Dattatreya and Navnaths- Completion of a sadhana

About five years back we had gone to Gulbarga to celebrate Holi with our cousin. During dinner time a friend told that there is a famous Dattatreya temple and he would arrange for us to visit. I didn't know much about Dattatreya then, so learned about the story of how he was born as the son of sage Atri and Anasuya with the blessings of Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. He has three heads representing the Tri-murtis.

Dattatreya temple in Ganagapura

Ganagapura is a village in Afzalpur taluk of Gulbarga district on Karnataka. The village is noted for its temple of Lord Dattatreya, who is said to have attained realization on the confluence (sangam) of the banks of the rivers Bhima-Amarja.

The Shri Dattatreya temple of Ganagapura is a ‘kshetra’(pilgrim place) for second incarnation of Dattatreya, Shri Narashimha Swami. 

It was a very divine temple and I got a large picture of Lord Dattatreya from there, which I kept on top of our book shelf. When I do dusting of the house, I would dust this picture and pay obeisance to him.

Ek-mukhi Dattatreya

In March 2018, a friend told us that he visited a new Dattatreya temple in Belgaum and he felt nice. Same day we went to this temple and came to know that the person who built the temple used to dream of Dattatreya with one instead of the usual three heads, and the idol in the temple is therefore Ek-mukhi (with one face) Dattatreya. The temple was finished only a few days back.

When I looked at the idol, my whole being was filled with bhakti. I sat there, kept looking at the divine face, which was so graceful and the eyes were overflowing with compassion:

 I could have sat there for hours together!

Navnath mantra

Two days after visiting the temple in Belgaum, a friend who propagates Agnihotra mentioned the benefits of chanting Navnath mantra during agnihotra. I was convinced and learned the mantra. In April we went for a road trip for a month and I was chanting this mantra continuously during the travel time.

Navnaths

The Navnaths are the nine saints, Masters or Naths on whom the Navnath Sampradaya, the lineage of nine gurus is based. Some members of the Nath Sampradaya believe Rishi Dattatreya was its first teacher. These nine saints are actually nine super-super human beings, who, with their honesty, selflessness, austerity, devotion for their teacher, Lord Dattatreya, and the mantra power, defeated deities like Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Hanuman, Virbhadra, Indra, Goddess Chamunda, Vetal (King of ghosts), ashtabhairava and others according to the book ‘Navnath Bhaktisar’. They had a weapon called ‘Vatakarshan Astra’, which was invincible even for Gods.

The coming of the Navnath - or nine prophets - is mentioned in the Mahabharata. Krishna called a meeting of all demi-gods, angels and saints to give his message of how he would continue his message of spreading good after his mission was over on earth. Krishna said he would send his own light in the form of nine saints or prophets, who will go to different parts of earth and throughout the universe where life exists. Lord Krishna also mentions that these prophets or saints will spread the message of Love, overcoming obstacles in order to unite with Mahavishnu or Shiva or Shakti. 

The culminatíon

During our drive back, on 29th evening, suddenly I saw the picture of Dattatreya and Navnaths on the back side glass of the bus in front of us. I took a photograph, but didn't get it clear:

I searched the net for a similar picture and this was the one:

The Navnath mantra was going on in my mind even at that time. I got goose flesh all over my body. This was an indication for me that I have finished chanting the mantra for the critical number of time!

It is not common to see this picture, like that of Hanumanji, Lord Shiva, or others on vehicle. In fact, I have never seen one before.