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The story of Dattatreya is told in many Purana-s, and this is from the Markandeya purana (chapter 15). A brahmin named kaushika was enchanted by a courtesan and lost his wealth, health etc. However, his wife, Shandili was faithful to him. She even carried him on her shoulders to the courtesan's place. Once, by mistake, she stepped on Sage Mandavya and the sage cursed both of them to die by sunrise. Shandili prayed and appealed that the sun may never rise so that her husband would live. Her prayer was answered and the devas were in an uproar seeing the world order of time destroyed. They asked for the help of Anusuya, the wife of sage atri, to convince shandili. Anusuya was able to convince shandili on the condition that kaushika would live on sunrise. In appreciation of Anusuya's intervention, the gods granted her three boons. She asked for her liberation, her husband's liberation and that the three gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva be born as sons to her. The wishes being granted, from Sage Atri's eyes issued a light and served as the seed for the divine sons - Soma, Durvasa, and Datta - partial incarnations of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu, respectively.

Other purana-s give different narratives but all involve the attribution of the name Dattatreya to mean 'Son of sage Atri.' For example, there is a story is that the gods decided to test the chastity of anasuya, the wife of the rishi Atri. So, brahma, vishNu and Siva went to her posing as handsome men. However, Atri was not fooled and transformed all three of them into a single child with three heads. This child is known as Dattatreya and is considered to be an incarnation of the trinity Gods.

He is said to have lived a rather unconventional life, first being a warrior, then renouncing the world and practicising yoga and then drinking wine and living with a maiden etc to show his disciples that he could be unattached to such mundane pleasures even if he indulges in them. Dattatreya is said to have met Shankara near Kedarnath before Shankara's mahasamadhi. There is a still a cave in Kedarnath signifying this event.

Regarding the works by him, probably the most controversial is that it is mentioned in the Markandeya purana that he taught the asthanga yoga to Patanjali, who then wrote the yoga suutras. He is also attributed to the composition of the jivanmukta -gita which is a short compendium of 23 verses which talks about the jnani (jivan mukta). Dattatreya is also attributed with avadhuta gita, a text of eight chapters. Swami Vivekananda once said of this book, 'Men like the one who wrote this song keep religion alive. They have actually self-realized; they care for nothing, feel nothing done to the body, care not for heat, cold, danger, or anything. They sit still enjoying the bliss of Brahman.' Dattatreya is the narrator of the Jnana Kanda of tripura rahasya to Parasurama to dispel the latter's doubts on liberation. (The story of Samvrata found in tripura rahasya has been cited by shankara in his brahma suutra bhashya). Further, Dattatreya is attributed with a couple of Tantric works.

Dattatreya is also mentioned in the Mahabharata. I also believe that certain vaishnavites hold him in high esteem since he is mentioned as a incarnation of vishnu.

Dattatreya is usually depicted with four dogs by his side, representing the four vedas, a cow behind him (a la vishNu), a trident in his hand (a la Siva) and three heads (a la brahma). He is widely worshipped as a diety throughout India and you can find stotra-s (hymns) dedicated to him.

The lineage of the Nav Nath sampradaya which traces its origin to dattatreya is extant. The modern jnani Nisargadatta Maharaj is well known. Though he lived in the slums of Bombay, India, he spread the fragrance of advaita vedanta to one and all. His disciple, Ramesh Balsekar, educated in the west, continues the tradition.

Yoga shastra of Dattatreya / editor, Brahma Mitra Awasthi ; translated by Amita Sharma.

Dattatreya: the way and the goal. by Wadiyar. Introduction by Radhakrishnan.

Tripura Rahasya : The mystery beyond the trinity by R. Sarasvati

Avadhuta Gita by Swami Ashokananda

Couple of doctoral disserations :
Origin and development of Dattatreya worship in India by Joshi.
Dattatreya : the immortal guru, yogin, and avatara by Rigopoulos.

Gaudapada is one of the most venerated teachers in the advaita tradition. He is more popularly known as Guru of Shankara's guru, Govindapada. He is well known for writing a karika on mandukya upanishad. Very little is known about his life.

Anandagiri in his commentary (tika) on shankara's commentary of the karika, notes that Gaudapada started his quest in the Himalayas. He goes on to say that Lord Vishnu (at Badarikashrama) propounded to him the tenents of advaita. Balakrishnanda (17th century) says that Gaudapada was orginally one of the esteemed masters of the Gaudas, who lived on the banks of the river Hiravati in Bengal (a state in India). Gaudapada has been placed around 500 AD based on the testimony of other buddhist texts. For example, one can find literal passages from the karika in santaraksita's tattva-sangraha.

In the commentary to mandukya karika of Gaudapada, Shankara pays him tribute by calling him a paramaguru. In shankara's commentary on shvetasvatara upanishad, Gaudapada is mentioned as the disciple of Shuka.

In the muktika upanishad, where the 108 upanishads are listed, Lord Rama says to Hanuman that reading mandukya upanishad alone is enough if one is not able to read all the upanishads. Considering this fact, the importance of mandukya karika is apparent. Gaudapada has also written a commentary on Ishvara Krishna's Samkhya karika, as well as a commentary on uttara gita. Gaudapada is also cited as the author of a number of tantric works, including the famous subhagodaya stuti and shrividyaranya sutra.

Gaudapada's lineage is very active thanks to the maths established by Shankara. There are currently five maths in India, and the vedic advaitic tradition is faithfully preserved.

Mandukya karika by Swami Nikhilananda.

Gaudapada : A study in early advaita by TMP Mahadevan.

Asparsa yoga by Cole. Published by Motilal.

The agamasastra of gaudapada by V. Bhattacharya. (The karika is also known as agama sastra). Published by Motilal.

Gaudapada karika by R.D. Karmarkar.

The Samkhyakarika, with the commentary of Gaudapada by Manikar.

If you ask a person from Maharashtra (a state in India) what the greatest philosophical work of his state is, he would most likely reply 'Jnanaveshvari written by Jnanashvar (also known as Jnanadeva).'

The dates proposed for Jnanadeva are 1271-1293 (or 1275-1297). He voluntarily abandoned his body at the age of 22. He is quite famous for the excellent commentary on Bhagvad-gita called Jnaneshvari. He received hatha yoga teachings from his brother, Nivritti-natha and tries to combine this yoga with the gita. As he correctly notes, hatha yoga practiconers (most of them anyway) measure the wind with upstretched arms day and night and lack the slightest devotion. They should expect only sorrow in their path.

Jnanadeva's father was Vitthalpant, who tradition identifies as belonging to the Nath sampradaya (lineage). However, at a young age, Vitthalpant was disinterested in life, and decided to take sanyas. He took permission from his wife (though she actually did not want to give him permission) and went to Benares, and beacme a renowned disciple of the famous Swami Ramanand. Vitthalpant's wife, Rukhamabhai, hearing the news decided her married life was over and practiced chanting and other devotional austerities under a tree and many people in the village of Alandi considered her pious.

Once, when Swami Ramanand visited Alandi, Rukhamabhai prostrated towards him in reverence. Seeing the spirituality in her face, Ramanand blessed her with good spiritual children. Rukhamabhai smiled wryly and told him that her husband was an ascetic and was actually his disciple. Ramanand went back to Benares and told Vitthalpant to go back to Alandi and resume the married life and have progeny.

Vitthalpant went back and shocked the whole community by resuming his married life (In India, once a person takes sanyas, one can not resume the material life under any circumstances). They had four children in quick succession. Jnaneshvar (hereafter refered as Jnanadeva) was the second child. The eldest was nivritti and Sopana was the third male child. The last child was his sister, Mukti. One may appreciate the names: nivritti, and jnana are sopana (ladder) for attaining mukti.

Because the four children was born to a person who was once a sanyas, all of them were ostracized from the community and lived in a small hut. At the age of seven/eight, Nivritti had to be invested with the sacred thread to become a Brahmin. However, no one in Alandi was even willing to look at the children, let alone perform ceremonies for them. Therefore, Vitthalpant moved his family to Nasik, and the whole family used to circumbulate the hill from which the holy river Godavari originates (this is a beautiful sight, even to this day. One finds the river originates drop by drop, and passes thro' a linga at the bottom of the hill before becoming a full fledged river). They circumbulated the hill to expiate their sins. However, one day, as fate would have it, a tiger attacked the family. When the family ran away, Nivrtti got separated from the family. He took refuge in a cave where he met Gahininatha, the fourth in the Natha lineage who initiated him. However, the problem of the scared thread ceremony remained and the family returned to Alandi.

The brahmins at Alandi were stubborn and would not perform ceremonies for the child of a sanyas. Finally, they said the only expiation from the sin was death of the parents. Therefore, Vitthalpant and his wife went to Prayag and drowned themselves in the river Ganga (While it is true that Hinduism prohibits suicide, it is not completely forbidden. In fact, scriptures give four different methods of dying in Prayag by which one can attain liberation. However, it does prohibit suicide as an escape from material life). Even after the self-immolation, the brahmins could only advise them to visit Paithan, the center of learning and obtain a testimonial from the pundits.

The pundits at Paithan took pity on the four small children, but still could not decide since there was no precedence in the scriptures. Finally, an interesting episode happened here. A brahmin decided to make fun of the children and asked the meaning of their names. Jnaneshvar replied that his name signified Jnana, to which the brahmin retorted that the buffalo on the road was also named Jnana. Jnaneshvar replied that the essence of the buffalo and himself were not different. Irritated by this, the brahmin took a whip and flung it at the buffalo. When the whip hit the buffalo, it left scars on Jnaneshvar, a young child of seven. The crowd of pundits were astonished at this. Jnaneshvar went to the buffalo and asked it to recite a verse from the Vedas to prove that the essence of the buffalo and himself were not different. Lo and Behold, the buffalo spoke ! All the Brahmins and pundits prostrated at the feet of Jnaneshvar. On their return to Alandi, the news of the miracles had already reached them and they gladly performed the ceremonies for the boys.

Jnanadeva wrote his exposition on Bhagvad gita at Nevase and called it the Bhavartha-dipika (the lamp of simple explanation) which later became known as Jnaneshvari. He met Namadeva, the well known bhagavata of pandharpur and toured various pilgrimage spots in North India.

Jnanadeva attained eternal samadhi in Alandi, near Poona in 1296 at the age of 22 (25 by some other scholars). That he not only produced the exposition but also other works at such an age stands testimonial to the greatness of a person. He himself remarks in the sixth chapter that knowledge can be brought over from the previous birth but does not mention him as an example. That's a mark of humbleness, considering that he produced Jnaneshvari at the age of 15 (or 19). Though the brahmins had made fun of him as an outcaste, he never ridiculed them in retaliation. Maybe he considered them to be God's children also, or rather the same as himself.

Jnanadeva brought together the advaitic tradition, the saiva outlook and yoga of the Nath sampradaya and the bhakti of the bhagavatas and is not unlike the work of Madhusudana Sarasvati. Jnanadeva founded the vaarakarii sampradaya.

Among his four works are Amritanubhava, Cangadeeva-pasasti, gatha and, of course, Jnaneshvari itself. The gatha-s are a collection of beautiful devotional poems. Amritanubhava (the nectar of divine experience) is well known among Advaitins, especially those in the Nath sampradaya. This beautiful book talks in detail about the unity of Shiva-Shakti, consciousness at rest and at motion i.e noumenon and phenomenon. The Jnaneshwari contains nearly 9000 verses written in the ovi meter of old marathi. The Jnaneshwari is highly poetical and differs in style from bhagvad gita commentaries by Shankara. Jnanadeva's intention was not to write an explanation of gita for upholding a philosophy but born out of pure love. For example, his 42 verse explanation for 9.32 brings out that he treated everyone equally with Love and no one was barred from singing the glory of God. In the same chapter, he describes the miseries of the world, and says we should pray to God all the time just like one should escape while being surrounded by fire. It teaches that the path of devotion (bhakti) is supreme and a devotee finally attains unity with the Lord. Jnanadeva's bhakti for Krishna, his reverence for his guru are supreme. No wonder that Saint Eknath, who established the text, says that Jnanadeva is the mother and father of all Sadhakas. Namadev, the famous saint, has written a brief biography of Jnanadeva's life.

His commentary of the Bhagvad gita is chanted to this day in the temples of Maharashtra.

The following books are many favorites, in that order in each category.

Amritanubhava :
Experience of immortality : English rendering of Jnaneshwar's "Amritanubhava" by Ramesh Balsekar (student of Nisargadatta Maharaj, of the Nav Nath Sampradaya). Published by Advaita Press
The philosophy of Jnanadeva by Bahirat. Published by Motilal.

Cangadevapasasti :
Cangadevapasasti : English commentary by Madhav; Pune, India.

Gatha :
Garland of divine flowers : selected devotional lyrics of Saint Jnanesvara by P.V. Bobde ; published by Motilal.

Jnaneshavari:
Jnaneshwar's Gita : a rendering of the Jnaneshwari by Swami Kripananda published by SUNY Press, NY.
Jnaneshvari (Bhavarthadipika) by V. G. Pradhan.
Sri Jnanadeva's Bhavartha dipika by R. K. Bhagwat; published by Samata Books, Madras.

It was early spring of 1537. A boat was crossing the Padma river in East Bengal, India. In the boat sat a young lad of 12 with his father. The bright young lad had just dedicated a poem in honor of the local king and presented it to him. The king however was more concerned with the impending war and rivalry with his neighbouring kingdom. The lad was hurt and swore that henceforth he would only sing the praises of God. That lad was Madhusuudana Sarasvati, who became one of the most famous philosophers and bhakta-s Bharat Mata had ever produced.

Shortly thereafter he left home and stayed in Navadwip, where he learned Nyaya under masters. The religious fervour of love and devotion fueled by Shri Chaitanya was sweeping the nation, while the philosophy of Shankara did hold sway. Later, he moved to Kasi (Varanasi, Benares) and studied vedanta under Ramatirtha. He was convinced of the unity of Atman and Brahman and wrote 'advaita siddhi' in refutation of vyasaraytirtha's 'nyayaamR^ita'.

However, he confessed to Ramatirtha that he had learned Vedanta only to refute various other schools, while he was concerned more about finding the metaphysical basis for Vaishnavism. To atone for this, Ramatirtha advised his disciple to take up sanyasa. So the young man went to the great sanyasi vishveshvara sarasvati and asked for initiation into sanyas. But vishveshvara told him that this was a momentous decision and to see whether he was fit to take up the task of sanyas, he had to first write a commentary on gita and that he would evaluate it after his to see whether he was fit to take up the task of sanyas, he had to first write a commentary on gita and that he would evaluate it after his pilgrimage. Therefore, the young person started writing a commentary on bhagvad gita and called it guudhaartha diipika. Later, vishveshvara was pleased with the commentary and initiated him into the ascetic order and named him Madhusuudhana sarasvati.

He is a contemporary of the famous Moghul king, Akbar and his minister, Birbal. Madhusuudhana sarasvati is supposed to met with Birbal and complained about the atrocities committed by the muslim rulers of that time. Birbal suggested that the sannyasis can arm themselves and fight against these injustices. Thus Madhussudhana sarasvati was supposed to have small army of ascetics.

Other than the commentary on the gita, and his work, advaita siddhi,he wrote a commentary called siddhaantabindu on shankara's concise work, dashashloki. Besides these, he composed an independent work called vedaantakalpalatika and bhakti rasaayana. A commentary on shivamahimna stotra is also attributed to him. Philosophically, he was a bhakta first, and was not hesistant to differ from Shankara on certain points.

The Advaitasiddhi of Madhusudana Sarasvati by Jha.

Advaitasiddhi : with the Guruchandrika by Srinivachar and Venkatanarasimha

Madhusudana Sarasvati on the Bhagavad Gita : being an English translation of his commentary, Gudhartha dipika by Sisir Kumar Gupta. Published by Motilal.

Siddhantabindu : Madhusudana Sarasvati's commentary on Sri Sankara's Dasasloki by K.N. Subramanian.

Translation of Siddhanta bindu by P.M. Modi.

I thank Swami Vishvarupananda-ji for kindly sending me the text for Namadeva and Ramadas and, more importantly, for spiritually inspiring me.

The time of Saint Jnaneshwar was a time of great saints in Maharashtra, many of them his contemporaries and friends in Pandharpur. Among these great souls there was a great bhakta named Namadeva, to whom the Lord used to appear in person and talk to him. Namadeva thus became deeply attached to his Lord and the temple, where he spent most of his time serving and singing God's praises.

One day Saint Jnaneshwar and other realised saints teased Namadeva for his attachment to the temple and made great fun of him. Hurt and dejected Namadeva ran to his Lord and weeping bitterly took refuge in His arms. It was beyond his comprehension, how such great souls could object to his one-pointed love for God. Lord Panduranga consoled his beloved devotee, but requested him to go to Amvadya and meet Vishobakesha, a great jnani of that village. Unwillingly and tearfully but obeying his Lord's wishes, Namadeva tore himself away from the temple. After three days, he reached Amvadya and was guided by the villagers to a Shivatemple on the outskirts of the village, where Vishobakesha resided.

Namadeva entered the temple, but saw no one. When he went further and looked into the inner shrine, he was shocked to see an old man sleeping in the sanctum with his feet resting on the Shivalinga. Namadeva was aghast: Was this the great saint to seek whom he had walked three days from Pandarpur. The Lord himself had sent him here! Namadeva understood less and less. In anger he rushed to the old man, waking him rudely and ordering him to take his feet off the Lord. But Vishobakesha remained unperturbed. "I am an old and fragile man", he said, "please lift my feet and put them where the Lord is not."

Namadeva took the old man's feet and hastily moved them away from the Lingam. But when he wanted to put them down on the ground, lo, a second Shivalinga sprang up from under the earth as a footrest for the saint. Namadeva could move those sacred feet anywhere he liked, every time another Lingam sprang up from the ground to meet them. In the end the entire room was filled with Shivalingams there was no place to put them. So Namadeva placed them on his own head, where he was sure, no Shivalingam would grow. The moment that great jnani's feet touched his head, Namadeva was enlightened. In a flash he understood the all-pervading nature of the Supreme Self. Greatly ashamed of his ignorance Namadeva fell to the old man's feet and asked for wisdom. The sage smiled and said: "You have realised what you came to learn. Go back to Pandarpur." Namadeva returned in a different consciousness. In everything he perceived the vibrant presence of the Lord, the Self of all beings. After reaching Pandarpur, he did not visit the temple, but stayed at home. Four days went by, when not seeing Namadeva at the temple, Lord Panduranga Himself walked to his devotees house and knocked at the door. "Namadeva, my dear" He called "Please open the door. Where have you been so long, I'm missing you!" Namadeva did not open. From inside he called back to Panduranga: "My dear Lord, I have looked through your game. You won't fool me again. You made me believe the temple was the only place to meet you. But now I know that all is You and there is nothing but Yourself!" Panduranga laughed and returned to the temple, blessing Namadeva.

There lived in Pandharpur, near Namadeva's house a brahmin who came to be called Parissa Bhagavat. He had as a boon from goddess Rakhumai (Rukmini) obtained from her a parissa (a magic stone that transforms iron into gold by touch). The brahmin was very a ttached to his possession and warned his wife, Kamalaja, to keep the stone carefully hidden, and not to spread the news no anyone. But Kamalaja was a great friend of Namadeva's wife Rajai, and when the later complained about the poverty of her home, Kamalaja invited her to her home, showed her the parissa, with which she used to transform iron vessels into gold to sell them and get money for her livelihood, and even loaned it to her. When Namadeva came home and found a sumptuous meal waiting, he refused to eat and demanded an explanation. When Rajai confessed, Namadeva went straight to the Brahmin's house, asked to see the parissa and promptly flung it into the river. The brahmin came to Namadeva's house fuming with rage and demanded his stone back. He accused Namadeva of stealing it. Hearing the noise, all the neighbors collected. Parissa Bhagavat openly defamed Namadeva, calling him an impostor acting as a saint. Namadeva remained calm and said: "If this parissa means so much to you, I shall dive into the river and bring it back to you." Namadeva went under water and returned with handfuls of stones. He gave them to Parissa Bhagavat, to look for his magic piece among them. But when the people started trying them out, all the stones proofed to be parissas. The brahmin finally realised, how foolishly he had hankered for the fleeting riches of this world instead of seeking the everlasting bliss of God. He threw all the parissas back into the river and fell to Namadeva's feet. Parissa Bhagavat became a saintly devotee whose abhangas are still remembered.

Eknath was a major saint of the varakari sampradaya founded by Jnanadeva. Born in 1533 at Paithan, Eknath lost his parents at an early age and was brought up by his grandfather. Eknath's great-grandfather was Shri Bhanudas (1448-1513), a major figure in the Vitthala sect at Pandharpur.

Eknath was initiated by his guru, Janardana, a devotee of Dattatreya. Eknath was unique since he combined a blend of Vedanta and Sufism. Eknath was a devout gurubhakta and wrote under the name of Eka-janardana meaning eka of janardana.

A profilic writer, he wrote bhavartha ramayana, numerous abhangas (unbroken verses and a prolongation of the famous ovi meter) and bharudas (short poems with two meanings, one secular and the other spiritual). However, his major work was Eknath Bhagavata, a marathi commentary on the 11th skanda of the bhagavata purana. Started in 1570, it has over eighteen thousand ovis and was completed in 1573. In the work, Eknath stresses on the uplifting value of kirtana (singing God's names), rememberance of God's name (namasmarana) and meditation (dhyana) of the name. He explains beautifully the nine traditional limbs of the bhakti marga (navangani) with examples from saints.

Eknath distinguished two forms of bhakti to Saguna Brahman (God with form) : as an end in itself and as a means. Generally, the advaitic tradition identifies with the latter, considering that meditation of God with form does not lead to moksha (liberation) but only to krama-mukti (gradual liberation). However, a person who attains krama-mukti is freed from samsara (the cycle of births, deaths, and rebirths).

Eknath's Bhagavata popularized the vedanta philosophy to a great extent. Shri Ranade, a modern day historian, notes that `With Jnanadeva, philosophy reigned in the clouds; with Eknatha, it came down upon earth and dwelt among men.'

Bhartrihari is the author of vairagya satakam (hundred verses on renunciation). In the verses, he reflects the inner struggles an aspirant faces in his sadhana. He was a king of Ujjaini and was said to be an extremely powerful and rich king. However, he renounced everything and became one of the great yogis. The reason can be traced to one of the verses (verse 31) in his vairagya satakam

With enjoyment, comes fear of disease
With social position, fear of disfavor
With riches, fear of hostile people (kings)
With honor, fear of humiliation
With power, fear of enemies
With beauty, fear of old age
With scholarship, fear of challengers
With virtue, fear of traducers
With the identification with body, fear of death
Everything in this world is done with fear
Renunciation alone makes one fearless.

Life trembles, like a drop of water on the edge of a lotus leaf
then it is swallowed by the wind
The wise fix their mind in Truth, which comes to all in the 
calm of self-surrender achieved by renunciation

His other works, niti-satakam and sringara-satakam are hundred verses on worldly wisdom and love, respectively.

Shri Papa Ramdas was a great saint from Kanhiangad. he wandered from place to place and his fame spread throughout the country. People sought him out for his holy counsel and blessings wherever he went. Everyone adored him as a venerable saint, but his re al greatness became apparent to them only after a very telling incident.

Once Papa Ramdas happened to dwell in a cave near a town. As people became aware of his presence they started visiting him and spending time with him in Satsang. The childlike simplicity and deep devotion with which Papa Ramdas lovingly rendered the stori es of Lord Rama soon endeared him to the hearts of the people and seeing him living without possessions in a bare cave they started bringing whatever they deemed necessary for his comforts. Soon a cot, a bed, a tiffin carrier and many other articles got c ollected in the cave. The devotees used to stay with Pap Ramdas during daytime but they left for their homes when darkness descended and thus Papa Ramdas remained alone over night.

Presently a thief came to know about all the valuables kept in the cave by the lonely Mahatma and one night, after all had left and Papa Ramdas sat alone lost in deep meditation, the thief made his way to his dwelling and ordered him to collect all his po ssessions and tie them up in his bed sheet. To the puzzlement of the thief, the saint showed no sign of distress. Sunk in divine bliss he started packing and affectionately handed the bundle to the thief. Taking the cot under one arm and the bundle on one shoulder the rogue walked off and the Mahatma sat down on the stony floor going back into deep contemplation on his beloved Lord. When morning dawned the devotees were shocked to find an ever-blissful saint sitting in a bare cave stripped of all possessions. "Papaji", they asked "Where have all the things gone that were here yesterday?" Papa Ramdas laughed: "Ram took them away." The devotees were intrigued: "Which Ram, Papaji?" "Which Ram? There is only one Ram. Ram gave them and Ram took them away." The saint laughed heartily.

It was only then, that they realized the greatness of the Mahatma before them. The serene peace and total regretlessness for all that was gone taught them how free man is when he tears the shackles of attachment. True happiness can never be the result of outer circumstances that keep changing in our favor and disfavor like the wind. True happiness rises only from the depths of our inner being through total detachment which is gained by great devotion and in the silence of deep meditation.

To whom all creation reveals itself as the blissful lila of the cosmic beloved, to whom all creatures have lost their individuality in oneness with HIM, what else can he do than enjoy with childlike happiness whatever the Lord brings his way!

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