Shree Manik Prabhu – The Fourth Avatar of Lord Dattatreya

In the New Year, I commenced the year with the exposition of Shree Guru Charitra Parayan. It has been just a week into the parayan and reading about the various incarnations of Lord Dattatreya in the form of Shri Narshimha Saraswati, Shri Dattatreya, and Shripad Shri Vallabh. Before I began the next chapter, my KrsnaGuruji asked me if I knew the fourth Avatar of Lord Dattatreya, which I didn’t know. I hadn’t until that moment heard about the fourth incarnation of Lord Dattatreya – Shri Manik Prabhu. I was very much surprised and taken aback by my ignorance. We later decided to pay our visit to Him and get his blessings as I progress with my Guru Charitra parayan. I was humbled with the grace of the Supreme Master simply because without the grace of the divine Lord, and the calling one cannot meet them. Let me now encapsulate a brief account of Shri Manik Prabhu’s Incarnation.

Shri Manik Prabhu (1817 – 1865) was a Guru, Saint, Poet, and Philosopher. His philosophy is, “Sakala Mata Siddhanta,” which rests on the Advaita Vedanta as propagated by Adi Shankaracharya. Prabhu strongly advocated the oneness of all religions. Manik Prabhu was born to a pious couple – Shri Manohar Naik and Shri Bayadevi on Dattatreya Jayanti on December 22nd 1817, in a village called Ladwanti at Basavakalyan near Hyderabad. People in the town were attracted to Manik Prabhu’s effulgence, and he was brightest amongst his two other brothers and one sister. He lost his father at a very early age and grew up under the guardianship of his uncle. Young Manik would behave carefree being just like an Avadhuta. He did not go to school for formal education. He performed miracles since his childhood. It is believed that Manik Prabhu miraculously brought back Govinda’s life, who was his friend. Since then his fame as an Avatari Purusha spread quickly erstwhile of Hyderabad and beyond.

As he grew older, his uncle tried to educate him formally. However, one day when Prabhu was taking a siesta, he got a strong reprimand from his uncle – A reason enough to renounce all the worldly ties and left the hometown for his chosen mission. He composed his first Bhajan or Pada after leaving his home. It is believed that Lord Dattatreya, disguised as a ‘Vairagi’ (renunciate) visited Manik Prabhu at Amritkund and gave him the ‘Danda’ (stick), ‘Deeksha’ (initiation) and Johli (a long cloth bag), mandating his future sojourn as a wandering saint and an itinerant messenger of Truth. After travelling and visiting the holy places and of the spiritual significance across the country. He then decided to end his spiritual journey and finally settle in a tranquil place on the banks of the river Viraja and Guruganga in 1845 which later came to be known as ‘Maniknagar’ a (place near Humnabad in Bidar District of Karnataka).

Manik Prabhu later established his philosophy of ‘Sakala Mata Siddhanta’ and a centre for propagating his teachings. He lived in a simple hut and ate only the ‘Madhukari Bhiksha’ (food from alms) which his disciples brought from the nearby villages. Manik Prabhu established the ‘Spiritual Seat’ (Gaadi) of Lord Dattatreya in the very hut he used to reside. This seat symbolises ‘Nirguna Brahma’ (Formless God) which you can see in the picture in which there is no idol or spiritual icon seated on the throne. Instead, the Gaadi or the Seat is kept empty. The idea behind it was that his disciples and devotees could visualise the Supreme Truth or Parabramha in whatever form they liked or worshipped from their innermost being.

As the name and fame of Manik Prabhu spread like wildfire, people from all walks of life started flocking to Maniknagar. He used to hold a gathering called ‘Darbar’ every day who came to seek his blessings. Prabhu guided his devotees in Spiritual matters and helped them even overcome their material difficulties. It is also said that leading musicians and artists came to Maniknagar to perform ‘Seva’ (service). All communities and sects equally revered him. His Muslim followers worshipped him as an incarnation of ‘Mehbood Subhani’ (the famous Sufi saint of Bagdad). His Lingayat devotees worshipped him as Lord Basaveshwara, and his Sikh followers saw him as the form of Guru Nanak.

Devotees believed that Manik Prabhu never claimed credit for any miracles he performed and always said that it is, “Datta Prabhu’s Leela.” Many stories are compiled in the official biography of Shri Manik Prabhu by Ganesh Raghunath Kulkarni. Manik Prabhu was visited by all contemporary saints such as Shridhi Saibaba, Akkalkot Maharaj – Swami Samarth, Krishna Saraswati of Kolhapur, Jungli Maharaj of Pune and the Shankaracharya of Sringeri at the time, interacted with Shri Manik Prabhu on matters of deep spiritual wisdom.

Shri Manik Prabhu attained the Jeevanth or Sanjeevani Maha Samadhi on the Moksha Ekadashi or Gita Jayanti) in the lunar month Margasheersha in the year 1865, Tuesday, November 29th. It was also the day of Gyarahvi Shareef (death anniversary of Mehboob Subhani). He had instructed his close aides to construct a walled pit in his hut but under total secrecy. Before he took his Mahasamadhi, Manik Prabhu gave the ‘Mantra Deeksha,’ and Kharik Prasad to his elder nephew Manohar Prabhu and appointed him as the successor of his holy Peetha. Then he sat in the Samadhi pit and asked his aides to close the pit from all sides. Manik Prabhu attained a state of blissful consciousness.

We had the privilege of meeting with Shri Dnyanraj Manik Prabhu, the elder son of Shri Siddharaj Manik Prabhu, the sixth and the current Peethadhipati. It was indeed a divine moment to have received the ‘Shawl’ offered on the Samadhi of Shri Manik Prabhu. Let me now narrate our meeting with Shri Manik Prabhu himself. From the moment I learnt about Shri Manik Prabhu from my KrsnaGuruji, an heartfelt devotion to meet the Master became intense. When we visited his Samadhi Mandir (Shrine), my heart was overwhelmed with excitement for His Darshan. After offering my sincere obeisance and prayers. I expressed my love and devotion to meet with him. Besides, I also wanted to take back something with me associated with Prabhu as his blessings.

So I asked the priest in the temple to give me a shawl draped on his Samadhi. The priest gave us the shawl and four dates as the prasad. (There is a story associated with dry dates when Saibaba visited Manik Prabhu – It is believed that Shirdi Sai baba visited Manik Prabhu as a young fakeer when Prabhu was sitting in his Darbar. Sai baba asked Prabhu to fill his pot. Prabhu instructed his brother Tatya Saheb to fill the pot. However, Tatya was engrossed in an academic discussion on Vedanta with someone while filling the pot. Even after putting hundreds of coins, the pot wouldn’t fill. Tatya was astonished and gave the pot to Manik Prabhu and when Prabhu put five dry dates and some flowers into the pot, it filled-up immediately. Sai Baba took the dates and flowers put by Manik Prabhu and said, that this was enough for him and poured the coins back many more times than those offered to him).

Therefore, receiving the dates for prasad was overwhelming and couldn’t stop crying. However, I wasn’t satisfied with my heart of having received the shawl from the priest and felt what I received didn’t have Manik Prabhu’s essence in it. Later, when we visited Dnyanraj Maharaj where he was performing his pooja, I once again asked him to give us something associated with Manik Prabhu as his blessing. This time Dnyanraj called fo for the priest and instructed the priest to bring something from Dnyanraj’s personal chamber. Dnyanraj called me and gave me a shawl which was draped on the Samadhi of Shri Manik Prabhu. We took his blessings and were about to leave, suddenly he said, please have lunch here and then only go. Lo! tears of joy rolled down my cheeks of meeting Shri Manik Prabhu. My joy knew no bounds—Thanked Lord Dattatreya for his darshan. I experienced a profound truth imparted by my KrsnaGuruij, and that is, the almighty Lord doesn’t appear or come in a grand form or perform some miracles.

You will experience nothing spectacular when you meet the real divinity. Since the Truth of who God is can be understood only in its subtlety or beyond the sense perceptions, and with the grace of the Lord himself. Please know that God cannot be experienced with your gross body, mind, and sense perceptions. God is beyond the three Gunas too (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas). You will be able to experience the divine beings only when they confer their grace upon you and not otherwise. Anything that you believe you have seen or experienced in your meditation or using any of your sensory faculties are nothing but the creation of your mind. Don’t fall prey to your mind’s deceptions, seek the grace of the divine to be able to recognize them when they appear in any form. What more could I ask from the great Master expect for the grace to evolve on the path of Spirituality and attain absolute faith, and devotion unto the Lotus Feet of my KrsnaGuruji. With a Tishnaghi ever-growing for my Guru Dev, expressed my heartfelt thankfulness to my Jagath Gurum (Master of this Universe). We had our meal and left extremely satisfied and proceeded to our next holy destination called “Kadaganchi.” Please wait to hear me unravel the secret of the origin of “Guru Charitra.”

As is your faith, so are your experiences – || Om Shree Guru Deva Datta || Krsnam Vande Jagath Gurum ||