HINDU FASTS & FESTIVALS : 15-5.

15. Dattatreya Jayanthi-5.

Dattatreya then mentioned the names of his twenty-four Gurus and spoke of the wisdom that he had learnt from each as follows:

“The names of my twenty-four Gurus are earth, water, fire, sky, moon, sun, pigeon, python, ocean, moth, honey-gatherers (black bee), bees, elephant, deer, fish, the dancing-girl Pingala, raven, child, maiden, serpent, arrow-maker, spider and beetle.

1. I learnt patience and doing good to others from the earth.

2. From water, I learnt the quality of purity.

3. I learnt from air to be without attachment though I move with many people in this world.

4. From fire I learnt to glow with the splendour of Self-knowledge and austerity.

5. I learnt from the sky that the Self is all-pervading and yet it has no contact with any object.

6. I learnt from the moon that the Self is always perfect and changeless and it is only the
limiting adjuncts that cast shadows over it.

7. Just as a sun reflected in various pots of water appears as so many different reflections, so
also Brahman appears different because of the bodies caused by the reflection through the mind.
This is the lesson I have learnt from the sun.

8. I once saw a pair of pigeons with their young birds. A fowler spread a net and caught the
young birds. The mother pigeon was very much attached to her children. She fell into the net and
was caught. From this I have learnt that attachment is the root cause of earthly bondage.

9. The python does not move about for its food. It remains contented with whatever it gets,
lying in one place. From this I learnt to be unmindful of food and to be contented with whatever I get
to eat.

10. Just as the ocean remains unmoved, even though hundreds of rivers flow into it, so also
the wise man should remain unmoved among all the various sorts of temptations, difficulties and
troubles.

Swami Sivananda
 To be continued  ...