Part-1

When a preacher preaches the disciples or guides the misguided spiritual aspirants (sādhakas) to the right path, the preachings have to be done according to their psychology. The truth must not be revealed straight away, as one cannot digest that truth at once. When the Guru shows a boulder (big stone) and asks his disciples to lift it up, the disciple looks at it with fear and goes off from there. In stead, if that boulder is broken in to small pieces, then the disciple can lift them easily. God never exists in a world that is indirect to us and this the absolute truth. He does not have any world of existence in particular. When people heard about Brahmaloka, Vishnuloka and Shivaloka, they immediately think that these upper worlds can be reached by ascending a divine flight, like the moon is reached by a rocket. They think that in the uppermost world, Lord Datta can be seen in the form of trinity.

This is the state of mind of those who do not understand the absolute truth. They are so engrossed in this kind of illusory thinking that they do not listen to anyone’s wise words. Even if they listen, they cannot digest and so, they reject it. Satisfying illusory thinking of such people, a big fruit like absolute truth has to be sliced and given one piece at a time. One must wait until it is digested before giving another piece. Gradually, the disciples can digest the entire fruit like truth, piece by piece. Sometimes, it may take several births to receive and digest the complete truth putting all pieces together. It means that a soul can only digest single piece of the absolute truth at a time. So, no more slices should be given at once (partial truth only should be revealed in one lifetime). This is the nature of a Guru filled with compassion and affection.

Irrespective of the above, now, I am telling an absolute truth i.e., giving you a big fruit like boulder at once without cutting it into small rock like pieces. How many of you can digest this truth? If this truth is revealed, you all may even call Me an 'atheist'. Okay! I never mind it, listen carefully – "God does not exist in the upper worlds but He is always present on the earth that too in a human form". That specific place is only called Brahma Loka, Vishnu Loka and Shiva Loka, wherever He exists. On hearing the name of Lord Datta, we always recall His six-armed form with three faces. If Lord Datta appears with multiple hands and faces in a human form, people gather around Him to see this strange form and even the circus people arrange a ticket to see Him and make money! That is why Lord Datta always roams on the earth with one face and two hands only. Since He does not appear with such a strange form, nobody can recognize Him as Lord Datta. Actually, what does His three faces mean? For instance, we refer to a person and praise him as multi-faceted (versatile) personality. This means that he is talented in multiple ways. It does not mean that he has many faces.

The three faces of Lord Datta indicate that He has three kinds of intellectual talents. It means that He is the one who is capable of i) creating ii) ruling and iii) destroying the creation. Each of the faces indicate a person with two hands respectively, thus, we have imagined a form of God appearing with three faces and six hands. When someone says – ‘one is fighting with thousand hands,’ it means that one has multiple talents to fight with many people at once. Lord Datta having six hands means He can perform six different kinds of actions.

Part-2

The six different kinds of actions indicated by the six hands of Lord Datta are:

i) Śaṅkha hasta: (conch in hand) the one who explains the meaning of the Vedas and propagates the Vedas.

ii) Cakrapāṇi (disk in hand): the one who has kept the time and creation under His control.

iii) Ḍamaruka hasta (a small drum in hand): the one who correlates all the śāstras and propagates the knowledge.

iv) Triśūlapāṇi (trident in hand): giver of the fruits of past, future and present (karma phala pradātā).

v) Mālā hasta (garland of beads in hand): one who writes bhajans that attract our minds, make us to recite repeatedly and who also sings such bhajans and propagates devotion.

vi) Kamaṇḍalupāṇi: one who maintains the awareness in all the living beings by His will. Kamaṇḍalu means inert body. The water in it means the awareness in the individual soul. The word ‘life’ has two meanings – ‘water’ and ‘life.’

Thus, propagating knowledge through the Vedas and śāstras, propagating devotion through the singing style (Gāyatrī), keeping creation, time, the fruits of deed, the life of living beings under His control is the philosophical meaning and this is the real meaning of the form of Lord Datta.

People have been watching and hearing about mythological films; movies and TV serials on mythology repeatedly and their impression about the Lord is differently digested in every atom of their body. That is like each piece of a mango is thoroughly soaked and absorbed in a mango pickle. If this real meaning about the Lord is preached to them, they not only go away from such preacher thinking Him mad but also think that in due course of time, the preacher may declare Himself as Lord Datta! That is why when Lord Datta came to Shirdi in the form of Sai, He behaved like a doctor for some time. After some time, He behaved like a teacher, who preaches concepts of justice. After some time, He behaved like a Yogi showing miracles. At the end of His incarnation, when everyone gradually digested the truth, He behaved as Lord Datta. Had He claimed to be the Lord Datta upon entering Shirdi, He would have been considered mad and people would have driven Him away from the city.

The Vedas declare that God is always present on the earth, in the form of an ordinary human being, wandering amongst us and appearing to us directly. The Shruti says "Yat sākṣāt aparokṣāt Brahma" meaning that Parabrahman never exists indirectly somewhere in oblivion. He always exists in the human form, appearing right in front of us. Smritis i.e., the Puranas, cannot be more authoritative in comparison with the Vedas. It is said – “Śṛti smṛti virodhe tu śṛti reva garīyasī,” means if any conflict arises between the concepts of the Veda and the Puranas, the Veda only remains authoritative. In such a case, where do the unauthentic stories shown in movies and on TVs stand before the authority of the Vedas?