Once Dattatreya was sitting in meditation when King Yadu passed by and saw this young person sitting unaffected, happy and calm.

King Yadu approached Dattatreya and humbly asked, “ How do you remain unaffected by troubles, happy and calm? Why do you always seem to be floating in bliss (happiness)? What has made this possible?”

 Dattatreya replied, “O King Yadu I have observed the world closely and obtained a little knowledge from a number of gurus (teachers). Listen carefully! I will tell you what I have learnt.”

Here is the lesson that Datta learned from Fire.

Datta said, “I learnt that a person should be brilliant with knowledge like the radiance of Fire. Even though Fire consumes all things indiscriminately it does not become unholy. In the same way a person should be free from others and remain unaffected by what others give him. When he is free from others and unaffected then no matter what he does, he will not commit any sin.

How does fire look to you? Fire has a great luster or brilliance and radiance.

Can you touch fire or keep your hand close to it for long?

What happens when you put any object in fire? The fire consumes or burns all things at once when placed in the fire.

Does the fire become impure or dirty because all sorts of objects are placed in it? No, the fire remains always holy, pure and brilliant.

Fire is used to burn incense and purify the atmosphere. Medicinal herbs are burned during fire worship (homa) to purify the surroundings.

 Fire is used to worship in a subtle form as it purifies the atmosphere. Fire burns away past and future sins of people by accepting both the offerings placed in it by devotees and the mantras chanted during the offerings. 

Lessons learned from Fire further illustrated