About Dattareya Mane
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"Jayanthi Akka sitting in her god's room"
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This article is about a
house in Manipal where 1000’s of people come to pray and get their wishes
fulfilled. This house is owned by a retired syndicate bank employee and a
social worker Keshavaraya Prabhu and his wife Jayanthi Prabhu who is a house
wife and social worker too and popularly known as “Jayanthi Akka”. This house
is located in Hudco Colony in Manipal. People from various places come here to
pray Lord Dattatreya. Various Sadhaks feel presence of high positive
vibrations in this place. In front of the house there is an “Audumbara Tree
(Fig tree)” which is believed to be holy and it is also believed that Lord
Dattatreya’s presence is there in this tree. People share their sorrows,
worries, problems with Jayanthi akka and she counsels them. It is more like a
temple than a house. Wishes are fulfilled easily when they come and pray here.
Various Religious functions take place here throughout the year out of which
major festivals are Guru Poornima and Datta Jayanthi. Thursday is Dattatreya’s
day and most of the people come on Thursday to pray. Jayanthi akka keeps a
Paduka of Lord Dattatreya on the bhakt’s head whoever visits on Thursdays.
Afternoon there’s arathi to Lord Dattareya on Thursdays.
Who is Lord Dattatreya?
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| Dattareya Murthy at Jayanthi Akka's home |
Dattatreya is
a Hindu Deity considered to be an avatar (incarnation) of the
three Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, collectively known
as Trimurti. The name Dattatreya is composed of two words -
"Datta" (meaning given) and "Atreya", referring to the
sage Atri, his physical father.Various
Hindu sects worship him differently, though Dattatreya is considered a form of
all the three deities. He is especially considered an avatar of
Vishnu while his siblings the moon-god Chandra and the sage Durvasa are regarded as forms of
Brahma and Shiva respectively. He is approached more as a benevolent god
than as a teacher of the highest essence of Indian thought. However, spiritual
seekers pray to this Supreme Teacher for knowledge of the Absolute Truth. He is
specially worshipped on his birthday, Datta Jayanthi. The path of Dattatreya embraces all
spiritual paths and is the source of all other traditions. He who treads the
path of Truth, regardless of what religion he belongs to, is treading the path
of Dattatreya. As an incarnation of God, Datta came down to spread the
universality of true religion. Anyone can be his follower, regardless of cast,
creed, status, be they student, householder, recluse or renunciate. No matter
what sect or religion the true seeker follows, eventually he comes under the
guidance of Lord Dattatreya, the Eternal Spiritual Guide of all mankind.
Who is
Jayanthi Prabhu?
Jayanthi Prabhu was born on 28 December 1948 in Kaup. Coming from a very
religious family she had high faith in god. A neighbour gave her a
guru charitra at the age of 12 which made her aware of Lord
Dattareya. Reading Guru Charitra she became a devotee of Lord Dattatreya.
Later she got married to Keshavaraya Prabhu .They had a very hard time to make
a living in the initial days. During her youth days, she has done free balvadi
for kids, Organized Classes of Lalitha sahasranama, Vishnu sahasranama,
satsang, bhajan, pratasmarane, teaching children for about 35 years. She has
served the society irrespective of caste and religion. She finds happiness in other's happiness. She had once been to Karkala to her friend’s home. Knowing that she’s
Datta bhakt, they gave her a photo of Datta which was very old and the image on
it had faded. Having strong faith on Dattatrya, she started worshiping it. The
photo then started getting some images on it. She came to manipal in the year
1990. She has been living in her present house from 1993. It was a rented house
in her initial days. A small sapling came into birth in their house. It
was the holy Audumbara. Within 4 months it grew to a great height and started
giving fruits. She started worshiping the Audumbar thereafter. Their days
started getting better after the tree started growing. After the tree’s birth,
within 2 years the house was bought by them. She met Swami Vivekananda muni in
one of her friend’s home in Udupi. Swami Vivekananda Muni, an Avadooth (Saint)
was a very simple man who had lot of followers in Karnataka and Maharashtra. He
later started coming to her house thereafter. Lot of people would come to meet
Vivekananda Muni at her house. Vivekanand Muni turned into her spiritual guru
and showed her the right path. He considered her as his mother. She started
growing spiritually. The power of the place too started increasing by the
presence of Vivekananda Muni. After the arrival of Vivekananda Muni all her
troubles started to vanish. After a certain period of time of relationship with
this family, he placed his marble Dattarteya murhty which he carried everywhere
at this house. He had an ashram in Satara, Maharashtra. People from Mumbai had
come to invite him to Mumbai. He asked them to get him to Manipal before
proceeding to Mumbai. He came into the house. With him there were several other
followers. He came in and thus spoke “I’ll not go anywhere, I’ll be there on
the tree always. You’ll never have shortage of rice, clothing, or anything.”
After that lot of people started coming to this place and share their problems
with her and she counsels them and tries solving their problems.
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| Jayanthi Akka and Keshavaraya Prabhu in their compound |
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| Swami Vivekananda Muni's Marble Dattatreya Murthy covered with Silver kavach |
Unique things in this place:
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| Lord Datta's Padukas (Footwear) which was initially around 4 cms and now grown to around 10 cms. |
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| Gold Trishul of Dattatreya which was of around 6 cms height now grown to 15 cms |
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Photo of Lord Datta which had faded is getting more clear and image is getting bigger day by day
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Major Festival – Datta Jayanthi (Dattareya’s Birthday)
Datta Jayanthi is celebrated usually in
December on the day of poornima during margashira month. Here at Manipal, Deepa
prathista (installation of lamp) is done a week before Datta Jayanthi. Various
small events take place during first 6 days of the week. Every morning 15-20
people gather. Bhajans are sung by the devotees present. Nritya Bhajan
(Combination of Bhajan and Dance) around the lamp is performed. Ashtothar (108
names of Datta) is recited and flower is offered to god. Afternoon Arathi takes
place followed by Lunch on all 6 days.
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| Deepa Prathista and Alankar to Lord Datta |
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| Bhajan Seva |
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| Ashtotara |
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| Nritya Bhajan |
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| Jayanthi Akka praying for everyone's welfare |
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| The backbones of the event busy at work |
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| Afternoon prasad being served |
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| Volunteers tying flowers |
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| Flowers arrive for decoration |
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| Nritya Bhajan by a Bhajana Mandali from Udupi |
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| Hari katha seva by famous Haridas BC Rao |
Preparations for Datta Jayanthi (the final day) starts the
previous night of Datta Jayanthi
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| Decoration of God's room |
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| Outside compound decoration |
After Decorations:
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| Compound view |
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| Inside the god's room |
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| Inside the god's room |
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Audumbara tree being decorated as Datta
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The final day - Datta Jayanthi
Madhukari Seva:- Going to houses around begging for food is a custom followed here during Datta Jayanthi. It is believed to be the most auspicious seva during Datta Jayanthi. All men join to do this seva. We can see however rich a person is or whatever position he holds in society, he keeps away all his ego aside and begs.
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| Rastriya Swayam Sevak Sangh National General Secretary- Bhayya Ji Joshi being a part of madhukari seva |
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| Madhukari Collected |
Abhishek to Datta:
Cradle Ceremony
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| Dance of joy |
Arathi:
Afternoon Bhojan Prasad (Lunch):-
Around 700-800 people participate and have prasad on the day of Datta Jayanthi
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| Udupi-Chikmagalur MP- Shoba Karandlaje serving food to all bhakts |
Contact Details:
MIG-25, 3rd Main,
Hudco Colony,
Manipal- 574-106
Karnataka, India
Phone:- +918277238677
Map from Manipal bus
stand :
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