient tradition. Even in India

it is only a few years ago that people visiting the famous ice lingam at Amarnath were

only permitted to enter the cave completely naked.

Today, most sadhus dress and some overdress, and a few even display themselves

in costly silks. But in the ceremony of Sannyasa Diksha, or initiation into Sannyasa

life, the candidate is required to walk at least seven paces completely naked to where

the Guru sits. He then receives and repeats the Praisha Mantra. Many sects still require

a sadhu to be naked if he does puja of his Guru or Sect Guru, or when meditating if he

has passed beyond the relative stage of worship.

In some religions, it might have been an expression of going before God impover-

ished, or as a simple, innocent child, or in one’s natural primordial state. Yet there is

still some subtle aspect which may be beyond these. Today it is one of the best spiritual

“shock tactics” to make people wake up and start a chain of thought. This, however,

could hardly apply in very ancient times when nudity was common.

Shiva or Maheshwara and his Consort were always considered and described in

texts as being naked. This might have served as a pattern of life for those who desired

oneness, and were prepared to make it possible.

Dattatreya left home at an early age to wander naked in search of the Absolute.

There is no room for doubt that he was an historical gure, and seems to have spent

most of his life wandering in the area between and including North Mysore, through

Maharashta, and into Gujarat as far as the Narmada River. One scripture refers to a

disciple nding Datta meditating on Gandhamadana Mountain. He attained realization

at a place not far from the town now known as Gangapur.

Legends about his birth are many and varied, and the place he died is unknown.

It is stated that he was born on Wednesday, the fourteenth day of the full moon in the

month of Margasirsa, but of year and place there is no reliable information. Scholars

speculate it must have been not less than about four thousand years ago, or even earlier.

In spite of legends which made him to be the son of a Brahmin couple, it would

not appear that he had much time for them, and further more he avoided any concepts

of caste distinction. More often his teachings denied any importance being attached to

the caste system in true spiritual life. He did not suggest that in worldly relationships

the caste system was needless or defective, but tried to show that there must come a

standard of understanding where they had no meaning.

Those who look for analogies with Christian ideals will nd none; nor the mean-

ingless precepts and platitudes which entangle most Western thinking. He taught no

concepts of the brotherhood of man, non-killing, or love one another. They were for

people which loved to live in the crowd, but feared it. Instead, he taught men the

essence of wisdom which would disentangle them forever; the way one must think and

live if the expression “dropout” was not to become only a meaningless gesture.

I am avoiding the use of Sanskrit texts, and even single Sanskrit words, as much

as possible. A few are unavoidable and must be explained, but the English medium on

all levels is quite capable of conveying any relative concept known to mankind. Those

who do not understand Sanskrit only nd Sanskrit shlokas like udders hanging on a

bull, a useless ornament. Those who do know the Sanskrit language can revert to the

source, and need no help from me. This is only an effort to express a difcult teaching

in simple words.

Pratibha, Sahaja, Samarasa

The search for the Absolute, the Supreme Reality, is not one where we will ever witness

mass realization. Only a few any age have the karma and mind impressions from past

lives to make it possible. This does not mean that realization and liberation are reserved

for a tiny select minority. It is a supreme attainment from which none can be excluded,

but it must be conceived as a process which continues through many lives and rebirths,

over countless periods of time.

The safest guide an individual or guru can have of one’s stage in the long process

is the sincerity and intensity of the individual as it manifests in the present incarnation.

What has taken hundreds of thousands of lives to develop might still be very difcult

to mature in only the one present span. This means that all spiritual life is a matter

of investment in those values and yogas which will one day come to maturity. The

punishment for neglect is not the wrath of God, but countless lives of misery, pain and

frustration. The reward for the diligent is to escape entirely from these things, and

attain the only true bliss of the Supreme Reality.

There are three Sanskrit words which form much of the essential structure upon

which realization and liberation depend. They were used much by Dattatreya, and

constantly repeated in the Tantrik or non-Vedic Agamas. Oddly enough, they are rarely

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