My first Dattatreya Jayanti

Today I will go a little off-topic to cover a significant event in my Master’s life – how he met his Guru – Lord Dattatreya, the Supreme Master. It was the month of December 2009, the day of Dattatreya Jayanti, and I was not aware of this day and on the morning of this beautiful day I visited my Master. After finishing our usual Satsang he asked me to come over in the evening so he could take me to a Baba Temple in BTM Layout (Bangalore). I did not know until then the significance of Dattatreya Jayanti besides the fact that Lord Dattatreya is my Guru’s Guru. It was a Thursday (Guruvaar – “Guru’s day “) and so we had to leave early in the evening to avoid the usual crowd. As I drove to the temple, my Master started to tell me the story of how he met his Guru.

During the days of my Guru’s Sadhana it so happened that he was being guided by and imparted with all knowledge through an unknown entity. My Guru did not know who was teaching him or where the knowledge was coming from. Not knowing who was teaching him frustrated my Master a great deal and one fine day he decided that if by the end of that day it was not revealed to him who his Guru was, he would relinquish his life. That evening as he was finishing up at work an old man, quite unknown to him, came up to him and asked him to take his car out. Without questioning this person, my Master took the car out and drove to where he was guided to go. The man did not talk much but kept giving directions. Finally they arrived at a Baba temple and before my Master could disembark from the car, the person who was sitting next to him disappeared.

My Master tried to look for him but could not find him anywhere. The quest of knowing who his Guru made him go inside the temple. He went to Baba’s shrine and offered his obeisance, sat there for a while but nothing happened. He still hadn’t found his answer – who was his Guru and why had he been brought there. A little defeated, he visited the book shop outside the temple and purchased some books but while he was heading to the bookshop he noticed a small garden and grew curious about what lay beyond. While in the book shop he asked the shop-keeper about the temple and what was there beyond the garden. The shop keeper told him that there was a Datta Mandir (Temple) there and so after completing his purchases, my Master decided to go there.

As he entered the small Dattatreya Temple, he saw a Priest standing there holding a variety of pooja offerings. He seemed to be waiting for someone. The minute he saw my Master he said, “Oh! Finally you have come. I have been waiting here for you.” He then handed over the Prasad from the Pooja to him. My Master had never been to that temple before in his life and here was the Priest saying that he was waiting for him. It was a very strange moment. My Master, a little bewildered, asked him how he knew him. To that the Priest responded that Lord Dattatreya had told him about my Master and that he would be coming to meet Dattatreya that evening. That was my Master’s Eureka moment of who his Guru is and who had been imparting him with knowledge all this while.

My Master’s joy knew no bounds. He offered his heartfelt obeisance to his Guru and accepted all the offerings from the temple and went home satisfied having finally met his Guru. I went through the same roads that he drove to this temple and followed with him through his experience. I met my Master’s Guru for the first time in this temple and offered my heartfelt obeisance to him and we sat in silence as I experienced the oneness with both my Masters.

We journeyed back home soon after and I started talking to my Master about my visit to Shirdi early during that year and how I wanted to go to Shridi again but this time with Him. Just as I said these words, something beautiful happened. For a moment I was not able to see anything in front of me as I was driving and suddenly from where the windshield was, Baba’s hand stretched out from the shrine in Shirdi and touched my head. I was paralyzed! His hand was heavy and I saw Baba seated on his throne in the shrine. I lost all consciousness of the outer world and all this while I was driving my car! It was so surreal and I can still feel the entire experience as I narrate it here.

I felt tears of ecstasy pouring from my eyes and was overwhelmed with divine bliss in my heart. I could not speak a word after that even to my Master and for a long time I could not stop crying. As we approached my Master’s home he tapped me on my head and only then did I come down from my ecstatic state and was able to stop crying. This most profound and esoteric experience was beyond what any words can describe and was equal to a feeling of having traveled to an outer planet!

With the grace of my Master I have been able to pen this most wonderful experience in a string of words. Thank you for reading and do watch out for my next write-up about ‘Blind Beliefs’.