The third seminar with Sri Kumar in Europe during this summer was in Billerbeck near Münster, Germany, 30 June – 03 July, 2016 (the posts about the other 2 seminars: Kandersteg and Barcelona). It was also his third seminar in Billerbeck. I enjoyed being again in this area where I spent the years of my study time – and Billerbeck is known as the town of my patron saint….
I hardly had arrived from Switzerland that I saw the car with Sri Kumar entering the parking of the hotel. Group members already had gathered in front of the entrance. I quickly got my camera ready. Again this thrilling moment of his arrival and the beginning of another seminar. This time it was on “Dattatreya” and I was particularly happy – I translated the biography of the first avatar of Lord Dattatreya in this age, Sripada Srivallabha and visited his birthplace last year.
Thursday evening the seminar started with a little welcome candlelight ceremony, followed by evening meditation. About 150 members from different parts of Europe as well as North and South America gathered at this beautiful seminar center surrounded by meadows and forest.
And then Sri Kumar started introducing the seminar. You find here some extracts from my notes of discourses:
“Lord Dattatreya is a profound Vedic understanding of a manifestation to establish a hierarchy of teachers and a means for human beings to find the way back into the divinity. Essentially we understand divinity as male-female God, namely existence and awareness. Pure existence and its awareness as pure consciousness constitute the divinity Existence is eternal, awareness is periodical. Awareness emerges from existence and forms the basis for successive manifestations of the truth. In the next step it steps down as the trinity with the related qualities of Will, Knowledge and Activity and it further steps down into various planes of existence…
Again the students need to be in communication with the teacher, need to relate with the teacher from time to time. That is the reason why Dattatreya had to happen. There was the need for availability of a teacher in the solar system so that guidance is there for all in the solar system. That is how there is the advent of Datta. The shloka we daily chant, “Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu…” is originally attributed to Lord Dattatreya. It means, the absolute may lead me through my Guru. May the Lord of Cosmic Will reach me through my Guru. May the Lord of Cosmic Love reach me through my Guru. Guru is the window through which the first, second and third logos reach me. Lord Dattatreya brings to us in due and ancient form the energy of male-female god and the knowledge of action, what to will, how to do and do. The will, the knowledge and action, and the presence of the male-female god. Therefore the Lord took its seat in the Sirius system…. The hierarchy on the planet is guided by the hierarchy on Sirius. We relate to our hierarchy because they bring the relation to the hierarchy of Sirius. The local post office is but a representative of the central post. Lord Dattatreya has his teachers in all systems. How this happened is the story.
Dattatreya is the cosmic lord of yoga. He has transmitted the science of yoga to the various planes of existence according to the ancient scriptures. The man shall rise from individualistic states to the universal state and live simultaneously in all the planes of existence. The teacher who presides over Yoga is Dattatreya. Whoever is the teacher to whom someone is relating; through him he is receiving the three logos. He remains impersonal so that the energies are transmitted to those who look for self-realization and truth. There are others also who have gained the status of being fulfilling the three logos. So the seers have seen the male-female, the three logos in Krishna. The difference is, Krishna has come and has returned. Here is one who has come to stay with us as long as the system relates. According to the teachings of the East, Krishna is no different from Dattatreya and from Kapila…
In Kali Yuga Lord Dattatreya has taken to incarnations and avatars. He was born in 14th century in a place nearby to Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh which is called Sri Pithikapura. Pithikapura means, pura means the village, the town or habitat. Sri Pithika means the place related to the Mother. Sri means mother of wisdom, splendour, power, Sri. There is a Sri within the mother in the place called Pita Pura. Since the mother in it threefold aspect it is called Sri Pitika Pura. Even today there is a very vibrant place of the Mother along wish Shiva. It is a known place in India and also in Andhra Pradesh. Lord Dattatreya took birth in that place in the year 1320. It is him whom we call Sripada and Srivallabha. Sripada Srivallabha. He is called Sripada in the sense he carried the most sublime symbols of a conch and a wheel under his feet. Normally when a child is born the knowers see the form and also under the feet for any symbol. In the case of this child there were under the right foot the symbol of wheel and under the other feet the symbol of the conch. It is the symbol of the divine presence in that form.
Three things are intended to be done. Try to see me in all, try to listen to me in all, try to serve me through the forms in the surroundings. These are some of the basic teachings of Dattatreya. If you can, see the others as Me. If you start seeing me I also see you. If you look to Me, I look to you. If you don’t look to Me, I don’t look to you, is what one seer said. The moment when it comes to the practice you don’t do, you forget.
The second dimension is, as much as possible serve food to the beings. It is a speciality of Lord Dattatreya. Serve food. You can cook or buy food. Create as many occasions as you can and serve food. Because it is an immediate need of the other beings. There is only one thing with which you can save another person and that is food, offer again, he says, it is enough.
The third thing is, in your leisure time relate to the mantra DRAM, you can say DRAM Dattatreya ya Namaha, or DRAM Datta Murtaye Namaha, or the Gayatri. Much of wisdom will unfold from within.
Dattatreya appeared in 3 forms, as Sripada, as Narayana Narasimha, then Swami Samarth and then took to many forms. So many gurus emerged between 17th, 18th and 19th century. The touch made them to give the same fresh touch. This is why the tradition of Dattatreya is very strong in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Incarnations are well known in India since ancient most times. The beauty is they know no caste and creed.”
