Swami as Dattatreya
Swami as Dattatreya
During an outing in the Mudhumalai forests near Ooty with a select group of students of the Sri Sathya Sai College, Whitefield, on Shivaratri day in 1978, Baba was in an exceptionally playful mood. He made jokes with students, and posed for group photographs. When Mrs. Rattan Lal, an old devotee accompanying the group rushed forward to cover Baba’s feet with the hem of His long flowing robe, Swami admonished her: “Don’t touch Me. You will be reduced to ashes. Because I am with you in this human form, I move about you as one of you, you tend to forget My Reality. Who am I? Who am I? You will now see My real form.”
Speaking thus, He asked Roopak Changkakoti, an outstanding student at Baba’s Whitefield college, to click a solo picture of Him with the polaroid camera. When the Polaroid photograph was pulled out everyone was stunned to see on it the form of Dattatreya with three heads—the composite divine unity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. According to Roopak Sharma, who was one of the fortunate students present on the occasion, Baba’s hair in the picture was matted. He had six hands. His body was bare but He was wearing a dhoti; He was resting one of His arms on a cow and the cow was licking His feet; His head was surrounded by a brilliant blue aura and the word “Aum” was visible in the background. The photo also showed four dogs. Sri Sathya Sai Baba is the Supreme Being, the primordial source of the cycles of creation, maintenance, and ultimate annihilation. This truth has been demonstrated by Sathya Sai through this incident when He revealed Himself to be the transcendental divinity combining within Himself Lord Brahma, Lord Mahavishnu, and Lord Paramashiva—the great trinity.
A professor of philosophy learnt many works of epics from a guru who was known as ‘Gonthavali Brahma Chaitanya Maharaj’. This guru was also an ardent devotee of Lord Dattatreya. He once told the professor, “Dattatreya has reincarnated in Puttaparti in human form” and urged him to go to Puttaparti and get the blessings of the Lord. He also added that he was unable to travel that far due to his old age and expressed his desire that at least the professor visits Baba. Obliging the words of his guru, the professor came to Puttaparti. He was blessed with a personal interview of Baba. Even as he entered, Baba told him, “Take Padanamaskar. This is the very seat of Lord Dattatreya.” The immense joy explained by the professor could not be explained by mere words.