Body, Mind, Spirit Magazine

Visit to the Birthplace of Sripada Srivallabha, Avatar of Lord Dattatreya

By Luphil

Already in a previous blog-post I described how I came to know about the incarnation of Lord Dattatreya as his first avatar in this era, as Sripada Srivallabha (1320-1350 AD), and the request to translate his biography into German.

I very much wanted to visit his birthplace, Pithapuram, where he said that his energy would be anchored permanently. When seeing the program of the seminar in Visakhapatnam, I was very pleasantly surprised to notice that an excursion to Pithapuram was planned for 5 January.

2 January 2015, I could speak to Sri Kumar. He very warmly smiled and told me that his family is  deeply related to Lord Dattatreya since 3 generations, since his grandfather, and that he had been introduced into the line of Dattatreya in his early childhood. He had read the book “Sreepada Sreevallabha Charitamritam”: “It is a very great book“. And: “Already one month before you wrote me about the translation of the book I got the impulse that the book should go over the world. And when you told me that you want to go to Pithapuram, I thought it is good that the whole group goes there.”

One day later, I accompanied Robert who is going to translate the book to Spanish, to his consultation with Sri Kumar. Robert gave him two statuettes of Lord Dattatreya (one he had given me as a gift) to bless them and Sri Kumar was very radiant.

On the question what is the relation between Lord Dattatreya, Agastya and Master CVV, Sri Kumar said, that Lord Dattatreya is most high, higher than the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. He is working through Sirius for our system. Agastya brings in the energies from Sirius and Dattatreya is the Master to Agastya, and Master CVV is a member of the ashram of Agastya. He told us that it is a very great blessing that we are allowed to translate the book.

Before we went to Pithapuram, he gave an introduction to the group, and today he gave some further explanations. Here are some extracts from his talks:

“It is planned that tomorrow the group will visit a sacred place where the Lord Dattatreya, the Lord that presides over the dog star or Sirius, the Lord who is also the Master for Agastya, the teacher for the entire solar system, he took birth and he guided for 3 continuous incarnations. It is a placed visited by all in India especially those who follow a teacher. Lord Dattatreya is said to be the synthesis of the Trinity. The details of Dattatreya were published long ago. For the benefit of the humanity in Kali Yuga, he took birth 7 centuries ago in Andhra Pradesh which is 100 km from here. Even the Sufis, priests of the Mughal emperors visited this place. The priest to emperor Akbhar built his ashram to be near the Lord. The priest of Mughal emperor received instructions from higher circles to establish his ashram in this place in Pithapuram. Pita [] meaning the village of the Pita or the grand master, that’s the name of the place. Pita Puram has gradually become Pithapuram. He took birth in this place. … The Lord Dattatreya is said to be the cosmic principle of yoga. That’s why in scriptures he is worshipped as the Lord that presides over yoga. He is also called “Datta” meaning his nature is to give his presence. Many are the episodes of Dattatreya. I strongly recommend every member to buy the English version of the book for those who can understand English.

I also made a visit to this place. It is not the first time I went to this place. I read it [the book] many times. During the year, it so happened that energies of the Master visited our group. It was a pleasant surprise to know that the energies touched Ludger, and he feels an urge to make translation of this book into German. Likewise, Robert Badia received an impulse separately, from the Spanish group. It is all in a period over a year.

Dattatreya is the head of mystical hierarchy. All the teachings on this planet culminate in Sirius. Such a one, to benefit the beings in Kali Yuga, he took birth in a humble place, lots of acts of teaching and healing. Very miraculous deeds he has done…

His feet are kept in the back of the temple. You may touch the feet, you may go around. It is so simple, you may not get the impact apparently. But subtly there is a great impact. Go there, relax there, meditate there, and then come back.”

Tuesday, 06 January, morning:

“I hope you have enjoyed the visit to Peetha Puram called Pithapuram. It is a typical center where the light is hidden. As we say, the key note of India is “I hide the light”. Pithapuram is one of the most important spiritual centers that we have in India, but it continues to hide the light. It is so humble that unless you get insight, you don’t get the profundity of light. But in due course it unfolds from within. That’s why it was a good pilgrimage that has happened….”

The bus ride took 3.5 hours to go and 4 hours to come back. The temple is located in a side-road, the bus had to stop some streets before. It is a very vibrating place though you would never suppose the greatness of the place by seeing it from the outside.

We received a very warm welcome by the members of the Maha Samsthanam (Trust) of the Sripada Srivallabha Temple. Sri Ramaswamy Garu, who is over 80 years old, gave us a lecture and his blessings. We felt a profound presence around, while we saw the place where Sripada had been born. Unfortunately, the English book  of Sripada’s biography which Sri Kumar had told us to buy, was out of print. However, I received 2 last copies for future translators of the book. So in case you feel the impulse to translate the book to a Western language (except German and Spanish), please contact me.

Later we went to the Kukkuteshvara temple in Pithapuram,  a very old temple compound with one of the 18 (?) temples of the Divine Mother in India, a “self-born” Dattatreya statue (in form of a lingam) and statues of Shiva. We sang some mantrams and saw the different parts of the temple before setting out to our return journey. While driving on the highway, a huge orange Capricorn full moon was hanging in the sky, and the video in the bus was playing a colourful screenplay of an episode of the life of Lord Rama.

During the morning fire ritual Sri Kumar conducted a worship of Lord Dattatreya
At the entrance of Pithapuram a display is greeting the visitors
An unremarkable signpost at a wall to the ashram
The entrance of the ashram
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An audhumbara tree in fron of the temple (sacred fig tree)
The inner sanctum of the ashram - statues of Lord Dattatreya, Sripada Srivallabha and his next incarnation, Lakshmi Narasimha Swami
A statue of Dattatreya on the top of the templs
Sri Ramaswamy Garu, the spiritual head of the temple, giving us a discourse
A staute of Sripada in front of the temple
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At the top of the temple door
Nandi, the vehicle of Lord Shiva, looking to the lingam
Robert, my co-translator of the Sripada book
Visit to the Birthplace of Sripada Srivallabha, Avatar of Lord Dattatreya
A holy fig tree over the templs
Group picture
Statue of Lord Shiva at the entrance of the templs

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