Sri matre namaha,

What is the meaning of Balapisacha in dattatreya mantra?

Kindly advise.

Regards

Thanks a Lot!

Jaya Guru Datta Sree Matre Namaha

Harsh27593

This mantra comes from the Dattātreya Upaniṣad.

The following is the description about this mantra from the book called: Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara. A Study of the Transformative and Inclusive Character of a Multi-faceted Hindu Deity.

Dattātreya's meaningful mantra in the anuṣṭubh meter, of which all portions are in the vocative, closes the first part of the Upaniṣad:

Oh Dattātreya [who are] Hari, Kṛṣṇa and the crazy bliss-bestower! Oh you [who are] the naked ascetic, the hermit [having made the vow of silence], the child, the demon, the ocean of knowledge!

This is perhaps the most popular and well known of all Dattātreya mantras. No Śākta element is recognizable in it. It certainly developed out of a sectarian ascetic milieu, possibly linked to that which produced the Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads. Three features of Dattātreya in this mantra need to be noted:

1. his Vaiṣṇava identity, since Dattātreya is none other than Hari and Kṛṣṇa (and Nārāyaṇa; see the very beginning of the Dattātreya Upaniṣad);
2. his characterization as an antinomian ascetic (unmatta, bāla, piśāca) of the highest class (digambara, muni);
3. his celebration as supreme jñānin (jñānasāgara). Although these features are found in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa account, as well as separately in other Purāṇic accounts, it is only in the Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads that the second feature is especially encountered: the naked ascetic, Paramahaṃsa or Avadhūta, is there described with precisely the same terms bāla, unmatta, and piśāca (bāla-unmatta-piśācavad).

The first feature is clearly derived from Dattātreya's overall Purāṇic characterization as an Avatāra of Viṣṇu, while the third feature is a constant of Dattātreya throughout the literature. It may be concluded that this most popular anuṣtubh mantra of Dattātreya brings together the deity's three fundamental natures: that of a Guru or teacher of liberating knowledge, that of a supreme ascetic or Yogin, and that of an Avatāra of Viṣṇu.