Part-1

In the word Guru Datta, the first word ‘Guru’ stands for knowledge and the second word ‘Datta’ stands for sacrifice. Knowledge itself is the Veda. The Veda alone is the knowledge. Humility is the fruit of education and knowledge is born of Sattva quality (guna). According to "Sattvāt saṃjāyate jñānam", Sattva guna is the cause of knowledge. Egolessness is the nature of the Sattva quality. Egolessness means humility. So, the word ‘GuruDatta’ refers to sacrifice with humility. The sacrifice done with Rajas is associated with ego, aspiring for name and fame with selfishness. But Guru Datta's nature is to do sacrifice in a hidden way. It means He secretly sacrifices but does not reveal His name. This is Sāttvic humility. Whatever good action (Karma) is done in this creation and whatever miracles are done, it is done by Guru Datta only. But He sacrifices and attributes the name and fame to the angels and devotees, by not revealing His attrubution. When Lakshmana fainted, Rama was crying. Hanuman brought Sanjīvinī mountain and saved Lakshmana. Here, it is Rama's power that brought Sanjīvinī mountain through Hanuman. But those who have watched this scene, thinks that Rama is crying due to His inability and so Rama gave the title of ‘Life giver to Lakshmana’ (Prāṇadātā ca) to Hanuman for bringing Sanjīvinī mountain by Hanuman’s own power. To prevent the name and fame, it is only a drama played by Rama by weeping as an incompetent when Lakshmana fainted.

In the context of the war between Hanuman and Rama, Rama forcibly proved that Hanuman is greater than Him and attributed the name and fame to Hanuman and remained isolated. That means, Swami sacrificed His power to Hanuman secretly. This is the nature of God Datta. The servants of Datta while serving Him, should not think that they cooperated with Swami in His mission but should serve the Lord without aspiration for their name and fame. For such an aspirationless tiny size service, God Datta will give the fruit equal to the size of a mountain. Otherwise, if the servants do the service equal to a mountain but for their name and fame, they will get a tiny-sized fruit. Truly, your service is a good deed. But, good deeds are always done by God Datta alone. Therefore, the name and fame of this good deed done by Datta through you should belong to Datta. Therefore, when people praise your service, you should say, “I am only an instrument. Swami has done this great work through me. I am only the wire. I have not rotated the fan. It is only the current flowing through the wire that has rotated the fan.” There is no falsehood in saying this. You should not think that you did the service yourself and that its fame is passed on to Swami due to your humility. If you think so, it is not the truth. Therefore, when you speak with humility, it must be truthful. Some speak with humility and feel happy for it. It is ego in the disguise of humility.

Therefore, when you say so, say it with equanimity in the mind, speech and actions (Trikaraṇas) that God Datta only did it through you. Here, even those who speak with humility are falling into the mouth of the serpent like ego. This is called Sāttvic ego. It means, egoistically thinking that you are egoless. Realistically, when God Datta accomplished any work on behalf of you, why are you not sincerely attributing it to Him and behave as a hypocryte? The reason for your hypocricy is to think that you have really done work with your own ability and because of your humility, you are attributing the fame to God Datta. This thinking is like a small black particle like ego floating in a glass of white milk like true humility. This is known as the ‘ego of self’ or ‘self-esteem’.

Now, let us talk about the second bad quality known as Rājasic ego. The illusory thinking that ‘I am the body' and the strength of this body and the power are mine, due to which I have accomplished this work and the craving for name and fame, is called the Rājasic ego.

Now, the third bad quality is Tāmasic ego. The person with this ego is obsessed not only with the power of one’s body but also the power of money, one’s relatives and their power. An individual soul without these three types of ego is called ‘Atri’ (A=no, tri=three). Therefore, even if you are free from Rājasic and Tāmasic types of ego, you may think that you are a soul in the form of pure awareness and you further think that you accomplished the task with your own self-strength. This is Sāttvika ego. Unless you cross this Sāttvika ego and think that you have accomplished the task by the power of the Paramātman, who is the Īśvara of the soul, you cannot attain the nature of Atri. But today many claim to be the incarnations of God Datta and build their kingdoms of ashrams and claim to have done the good deeds and miracles, which, in reality, were done by God Datta through them. Such people finally fall into the mouth of the big snake called time and slip down like in the ladders and snakes chart. Such people are like the ones who scored 99 marks but failed in the final examination by one mark. Some devotees gather around such proclaimed gurus and blow the air pump, saying that they are none other than the Parabrahman. The reason for such behavior is their selfishness.