Datta Jayanti 2022: The Birthday of Dattatreya

Dattatreya Jayanti is a festival that celebrates the birthday of Dattatreya (Datta), a Hindu deity who is a combination of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. It is on the Full Moon day or Poornima of the Hindu month, Margashirsha. (December-January). It is also called Datta Jayanthi.

The festival is celebrated mainly in Maharashtra. Devotees perform Pooja and observe vrat on this day. Worshipping Dattatreya on Dattatreya’s birthday can protect one from ancestral issues.

Dattatreya Jayanthi 2022, or Datta Jayanthi 2022, is on December 7, a Wednesday.

Story of Dattatreya

Anusuya, the wife of Sage Atri, was a very chaste woman. Atri was one of the seven prominent seers and sages. She was truly a Pativrata who was devoted to her husband and saw Atri as God himself. She also performed severe austerities to beget sons who would be like Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

Seeing the austerities she was doing, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, and Parvati, the wives of Brahma, Vishnu, and Saraswati, felt jealous. They told their husbands to test the chastity of Anusuya by asking her to give them alms in the nude.

Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva agreed. They reached the ashram of Atri in the form of Sanyasis and asked Anusuya to give them some alms. But they laid down the condition that she was to do it without wearing any clothes. Anusuya did not know what to do. She did not want to violate her Pativrata Dharma in any way. But she didn’t want to offend the Sanyasis, either.

She began to meditate on her husband. She knew she was being tested by the sanyasis, who were not real sanyasis. Due to her chastity, Anasuya had spiritual powers of her own. Finally, she agreed to the strange request and sprinkled a few drops of water that had been used for washing the feet of her husband on the 3 sanyasis.

At once, the Trimurtis turned into 3 babies. This was because of the power of her chastity. Anasuya then removed her clothes and fed the babies with her breast milk. Since the visitors were babies, her chastity was not violated even though she was nude. After feeding the babies, she waited for her husband, who had gone to the river for a bath.

When Atri returned home, Anusuya told him all that had transpired in his absence. But Atri was already aware of everything. He possessed divine vision, after all. Atri then embraced the 3 infants, and they became one child with one trunk, two feet, three heads, and six hands. Atri then told his wife that the babies were none other than the Trimurtis, who had taken the forms of the three babies.

Meanwhile, Sage Narada went to see Saraswathi, Lakshmi, and Parvati. He told them that their husbands had turned into children due to the power of Anasuya’s Pativrata Dharma. He added that they would get their original form only if their consorts asked for their husbands as alms from Atri.

The 3 Goddesses felt worried. They took the form of ordinary women and approached Atri. They requested him to give them their own husbands as alms. Atri honored them and requested them to fulfill the wish of Anusuya and himself for noble progeny.

The Trimurtis then assumed their true form and told Atri, “You will have a child who will become a great sage. He will be equal to us in accordance with Anusuya’s wishes. You must name the child Dattatreya.” Then they disappeared.

Dattatreya grew to manhood. He possessed great wisdom, and all the sages and ascetics worshipped him. He was gentle in nature, peaceful, and courteous. He was also an Avadhuta–an ascetic who does not wear clothes.

Datta preached the principles of Vedanta and taught Avadhuta Gita to the deity, Muruga. The book contains the secrets of Vedanta and self-realization.

Dattatreya had no intolerance or prejudice towards anyone. He absorbed wisdom from all sources. He was a truly enlightened soul.

Datta Jayanti Rituals

∙ Devotees wake up early and bathe in a holy water body.

∙ They observe vrat/fast on this day.

∙ During the Pooja, flowers, lamps, incense sticks, and sweets are offered. People also sing devotional songs and read holy books like Avadhuta Gita and Jivanmukta Gita.

∙ Sandalwood paste, vermilion, and turmeric should be applied to Datta’s idol or photo during the Pooja.

∙ After the Pooja begins, devotees should circumambulate around the idol 7 times and then distribute prasad and aarti to everyone.

∙ One should also chant Mantras like “Sree Guru Dattatreyaya Namah” or “Om Shri Gurudev Datta” as it makes the mind and soul pure.

At the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh, Datta Jayanthi is celebrated grandly every year in the Dattatreya Temple, which stands on a hillock close to the main Ashram.

Temples like Manik Prabhu celebrate a 7-day festival to honor Dattatreya. The festivities go on from Ekadashi to Purnima. Seven days before the Jayanti, it is customary to recite the Shri Gurucharitra to mark the start of the festival.

One can gain many blessings by celebrating Datta Jayanthi. Knowledge, wealth, the ability to learn new things, achievement of life goals, freedom from fear, relief from planetary afflictions and ancestral issues, etc., are some of the benefits of worshipping Datta on his birthday.

Article source: https://article-realm.com/article/Society/Marriage/32825-Datta-Jayanti-2022-The-Birthday-of-Dattatreya.html