Shri Guru Charitra

The Shri Guru Charitra is a book based on the life story of Shri Narasimha Saraswati, written by the 15th-16th century poet Shri Saraswati Gangadhar.

This article is about a biography of Shri Narasimha Saraswati. For the biography of Sai Baba of Shirdi by Das Ganu Maharaj, see Sai Gurucharitra.

The book includes the life story of Shri Narasimha Saraswati, his philosophy and related stories. The language used is the 14-15th century Marathi. The book is written as a conversation between Siddha (who is a disciple of Shri Narasimha Saraswati) and Namdharak who is listening to Siddha. It is divided into 3 parts: Dhyankand (Knowledge), Karmakand (Work) and Bhaktikand (Devotion). It has 52 Chapters in which, the 51st chapter is also called as ′Gurucharitra Avatarnika′ which is the summary of the book.

The book is assumed to be written in a village in Karnataka known as Kadaganchi. The writer is Saraswati Gangadhar who is a poet and an extreme vanshaj of Sayandev Sakhre, one of the disciples from four favorite disciples of Shriguru Narasimha Saraswati.

The chronology Introduced in the Shri Guru Charitra of Shriguru Narasimha Saraswati is as follows:

Chronology

The main events of Sri Narasimha Saraswati's life are given below. Possible years and dates are given according to descriptions of the lunar and stellar events calendar mentioned in the Shri GuruCharitra.

  • Sha. 1300 (1378 CE): Birth
  • Sha. 1307 (1385 CE): Upanayan
  • Sha. 1308 (1386 CE): Left home
  • Sha. 1310 (1388 CE): Took Sanyas
  • Sha. 1338 (1416 CE): Arrived back home at Lad-Karanja
  • Sha. 1340 (1418 CE): Travelled along the banks of the river Gautami
  • Sha. 1342 (1420 CE): Stayed at Parali-Vaijanath
  • Sha. 1343 (1421 CE): Stayed at Audumbar (near Bhilawadi)
  • Sha. 1344-1356 (1422-1434 CE): Stayed at Narsobawadi (Narasimhapur)
  • Sha. 1357-1380 (1435-1458 CE): Stayed at Ganagapur (Gandharvapur).
  • Sha. 1380 (14 January 1459 CE): Nijanandagaman at Shrishaila Mountain.

The extreme 24 characteristics of Shri Gurumurti Shri Narasimha sarswati are not found in except some books are here found by Datta bhakt Wallabh Umrekar and his disciple Harish Jagdish Joshi.

The 24 teachers from mother nature
# Guru Observation Dattatreya's learning
1. Earth Steadfastly productive, does its dharma, gets abused, heals and is steady in giving nourishment. forebearance, remain undisturbed even if oppressed, keep healing even if others injure you
2. Wind Passes through everything and everyone, unchanged, unattached, like Truth; sometimes becomes a gale, disturbs and changes the world, like Truth. be free like the wind, yet resolute true to your own force
3. Sky the highest has no boundaries, no limits, is unaffected even if clouds and thunderstorms come and go the highest within oneself, the Atman (self, soul) has no limits, it is undifferentiated nondual no matter what, let the clouds of materiality pass, be one with your soul and the Universal Self
4. Water serves all without pride, discrimination; is transparent to everyone; purifies and gives life to everyone it touches a saint discriminates against no one and is never arrogant, lets other give him impurity, yet he always remains pure and cleanses
5. Fire purifies and reforms everything it comes in contact with, its energy shapes things the heat of knowledge reforms everything it comes in contact with, to shape oneself one needs the energy of learning
6. Moon waxes and wanes but its oneness doesn't change birth, death, rebirth and the cycle of existence does not change the oneness of soul, like moon it is a continuous eternal reality
7. Sun source of light and gives its gift to all creatures as a sense of duty; in rain puddles it reflects and seems like distinct in each puddle, yet it is the same one Sun the soul may appear different in different bodies, yet everyone is connected and the soul is same in all; like Sun, one must share one's gifts as a sense of duty
8. Pigeons they suffer losses in the hands of violent hunters, warn against obsessive attachments to anyone or to material things in this world do not be obsessive, don't focus on transient things such as damage or personal loss, human life is a rare privilege to learn, discover one's soul and reach moksha
9. Python eats whatever comes its way, makes the most from what it consumes be content with what you have, make the most from life's gifts
10. Bumblebee active, works hard to build and create its reserve by directly visiting the flowers, but is selective and uses discretion, harmonious with flowers and never kills or over consumes be active, go directly to the sources of knowledge, seek wisdom from all sources but choose the nectar, be gentle, live harmoniously and leave others or other ideologies alone when you must
11. Beekeeper profits from honeybees don't crave for material pleasures or in piling up treasures, neither the body nor material wealth ever lasts
12. Hawk picks up a large chunk of food, but other birds harass him, when it drops its food other birds leave him alone take what you need, not more
13. Ocean lucid at the surface, but deep and undisturbed within; receives numerous rivers yet remains the same let rivers of sensory input not bother who you are deep inside, know your depths, seek self-knowledge, be unperturbed by life, equipoise
14. Moth is deceived by its senses, it runs to the fire in misunderstanding which kills it question your senses, question what others are telling you, question what you see, know senses can deceive, seek reason
15. Elephant is deceived by his lust, runs after the smell of a possible mate, and falls into a pit made by mahout's then fettered and used don't lust after something or someone, don't fall into traps of others or of sensory gratification
16. Deer is deceived by his fear, by hunters who beat drums and scare him into a waiting net fear not the noise, and do not succumb to pressure others design for you
17. Fish is deceived by bait and so lured to its death greed not the crumbs someone places before you, there are plenty of healthy opportunities everywhere
18. Courtesan exchanges transient pleasure with body, but feels dejected with meaningless life, ultimately moves on many prostitute their time, self-respect and principles for various reasons but feel dejected with their career and circumstances, seek meaning and spirituality in life, move on to doing things you love to do
19. Child lives a life of innocent bliss be a child, curious, innocent, blissful
20. Maiden she is poor yet tries her best to feed her family and guest, as she cooks she avoids attracting attention to her kitchen and poverty, by breaking all her bangles except one on each wrist don't seek attention, a yogi accomplishes and shares more through solitude
21. Snake lives in whatever hole that comes his way, willingly leaves bad skin and molts a yogi can live in any place, must be ready to molt old ideas and body for rebirth of his spirit
22. Arrowsmith the best one was so lost in his work that he failed to notice the king's procession that passed his way concentrate on what you love to do, intense concentration is the way to self-realization
23. Spider builds a beautiful web, destroys and abandons the web, then restarts again don't get entangled by your own web, be ready to abandon it, go with yourAtman
24. Caterpillar starts out closed in a tiny nest but ultimately becomes a wasp long journeys start small, a disciple starts out as insignificant but ultimately becomes a spiritual master

The references found under various books and proper information and technical centre of ′Adhyatma′ are nowadays introduced are in many hearts :

  • Nath Sampradaya: The Nath yogis, that metamorphosed into a warrior ascetic group, consider Dattatreya as their theological founder. This group grew and became particularly prominent during the Islamic invasions and Hindu-Muslim wars in South Asia, from about the 14th to 18th century, although the Dattatreya roots of the peaceful Nath yogis go back to about the 10th century. The group was most active in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal. The tradition believes that the legendary Nath sampradaya yogi and Hatha Yoga innovator Gorakshanath was inspired and shaped by Dattatreya. Regional efforts and texts of the Nath tradition such as Yogi sampradaya vishkriti discussed Dattatreya.
  • Avadhuta Sampradaya: The nine Narayanas of the Avadhuta sampradaya are attributed to Dattatreya, an idea also found in the Natha sampradaya. A panth started by Pantmaharaj Balekundrikar of Balekundri near Belgavi is related to this.
  • Dasanami sampradaya and Shakti pithas: Dattatreya is revered in Dasanami and goddess-oriented Shaktism traditions.
  • Bhakti traditions: Dattatetreya's theology emphasizing simple life, kindness to all, questioning the status quo, self pursuit of knowledge and seeking spiritual meaning of life appealed to Bhakti sant-poets of Hinduism such as Tukaram and Eknath, during an era of political and social upheavel caused by Islamic invasion in the Deccan region of India. They reverentially mentioned Dattatreya in their poems. The use of his symbolism was one of the many syncretic themes of this period where the ideas of Vaishnavism and Shaivism holistically fused in popular imagination.
  • Mahanubhav tradition: Along with Krishna, the Mahanubhav tradition considers Dattatreya as their divine inspiration. The Mahanubhav Panth, propagated by Sri Chakradhar Swami, has five Krishnas, of which Dattatreya is one as their Adi Guru (the original Guru), as well as the early teachers in their tradition (Chakradhar, Gundham, Cangdev). They worship Dattatreya as single headed with two arms. He has a temple dedicated in Mahur by this tradition.
  • Shri Guru Charitra tradition: This tradition follows from Shripad Shrivallabha and Shri Narasimha Saraswati. Two major Datta traditions were started by Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot and Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati alias Tembe Swami.
  • Lal Padris: another Hindu yogi group from western India with roots in the 10th-century and with ideas similar to Nath and Kanphata sampradaya, traces Dattatreya as the basis of their spiritual ideas.
  • Around 1550 CE, Dattatreya Yogi taught the Dattatreya philosophy to his disciple Das Gosavi in Marathi. Das Gosavi then taught this philosophy to his two Telugu disciples Gopalbhatt and Sarvaved who studied and translated Das Gosavi's book of Vedantavyavaharsangraha into Telugu language. According to Prof. R. C. Dhere, Dattatreya Yogi and Das Gosavi are the original gurus in the Telugu Dattatreya tradition. Prof. Rao states that Dattatreya Shatakamu was written by Paramanandateertha who is equally important in his contributions to the Telugu tradition of Dattatreya. He was a proponent of Advaita philosophy and dedicated his two epics, Anubhavadarpanamu and Shivadnyanamanjari to Shri Dattatreya. His famous Vivekachintamani book was translated into Kannada by Nijashivagunayogi and Lingayat saint Shanatalingaswami translated this into Marathi.

References
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