Posted on: 03 Jun 2021
गङ्गा यमुना सरस्वतीनाम् ।
सङ्गमोऽसि ननु दत्तात्रेय! (पल्लवी)
gaṅgā yamunā sarasvatīnām ।
saṅgamo'si nanu dattātreya! (Chorus)
O God Dattātreya! You are certainly the holy union of the three rivers called Gaṇgā, Yamunā and Sarasvatī.
ज्ञानं ब्रह्मा सरस्वतीशः,
सद्गुरु बोध प्रवचनेन ।।
jñānaṃ brahmā sarasvatīśaḥ,
sadguru bodha pravacanena ।।
You are God Brahmā, the knowledge-giver, the divine preacher and the Lord of Sarasvatī representing Sarasvatī River.
गङ्गा चरणो भक्तिर् विष्णुः
प्रतिफल रहिता प्रेम रसेन ।।
gaṅgā caraṇo bhaktir viṣṇuḥ
pratiphala rahitā prema rasena ।।
You are God Viṣṇu, the source of Gaṇgā River flowing from Your foot, the basis for devotion or the juice of true love, which is lacking aspiration for any fruit in return.
अज्ञान्यादिम तमोंऽशु यमुना -
विभूति जनकः शङ्करस्त्वम् ।।
ajñānyādima tamo'ṃśu yamunā -
vibhūti janakaḥ śaṅkarastvam ।।
You are God Śiva, the source of miracles satisfying the ignorant people in the beginning and standing for the blue Yamunā River representing the quality of black Tamas.
ज्ञान भक्ति कर्म क्रमतः
त्रिमूर्ति गुरवः कलिता दत्त! (पल्लवी)
jñāna bhakti karma kramataḥ
trimūrti guravaḥ kalitā datta! (Chorus)
O Datta! Your three divine forms i.e. Śiva, Viṣṇu and Brahmā descended down as the three divine preachers called Śaṇkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva, to preach knowledge, devotion and service respectively.
ज्ञानमाद्यं शङ्करतो धीः,
यद्विना तु नाऽन्ये भवतः ।।
jñānamādyaṃ śaṅkarato dhīḥ,
yadvinā tu nā'nye bhavataḥ ।।
(The first is the Spiritual knowledge without which devotion and practice are impossible to take birth and this was established by Śaṇkara.
ज्ञानात् भक्तिर् जायते हि,
रामानुजतः शक्त्यावेशः ।।
jñānāt bhaktir jāyate hi,
rāmānujataḥ śaktyāveśaḥ ।।
The second step is the devotion that is born from knowledge, which is force of inspiration and this was established by Rāmānuja.
कर्म सेवा द्विविधा मध्वात्,
या हि परीक्षा सत्य भक्तेः ।।
karma sevā dvividhā madhvāt,
yā hi parīkṣā satya bhakteḥ ।।
The third step is practical action, which is Sacrifice of work and Sacrifice of fruit of work and which is the test for the true love and this was established by Madhva.
तेपुस्तपांसि मुनयः पुरा,
शङ्कयाऽत्रि कलिता दत्त! (पल्लवी)
tepustapāṃsi munayaḥ purā,
śaṅkayā'tri kalitā datta! (Chorus)
O Datta! In the ancient time, the Sages joining with Sage Atri performed penance on Ṛkṣa Mountain with a doubt in Spiritual knowledge.
एकं श्रुतं त्रिकर्म कारी
त्रयस्तु दृष्टा इति दिदृक्षा ।।
ekaṃ śrutaṃ trikarma kārī
trayastu dṛṣṭā iti didṛkṣā ।।
The doubt is – It is heard from the Veda that there is only one God doing Creation, Control and Destruction of this world. But, the three divine forms of God i.e. Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva are separately seen each one doing the work respectively as mentioned in the above order. Hence, anxiety arose in the minds of Sages to see that one God doing all the three works.
त्रयैक वादान् नेति चाऽत्रिः,
स्वरूपमेकं मूलं ददृशे ।।
trayaika vādān neti cā'triḥ,
svarūpamekaṃ mūlaṃ dadṛśe ।।
The three divine forms appeared claiming that the three as one group is that one God. But Atri refused this saying that God is only one and not three as per the Veda. Since he refused three, his name “A-tri” became meaningful. Due to this, the three pleased divine forms disappeared and that one root-God appeared before Sages.
त्रिमूर्ति वदनैरेको देहः,
‘दत्त’ ‘दत्त’ इति घोषो जज्ञे ।।
trimūrti vadanaireko dehaḥ,
datta datta iti ghoṣo jajñe ।।
All the Sages cried saying “Given, Given” or “Datta, Datta”. That one God Himself doing the three works i.e. Creation, Control and Destruction of this world through the three faces of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, having only one body proving the oneness of God was seen by Sages.
गुरुस्त्वमेव त्वमेव भगवान्,
दक्षिण वामौ तव तौ दत्त! (पल्लवी)
gurustvameva tvameva bhagavān,
dakṣiṇa vāmau tava tau datta! (Chorus)
O Datta! Only You are the preacher and Only You are the God. Both the Preacher and God became Your right and left sides.
{The preacher of the right goal is more important than even the right goal and hence, preacher becomes more important right side.}
सहस्र तर्क ज्ञान दायक!
त्वं सहस्रार परम शिवः ।।
sahasra tarka jñāna dāyaka!
tvaṃ sahasrāra parama śivaḥ ।।
You are the ultimate God Datta called Paramaśiva existing in the top of head called Sahasrāracakra. This denotes that You are the Sadguru giving true Spiritual knowledge based on thousand types of logical arguments represented by lotus flower with thousand petals.
कुण्डलिनी तु परा प्रकृतिरहम्,
मूले तमसा शक्ति वीचिः ।।
kuṇḍalinī tu parā prakṛtiraham,
mūle tamasā śakti vīciḥ ।।
The Parāprakṛti or awareness, which is the energy travelling as waves is My soul itself, called Kuṇḍalinī, sleeping with Tamas or solid matter in the starting Mūlādhāracakra.)
{Sattvam is awareness or a specific work form of inert energy modified in functioning brain-nervous system, Rajas is inert energy propagated as quantised particles and Tamas is the solidified matter of inert energy.}
संसार बन्ध चक्र षट्के
तव बन्धात् गलिते स योगः ।।
saṃsāra bandha cakra ṣaṭke
tava bandhāt galite sa yogaḥ ।।
The six lower cakras or wheels represent the six main worldly bonds. When the soul crosses all these worldly bonds and reaches the Sadguru or contemporary human incarnation of God for true knowledge, then, it is called Yoga or fortunate union.
{The Sahasrāra, six cakras and Kuṇḍalinī do not exist in the human body as a pictorial system. This is only a figure of speech explaining the process of reaching the Sadguru by a human soul after crossing all worldly fascinations. All these cakras are represented on the spinal cord or Meru because these worldly fascinations are modes of awareness flowing through the spinal cord. The Sahasrāra is represented in the top place of brain, which is intelligence needed for the Spiritual knowledge preached by Sadguru. The sleeping Kuṇḍalinī is nothing but the awareness or soul represented by a lower faculty called mind bound by ignorance sleep and controlled by fascination towards materialised items of creation since Mūlādhāracakra stands for solid matter or earth.}