Usually, we read before important events and rituals:
Om Shri Ganeshaaya Namaha
Om Shri Saraswatyaaya Namaha
Om Sat Gurave Namaha
What does this mean? Ganesha is the Deity of wisdom, which is achieved through concentration and meditation, as well as the one who removes obstacles, subdues the ego and various harmful energies; therefore, we invoke him first. As a result of effort, concentration, and meditation, Saraswati is born — wisdom, jnana-shakti. Relying on this wisdom, we discover the Sat-Guru within ourselves — our Divine Higher "Self", the Atman. When we sing and invoke Saraswati, we are calling upon this Divine Wisdom.
Dattatreya — Infinite Consciousness
The New Year for a sadhu is a good opportunity to perform sadhana and meditate. For Dattatreya, there is no new or old year; for him, there is no past or future, there is no time. Dattatreya is infinity, the infinite, boundless consciousness; Dattatreya is the Supreme Divine Intellect from which universes are created, and from which Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva emerge as different states of the universe. Dattatreya — we call him Dattatreya in our tradition; in other traditions, he is called Buddha, Buddha Nature, Allah, Jesus, Krishna, Shiva, Rama, Yahweh — but all religious traditions say that the goal of a living being's life is to know God and serve God.
The Universe as the Body of the Deity
We are not on our own in this world; we are part of the Divine, we are inside the body of the Deity. This entire universe with its galaxies, stars, and planets is Vishva-rupa — the vast body of the Deity, and we are its cells, we are inside its body. This body of the Deity at the Vedic level is called Vishvanara, or Vishva-rupa, the Lord in the form of the Universe. At the subtle level, this body is called Hiranyagarbha; at the causal level, this body is called Ishvara. We are particles of this Divine body, we are inside it, we ourselves are part of this Divine body.
In this Divine body, we incarnate in eight million four hundred thousand forms, bodies, and various shells — so the texts say — in order to live through the karmas and experiences necessary for our spiritual evolution. It is believed that to achieve liberation and be freed from all karmas, a living soul is placed in one shell, perhaps in the astral world in the body of a gandharva or a deity; then, when the karma of the astral shell ends, it is placed in a physical shell in a body, perhaps of a deer or a human, and it experiences the missing experience that it did not receive in a past kalpa in another universe.
For example, if it has experienced four million forms of life out of the eight million four hundred thousand, then four million four hundred thousand remain, and it will experience them in this kalpa, in this universe, during the reign of this Brahma. If it manages to complete everything — and Brahma lives very long by human standards — it can achieve Liberation.
The entire universe is a huge living being: stars, planets, galaxies, black holes, unexplored regions of the universe, the subtle world with its astral regions, and the causal world like a dreamless sleep, like a great emptiness, unmanifestness — all this is the universe of the three worlds, Tripura. Dattatreya is the one who gives the Teaching of "Tripura Rahasya"; he gives the Teaching on how to be released from this universe of the three worlds, how to be free from these millions of life forms in which we rotate, how to transcend them, and he provides the mystery beyond the Trinity.
The Mystery of Self-Surrender
What is this mystery? It consists in our being able to realize our non-dual nature. Dattatreya is called Datta — the one who gives himself. Dattatreya gave himself to God; therefore, he himself is God. By his example, he teaches us how to free ourselves from illusions and embody the Divine Law — Sanatana Dharma — and avoid Adharma; this is self-surrender.
If we can follow the example of Dattatreya, we can pierce through this illusion and be free from the three worlds of samsara. Moreover, we will not even need to fear these worlds of samsara; we will be able to play in them freely, being completely free, playing in awakened bodies. An example is given: if a person has a stomach ache, the doctor gives them restrictions, saying: "you can't eat this, you can't eat that," and the person does not eat what is forbidden. But when they recover, they no longer need to fear sweets or what was previously forbidden. In the same way, when we recover from the disease of samsara, what previously appeared to us as samsara is now seen completely differently; it is seen as the playful manifestations of God, and in these playful manifestations of God, we are to create divine bodies.
Reigning in the Fourteen Worlds
The Vedic universe consists of fourteen worlds; this means that with the help of sahaja-samadhi and self-surrender, sooner or later, we are to create an illusory body in each of the worlds, create a pure land, a deity's space, a mandala, and reign in this pure land on the summit of Meru as a deity right in the very center of each of the worlds: Bhur-loka, Bhuvar-loka, Mahar-loka, Svarga-loka, Jana-loka, Tapa-loka, Satya-loka — in each of the worlds, our consciousness is to create itself in the form of a deity, and the world, the environment, as the retinue of this Deity. Vitala, Patala, Mahatala, Rasatala, Sutala, and so on. In each of the worlds, including the lower ones, we are also to reign in the form of a deity and create a mandala there.
All these fourteen worlds are the cosmos of the Vedic universe, the Brahmanda, and we are to master this cosmos. Lord Dattatreya says: "look, my dear son, I have created such a beautiful universe for you, take it and reign in each of these worlds as an enlightened deity; you have everything for this, you deserve it, you have the full potential for this, you have no need to suffer in one small world, in Bhuvar-loka, in a human body or an animal body, the entire universe is before you, but for this, you must follow my path." To follow the path of Dattatreya — and this path is self-surrender. Just as Dattatreya gave himself entirely to God, and then gave himself to helping others for the sake of their enlightenment, in the same way, we follow this path.
And my well-wishes are that you all follow this path and be successful on it. Namaste!
