ABOUT
Charitramrut
Shripad Shrivallabha Charitamrutam (Hagiography of Shripada Shrivallabha, First Incarnation of Lord Dattatreya).
The The hagiography of Shri Shripad Shrivalalbha, the first incarnation of Lord Dattatreya in Kaliyug (Age of darkness), was written around 1350, A.D. by His devotee Shankar Bhat , a pious brahmin from Karnataka state of Bharat. Once in the year 1336 when he went on a pilgrimage to Udupi, Shri Krishna granted him His beautiful vision and instructed Shankar Bhat to take darshan of Goddess Kanyaka Parmeshwari at Kanyakumari. There the Goddess too granted him Her auspicious vision and directed him to visit Kuravpur and get his life fulfilled after meeting Shripada Shrivallabha. Following the instructions of Goddess Amba, Shankar Bhat commenced his journey on foot towards Kuravpur, visiting various pilgrim spots on the way; getting lifts in bullock carts and hospitality and accommodations in the houses of people of various castes. Surprisingly they all used to be devotees of Shripada Shrivallabha and they used to narrate their experiences of sportive plays of Shripada. Astonishingly these events were in a chronological order of the age of Shripada from His birth to the time He left Pithapur, His birthplace. Shankar Bhat himself used to witness the sportive plays of Shripada in invisible form all along his journey. Reaching Kuravpur after couple of years and further staying in company of Shripada, Shankar Bhat experienced many more miracles done by Shripada until His age of 30. In October 1350, Shripada, at the age of 30 disappeared in the Krishna River at Kuravpur and hid His physical form. Before disappearing, He gave instructions to Shankar Bhat to stay back in Kuravpur for three years and complete the drafting of His hagiography “Shripada ShriVallabha Charitamrutam” in Sanskrit. Shankar Bhat later handed over this original Sanskrit Manuscript to maternal uncle of Shripada Shrivallabha. Eventually it was translated into Telugu and thereafter the Sanskrit manuscript written on Palm leaf vanished and was taken in a subtle form by celestial beings to Pithapur and kept at a place deep down below the earth’s crust where spiritual masters are constantly doing its devout reading. As per Shripada’s instructions the original Telugu copy was kept hidden from public and secretly handed down for 33 generations. Around 2001, upon divine indication, the descendant of maternal uncle of Shripada gave a copy of the Charitamrutam to the Mahasansthan at Pithapur.
A printed version of the same was gifted to H.H. Shri Haribhau Niturkar Joshi (Bhau Maharaj), Hyderabad and a request to translate it in Marathi was made. During translation Shripada Himself used to give darshan to HH Bhau Maharaj and give him instructions about rectifications to be made. This priceless work done by H H Shri Bhau Maharaj has enabled more than 900000 households to read and enjoy the sportive plays of Shripada Shrivallabha and get drenched in the ambrosial grace of Shripada. Many devotees have experienced unexplainable miracles upon reading this hagiography. At times just the mere presence of this Charitamrutam has helped the devotees to come out of troublesome situations.
Subsequently a brief hagiography has been brought out in languages like Marathi, English, Hindi keeping in mind, the hectic schedule of current fast life scenario.
This hagiography is a boon to the spiritual seeker as many secrets are revealed in it. It is Shripada Himself in ‘Text form’. It is an Akshar Satya Granth meaning Every word in it is true! Every now and then the contents of this Charitamrutam astonish, amaze and bewilder the readers. Various predictions have been made in it like the birth of Samarth Ramdas, Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Venkayya Avadhuta, Sadashiv Bramhmendra Swamy…. Shripada’s future incarnations of Shri Nrusimha Saraswati Swami, Shree Swami Samartha, Gajanan Maharaj of Shegaon, Mantralaya Raghavendra Swami, Manik Prabhu, Sai Baba of Shirdi have also been described.
While undertaking a parayana (devouted reading), as our beloved HH Bhau Maharaj says “Let us not delve into anything but focus on devout reading of this hagiography”, it is better to keep our assumptions and logic aside as the events and contents described in this hagiography are beyond our scope of understanding. May
all the devotees get benefitted by IT’S reading.