Upanishads · Avadhūta p1
॥
Devanāgarī
अथ ह सांकृतिर्भगवन्तमवधूतं दत्तात्रेयं परिसमेत्य पप्रच्छ भगवन्कोऽवधूतस्य का स्थितिः किं लक्ष्म किं संसरणमिति । तं होवाच भगवो दत्तात्रेयः परमकारुणिकः
Transliteration (IAST)
atha ha sāṃkṛtirbhagavantamavadhūtaṃ dattātreyaṃ parisametya papraccha bhagavanko'vadhūtasya kā sthitiḥ kiṃ lakṣma kiṃ saṃsaraṇamiti | taṃ hovāca bhagavo dattātreyaḥ paramakāruṇikaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ ह सांकृतिःatha ha sāṃkṛtiḥand now Sāṃkṛti
भगवन्तम् अवधूतं दत्तात्रेयंbhagavantam avadhūtaṃ dattātreyaṃthe venerable avadhūta Dattātreya
परिसमेत्य पप्रच्छparisametya papracchahaving approached, asked
कः अवधूतस्य का स्थितिःkaḥ avadhūtasya kā sthitiḥwho is an avadhūta, what is his condition
किं लक्ष्म किं संसरणम्kiṃ lakṣma kiṃ saṃsaraṇamwhat is his mark, what is his way of moving [through the world]
Translation
And now Sāṃkṛti, having approached the venerable avadhūta Dattātreya, asked: who is an avadhūta? what is his condition? what is his mark? what is his way of moving [through the world]? And the venerable Dattātreya, most merciful, answered him.
Version
4121632b4f1a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The one who asks is the same Sāṃkṛti as in the Akṣi-upaniṣad (Muktika 72), and the one who answers is Dattātreya — and in the collection of a hundred and eight this name is rare and significant. Dattātreya in our traditions is the son of Atri and Anasūyā, revered as an incarnation of all three — Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva; the Bhāgavatam calls him directly an avatāra (1.3.11) and gives his teaching on the twenty-four teachers in the eleventh canto. He also gave knowledge to King Alarka, to Prahlāda, and to Kārtavīrya.
Note that he is called parama-kāruṇika, "most merciful." This epithet deserves noting: not "most wise" and not "most detached," but merciful; that is, one who answers not because he was asked, but because he pities the one asking. The four questions are asked in order, and it is worth dividing them: who (definition), what condition (title), what mark (how to recognize), what way of moving (how he lives). A sensible order, and the book will answer all four.
The Vaiṣṇava reading approaches this book with wariness, and let me say so at once. It ends with words about the knower — "let him act as he pleases" (32p); and these words have more than once served history as a justification for evil. Let us examine the book to the end and speak of its ending in its place.