Sage son of Atri and Anasuya. (Glossary for the Vahinis)
Dattatreya, an incarnation of the Trinity. (DV, p. 120)
Sathya Sai as Sri Dattatreya
On the Shivaratri day in 1978, Sai Baba was traveling by car from Ooty to Bangalore. Several devotees and students were accompanying Him in cars. Smt. Ratanlal Bhatia, who cooked Baba s meals every day in Bangalore, was also among them. Sri Sathya Sai stopped the caravan at some place and got down from His car. All of them sat down to rest and relax and Baba began to speak to the gathering about some spiritual matters. He addressed a student, who He knew was still harbouring doubts and misgivings about Baba, ‘You are holding a Polaroid camera. Take My photograph and you will see My true identity.’
(Sathya Sai as Dattatreya - materialised by Swami)
Baba stood at a particular spot. The student took his position with the camera and was about to take a snap. Suddenly, Smt. Bhatia rushed forward and tried to straighten the creases on Baba s garment. Swami sternly ordered her to go away. As He spoke somewhat curtly and loudly, the poor lady was frightened, turned back and stood at a distance. The student clicked his camera. In a few moments, the Polaroid picture developed in sharp colours; it was of the divine composite form of Lord Dattatreya - with three heads: Lord Brahma, Lord Maha Vishnu and Lord Maheshvara. The photo also showed four dogs and a cow standing by the side of the Lord. When the picture was shown to Swami, he told Smt. Bhatia, ‘Do you now realize why I firmly ordered you to go away at the moment this photograph was being taken? Extremely powerful radiations were emanating from Me at that time. You would not have been able to withstand their impact.’ Sathya Sai is the Supreme Being, the primordial source of the cycles of creation (srishti), maintenance (sthithi) and ultimate annihilation (layam). This truth has been demonstrated by Sathya Sai through this incident when He revealed Himself to be the transcendental divinity combining within Himself Lord Brahma, Maha Vishnu and Lord Maheshvara - the great trinity. (Tapovanam, p. 69)