Dattatreya
The teaching of yoga to Alarka (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa)
Traditional attribution
The teaching of yoga to Alarka (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa)
मार्कण्डेयपुराण, दत्तात्रेयालर्कसंवाद (Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, cantos 37–43)
King Alarka, son of the wise queen Madālasā, comes to Dattātreya harassed by his brother and by the king of Kāśī. The teacher speaks to him of the soul and, at his request, sets out the method, conditions and signs of yoga, the obstacles and stages up to liberation, the yogin's life, the meaning of the syllable Om, the omens of death and the importance of practice. It is one of the oldest expositions of yoga in the Purāṇas.
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Authorship note
A discourse placed in Dattātreya's mouth within the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, an anonymous work of disputed date.
Editions and translations
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English
Dattatreya
The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa
The Conscious LibraryThe Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa
Asiatic Society (Bibliotheca Indica), Calcuta, 1904
Translation: F. Eden Pargiter
Cantos XXXVII–XLIII; dominio público.
Other works by Dattatreya
- Avadhūta Gītā (Song of the Liberated One) · 950
- Jīvanmukta Gītā (Song of the One Liberated While Living)
- Tripurā Rahasya (The Mystery of Tripurā)
- Dattātreyayogaśāstra (Dattātreya's Treatise on Yoga) · 1200
- Jābāladarśana Upaniṣad (Darśana Upaniṣad)
- Avadhūta Upaniṣad · 1400
- The twenty-four teachers: dialogue of the avadhūta with Yadu (Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.7–9) · 900
- Dattātreya Tantra
Sources
- Pargiter, F. Eden (trad.). The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. Calcuta: Asiatic Society (Bibliotheca Indica), 1888–1904; cantos XVI–XIX (nacimiento de Dattātreya, el lago, Kārtavīrya Arjuna) y XXXVII–XLIII (enseñanza a Alarka).
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