The Datta Tradition takes its name from Lord Dattatreya, an ancient being whose relevance has continued to grow and expand eons after he lived and walked this earth.
The primary image associated with Lord Datta is the trimurti—the three-headed form composed of the faces of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, who respectively represent the principles of creation, preservation and dissolution. This image of Lord Datta represents the primordial conscious energy that dances through these modes of apparent creation, preservation and dissolution, whilst remaining in itself always eternal, unborn and all-pervasive.
When asked how he attained a state of perfect expansion in himself, Lord Datta said that he learned through simply observing and interacting with the natural world. So, above all, Datta stands for the principle of naturalness, and of evolving, expanding and integrating through being natural, authentic, and then operating through that.
The Datta Tradition is an organic vehicle through which Datta’s principles of naturality, unity, non-violence, unconditional love and total expansion, are transmitted to people through time. The Tradition is continuously supported by the presence of Datta avatars, who appear sequentially in each generation to reinvigorate and retransmit the essence of the path in a way that is suitable for the collective consciousness of that time.
The Datta Tradition makes itself known in this world through the presence of avatars and avadhutas. Avadhutas are beings who have totally dissolved their individuality and have, like a drop merging into the ocean, become the totality of life. Avatars are basically beings with the consciousness of avadhutas, who arrive on earth usually with a specific mission to keep the flame of dharma, of truth and true living, burning. Such avatars are usually recognised more, and continue to expand in their power and influence, after their bodily lifetime has ended.
Datta avatars are eventually, either before or after their death, known to be clearly associated with Lord Datta and his tradition, whereas avadhutas usually display no affiliation to any tradition and may appear to operate solely in modes that appear totally childlike, mad, or even devilish. Even Datta avatars like, for example, Swami Samarth, existed like this, yet was still known as an avatar due to the vastness of his influence and impact, which is still increasing today.
The earliest I can trace back my own connection Datta Prabhu is to a time when I felt a certain attraction to some masters that I was reading about on the internet. When I say ‘attraction’ I mean some sense of magnetic pull based on an invisible radiance that these beings had. These masters included Shirdi Sai Baba, Rang Avadhut Maharaj, Narayan Maharaj, Meher Baba, Upasani Maharaj and Bhagavan Nityananda. I would come back and just look at the pictures and sometimes read a little bit about these beings because I felt some kind of inherent connection to them. All of these beings were associated with the Datta Tradition in one way or another.
At some point, I printed and framed a picture of Shirdi Sai Baba and kept it in my meditation space. Later, I began to feel Shirdi Sai Baba’s presence and hear him talking to me telepathically, telling me various things about my present and future life in this world.
The key event in my connection with Datta came after I had awakened and started writing books. One day, I was watching a video of the great Datta avatar, Mohanji, talking about how Shirdi Sai Baba was an avatar of Lord Datta. As soon as he said the word ‘Dattatreya’, I knew that I had to start working on re-translating and making a commentary to Avadhuta Gita—the root non-dual text of the Datta Tradition. From this point on, I initially began to think that the strong connection with Datta was related to me being connected with him from a past incarnation. However, this notion began to fade away with time.
It was only after I met Mohanji in person for the first time, and offered him my version of Avadhuta Gita, that I began to intuit the precise nature of my connection with Lord Dattatreya and the Datta Tradition. From then on, whatever I intuited on that day has continued to unfold, expand and express itself effortlessly. Ultimately, I realised that my dharma in this life would be to fly the flag of Lord Dattatreya and the Datta Tradition in this world.
