Was Lord Dattaatreya married or was He a bachelor?

[Shri PGK Murthy asked: Sir, when I was reading the Anuśāsana Parvam of the Mahabharatam, I came across a statement that Nimi and Śrīmat were the son and grandson of Lord Dattātreya (Datta), respectively. Could You kindly shed some light on this, as I am of the view that Lord Dattātreya had no family. Regards, PGK Murthy.]

Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Firstly, you should remember that several people can have the same name in a single generation itself. But in the specific case of Lord Datta, He married Goddess Anaghā and had eight sons. When God comes down in human form, He follows the natural path of humanity, so that He can freely mix with human beings, which is necessary for clarifying all their spiritual doubts. If He leads a totally distinguished life, freely mixing with humanity becomes difficult. Generally, the Human Incarnation does not act as God, but only as a special devotee of God. This greatly reduces the difference between the levels of the Human Incarnation and the human devotees and encourages human devotees to freely mix with the Incarnation and seek the clarification of their doubts. If the vast difference that exists between the Incarnation and human devotees is revealed, it creates a lot of excitement in the human devotees. This excitement prevents the devotees from approaching the Human Incarnation in a free and natural manner. They will also not be able to live with Him. But many devotees have prayed to God to come down to their level. An Incarnation is called an Avatāra, which means coming down to the lower human level, so that devotees can freely get all their doubts clarified and serve Him in a natural manner. God follows the ways of ordinary human life to create this normal and natural atmosphere.

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| Shri Datta Swami | Was Lord Dattaatreya married or was He a bachelor? | Anushasana Parvam Sriimat Dattatreya Sreemanthu Avataara