Avadhut Gita / Dattatraya

Dattatreya is an ancient Indian Avadhut encompassing the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, collectively known as Trimurti. The name Dattatreya can be divided into two words – ‘Datta’ (meaning given) and ‘Atreya’ referring to the sage Atri, his physical father.

Dattatreya was born to sage Atri, who was promised by Shiva, that he himself would incarnate as his son. Since the Absolute subsumes all three aspects of the trimurti, Dattatreya is usually depicted with three heads, symbolising Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; past, present and future; and the three states of consciousness: waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep. They also symbolize the three states of manifestation: creation, sustenance and destruction.

In the Nath tradition (to which Nisargadatta   Maharaj and Ranjit Maharaj   belonged), Dattatreya is recognized as an Avatar or an incarnation of Shiva and as the Adi-Guru (Primal Teacher) of the Adinath tradition. This further developed to the Navnath (Nine Lords) tradition.

An ‘Avadhut’ is someone who has cast away all attachments by virtue of the fact that he is ‘liberated’ from bondage, attachment and suffering. In fact, the ‘Avadhut’ Dattatreya is a rare sage who is ‘liberated’ from both ‘bondage’ and ‘liberation’.

The Dattatreya Upanishad   praises the Avadhut as the one who bestows the highest character of sentience and bliss, who is in the guise of a child, a mad-man, a devil. (baalonmatta-pishaacaveshaaya)

Once Dattatreya dove into a lake and stayed there for many years to evade an entourage of sages pursuing him. The sages, however, remained on the banks of the lake awaiting his return. Dattatreya emerged from the water naked and in the company of a beautiful woman. The text further relates that he made love to her, drank liquor and enjoyed singing and music. In spite of this, the sages did not abandon him. Dattatraya, accompanied by his shakti, continued to engage in these practices and was meditated upon by those longing for moksha.

The Avadhut Gita (Song of the Free) is a wonderful compilation of the highest thought recorded in text by two of Dattatreya’s disciples, Swami and Kartika in the 9th century. The true dating of this Gita, however, remains unknown. Originally a work of seven chapters, a spurious and misogynistic eighth chapter may be a later attempt to append sexual morality to the Nath tradition by some conservative ascetic(s). Some of the ideas in this Gita are however common to both Shaivite and Buddhist Tantras.

The wise man prattles about the truth says Dattatreya. Karl would say, for me it would be the same as the high, profound or brmm… brmm…. There’s no difference. Makes no difference. All the day brmm… is no different than talking all the day about the substratum and the absolute and the highest of the highest. And all the levels of the underlying truth. Different resonance but that what is resonating to itself would not be different in nature. [Manjit Achhra, RenzAG]