As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the birthday of Lord Srīpāda’s (first Dutta Avatar of Kaliyuga) is celebrated on the day of Sri Ganesh Chaturthi. Lord Srīpāda and Maha Ganpati are one with each other. So worshipping any form derives the same results.:
To celebrate Lords’s birthday, some activities are suggested
Naam Jaap (Chanting of Holy name/Mantras) (108 times or upto individual)
“Digambara Digambara Srīpāda Vallabha Digambara” or
“Datta Digambarā! Srīpādavallabha Digambarā! Narasimha Saraswati Digambarā!’ or
Srīpāda Rājam Saranam Prapadye!
Parayan of Chapters of Sri Gurucharitra and/or Sri Srīpāda Srivallabha Charitamrutam in which the birth of Lord
Srīpāda is mentioned and reading leelas of the Lord.
Parayan of Chapter 6 “title: The Story of Narasāvadhāni” from Sri Srīpāda Srivallabha Charitamrutam https://sripada-srivallabha.org/_media/en/sripada_srivallabha_charitamrutam.pdf (page 97 onwards)
Parayan of Chapter 5 to 7 of Shri Guru Charitra (https://shirdisaiparivaar.org/drupal/uploads/2013/05/Guru-Charitra.pdf)
Recitation of Siddha Mangala Strotra (given in section below in this blog post)
Donation of Food to needy in the name of Lord Dutta
About the Holy Book – Sri Srīpāda Srivallabha Charitamrutam
To download: https://sripada-srivallabha.org/_media/en/sripada_srivallabha_charitamrutam.pdf
Sri Srīpāda Srivallabha Charitamrutam is biography of Lord Srīpāda in which Lord’s birth and numerous leela are mentioned. Sri Shankar Bhatt is author of this biography. The work was only possible due to the grace of Lord Srīpāda.
The biography of Lord Srīpāda Srīvallabha provides a feeling of being in his very presence and participating in the events. As decreed by Lord Srīpāda, the work was kept secret for thirty three generations, nearly 700 years. It came to light in 2001; it was then published in Telugu and has now been translated into several languages. There is a very interesting story of how the original book (sanskrit) copy was kept secret for such a long time per Lord’s order and when the copy was immersed in Krishna river at Vijayawada, the Telugu version came into light. Please refer to Chapter 53 (page 546) of the biography to read this in detail.
In chapter 31, Lord Srīpāda states: “Don’t think that the Srī Charitāmrutam book is a mere book. It is a live stream of a glorious consciousness. When you make a devoted reading the strength of those letters flows into My mental consciousness. As you have a connection with Me without being aware of it, all your rightful desires will be fulfilled by My mercy. Even when this great book is preserved in your room of worship it causes auspicious vibrations. Forces of misfortune and spirits of darkness are driven away.”
Parayan of Sri Srīpāda Srivallabha Charitamrutam
Further, we request readers and devotees to consider taking the Parayan of the holy book Sri Srīpāda Srivallabha Charitamrutam to read a few pages daily to complete at least 1 chapter every week. In this way, over the course of a year one will be able to complete the parayan of all the chapters.
To download the english version https://sripada-srivallabha.org/_media/en/sripada_srivallabha_charitamrutam.pdf
For the seven day pārāyana it is proposed to read the book in the following manner:
1st day Chapter 01 to 06
2nd day Chapter 07 to 12
3rd day Chapter 13 to 18
4th day Chapter 19 to 22
5th day Chapter 23 to 34
6th day Chapter 35 to 42
7th day Chapter 43 to 53
Another form of pārāyana is reading the book in forty days with 1-2 chapters daily.
After the devoted reading of the book food should be offered to at least eleven good people, or an amount sufficient for such food donation (~INR 550) should be given to a place of Dattatreya worship or other spiritual places.
Siddha Mangala Strotra
Devotees who worship Datta with pure mind, speech and action will be blessed by the grace of Lord Srīpāda as soon as they recite this stotra.
1. Srimadananta Srī Vibhushita Appala Lakshmi Narasimharājā!
Jaya Vijayībhava, Digvijayībhava, Srīmadakhanda Srī Vijayībhava!
Victory, victory, universal victory, supreme abounding victory to eternally auspicious, richly decorated Appala Lakshmi Narasimharaja;
2. Sri Vidyadhari Radha Surekha Srīrākhidhara Srīpadā!
Jaya Vijayībhava, Digvijayībhava, Srīmadakhanda Srī Vijayībhava!
Victory, greater victory, universal victory, superb imperishable victory to Srīpāda, wearing the Srī Rakhī from Srī Vidyadhari, Radha and Surekha;
3. Mātā Sumatī Vātschalyāmruta pariposhita Jaya Srīpadā!
Jaya Vijayībhava, Digvijayībhava, Srīmadakhanda Srī Vijayībhava!
Victory, grand victory, total victory in all directions, splendid indivisible victory to Srīpāda, nourished with the nectar of affection by mother Sumatī
4. Satya Rushīswara Duhitānandana Bāpanāryanuta Srī Charanā!
Jaya Vijayībhava, Digvijayībhava, Srīmadakhanda Srī Vijayībhava!
Victory, magnificent victory, victory around all directions, uninterrupted victory to Srī Charana, the son of the daughter of the great sage Satya Rushi Bāpanārya, extolled by him
5. Sāvitra Kāthaka Chayana Punyaphala Bharadwaja Rushigotra Sambhavā!
Jaya Vijayībhava, Digvijayībhava, Srīmadakhanda Srī Vijayībhava!
Victory, glorious victory, universal conquest, unfragmented victory to the sacred fruit of Sāvitra Kāthaka sacrifice3, hailing from the lineage of sage Bharadwaja
6. Do Chowpātī Dev Lakshmi Ghanasamkhyā Bodhita Srī Charanā!
Jaya Vijayībhava, Digvijayībhava, Srīmadakhanda Srī Vijayībhava!
Victory, victory, universal victory, supreme abounding victory to Srī Charana, explaining the great number ‘Do Chowpatī Dev Lakshmi
7. Punyarūpinī Rājamāmbasuta Garbhapunyaphala Samjātā!
Jaya Vijayībhava, Digvijayībhava, Srīmadakhanda Srī Vijayībhava!
Victory, greater victory, universal victory, superb imperishable victory to the one born out of great fruit of punya to the daughter of pious personage Rajamamba
8. Sumatīnandana, Naraharinandana Dattadevaprabhu Srīpadā!
Jaya Vijayībhava, Digvijayībhava, Srīmadakhanda Srī Vijayībhava!
Victory, grand victory, total victory on all directions, splendid indivisible victory to the son of Sumatī and Narahari, Lord Datta Deva Srīpāda;
9. Pīthikāpura Nityavihāra, Madhumati Dattā, Mangalarūpā!
Jaya Vijayībhava, Digvijayībhava, Srīmadakhanda Srī Vijayībhava!
Victory, magnificent victory, all round victory, unbroken victory to the one rambling always in Pīthikapura, Madhumati Datta, Mangala Rūpa. May victory shower on Srīpāda
Story of Lord Srīpāda’s Birth
There is a village named Pithapur (East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh). There lived a brahmin couple, Appala Raju Sharma and Sumathi, who were devotees of Lord Datta. They had many children, of whom only two survived. These too were sons, but as misfortune would have it, one was lame and the other was blind. The incarnation of Srīpāda Srīvallabha came to dispel the darkness of ignorance. He arrived to remove the limping progress of people in physical and spiritual matters. Therefore, Lord Datta commanded the deity of time and the deity of action. In pursuance of His command, a blind boy representing gloomy ignorance and a lame boy representing the halting progress in worldly and supra-worldly spheres were born to Raja Sarma. Sumatī and Raja Sarma were greatly dismayed that their two children were disabled. Like orthodox Hindus, they believed that unless they had a son who could efficiently discharge all the religious rites and duties, their souls had no hope of entering the portals of heaven. They worshipped Lord Datta for the fulfilment of their hearts wish and never failed to offer food to mendicants and monks. They looked upon all such as the very forms of Lord Datta.
One day, they were performing the annual ceremony in their house and many brahmins were invited as guests for the feast. Tradition holds that none should eat on that day before these guests partake of their food. But Lord Datta appeared at their threshold in the form of a renunciate sadhu, bearing the staff and the water-vessel (kamandalu) and asked for food. The head of the family was not aware of it. The housewife, with immense faith that the visitor was none other than the Lord to whom the whole annual ceremony was being offered, gave him food even before the brahmin guests were fed! Her faith touched the Lord’s heart and He at once granted her a vision of his true form. The divine form which Sumathi witnessed was such that neither a thousand eyes can fully comprehend it, trident of Siva (trishula), the drum (damaru), the water – vessel (kamandalu) and the rosary (japa mala). His glorious form had three heads. Clad in a tiger’s skin and his body besmeared with sacred ash (vibhutt), he looked like a silver mountain in moonlight. His matted hair hung down like ropes, as though inorder to help his devotees to climb out of the mire of phenomenal existence.
The blessed housewife drank the divine glory of the Lord’s form and felt that the highest the object of her birth was fulfilled. The Lord said, “Mother, I am pleased with your devotion. Even before you fed the brahmin guests, you have given me food with the full faith that this is the Lord in the guise of a holy sannyasi. Now, ask me for anything you wish and it shall be granted”. The nectarine words of the Lord seemed to penetrate every cell in her being. Her eyes were blessed by the sight and now her ears were sanctified by His sweet words. “Lord”, she said, “You, whose vision is not attained even by great yogis, have blessed my sight with it spontaneously, out of sheer compassion for me! You have even accepted food from me, on this day. And thereby, the spirits of our ancestors, for whose welfare we are performing the annual ceremony are all blessed. You are, indeed, the wish- fulfiller of your devotees. You have already addressed me as a mother. So I have no need to ask you anything further. Make me worthy of being addressed by you as such ie., bless me with a child as divine as you are and keep up your word!”
Hearing her words, the Lord thought, “She’s asking me for the same favor as did Anasuya of yore.” Then he said, “You shall have a son as great as I am, but then you must remember one thing: You will have to implicitly do as he tells you. Do not forget this in your attachment to the idea that he is, after all, your son!” So saying, the Lord disappeared. Still rapt in the spell of her divine experience, blessed Sumathi at once went to her husband and said, “Sir, I have transgressed the divine law: the brahmin guests are not yet fed. Lord Dattatreya came to our house in the form of a sannyasi for offerings of food. Believing that he is the Lord of this annual ceremony and the Lord of all religious sacrifices, I gave him food”. Raju said, “My virtuous one, we offer food to the brahmins on this occasion and consecrate the whole ceremony to the Lord Vishnu. If, then, that very Lord had personally received your offering, it is all the noble fruit of your deep faith in Him. This noble act of yours has blessed all of us. Lord Dattatreya, in order to bless his devotees and the righteous ones, wanders about in the guise of a random guest at the lunch hour. That’s why it is said that a random guest has to be treated as the very embodiment of Lord Dattaterya. If, owing to our inadvertence, the guest goes away unappeased, it means that the Lord himself is displeased with us:” Then Sumathi told him of the divine vision the Lord had bestowed on her and of his granting her wish for a divine son, along with the caution he gave. Raju Sharma was overjoyed to learn all that and congratulated her saying, “You have indeed sought a blessing that would purify our very lineage and the whole world”. He then completed the ceremony scrupulously.
Not long after, Sumathi conceived and delivered a male child at the proper time. She gave birth to one who is indeed birthless. Lord Srīpāda was born in the early hours of Ganesh Chaturthi in Chitra star, in Simha lagna and Tula rāsi. Astrologers and priests had all prophesied that Lord Datta Himself was born as her son and praised her good fortune. Indeed, He kept his word to Sumathi and, as he can have no equal, he had to take birth as her son. As the child had all the divine features besides celestial radiance, and His Feet were marked with all auspicious features, He bears a worthy name as Srīpāda Srīvallabha. This was the first incarnation of lord Datta in the age of Kali.
When Lord Srīpāda Srīvallabha was born, a cobra with three hoods held its hoods as an umbrella for Srīpāda, wherever He was kept, for eighteen days. He came out of the mother’s womb as a dazzling illumination. Sumatī Maharani fainted immediately after He was born. Auspicious musical notes from musical instruments were heard from the labour room. After some time, an invisible voice warned all people to leave the room. Four Vedas, eighteen Purānas, great persons arrived in the shape of brilliant lights to greet Srīpāda. Sacred Vedic mantras were heard outside the room. Silence spread after some time. This astonishing incident was perplexing and beyond comprehension even to Maharishi Bāpanāryulu (grandfather of Lord Srīpāda).
The sportive plays of Lord Srīpāda Srīvallabha are unprecedented and uncomparable. Lord’s star is Chitra. He is very much pleased if anyone worships Lord Srīpāda on the day of His birth star. Srī Charana moves in a subtle form in a place where His divine name is chanted. This is a literal truth.
Jai GuruDev Dutta! Jai Srīpāda Srivallabha! Jai Sai!
Note: Above content is based on the following resources:
Sri Srīpāda Srivallabha Charitamrutam
Sri Guru Charitra
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Love you Deva! Jai Sai Samarth! Jai Gurudev Dutta!
Aum Sai Rakshak Sharnam Deva!
Digamabra Digambara Sripada Srivallabha Digambara!
Digambara Digambara Srichakra Dattatreya Digambara!
Love you Deva! Jai Sai Samarth! Jai Gurudev Dutta!
Happy Birthday Lord Sripada Srivallabha!
Happy Sri Ganesh Chaturthi
Digambara Digambara Sripada Srivallabha Digambara!
Digambara Digambaar Srichaktra Dattatreya Diagambara!