Saraswati Gangadhara next prays to the Trimurtis and to Sri Dattatreya. He prays 'Oh Lord! You are the Primeval Guru. You are the one who incarnated in the Kali age as Sri Narasimha Saraswati to redeem
people from their ignorance and their ills. With full faith, that you alone are going to steer me through this colossal venture, I am setting out upon this task. It is like the child trying to catch the moon by stretching out its hand, but even so, I have complete faith in you, that you will help me through'.Thus Saraswati Gangadhara starts the divine narrative - The Guru Charitra

-

Next, Saraswati Gangadhara invokes the grace of Mother Saraswati, the bestower of all knowledge and wisdom.He prays 'Oh Mother! you are the Mother of all the Vedas.Without grace,man cannot pronounce even a syllable.You are the life-force behind the 'sound' faculty of men.You are the indweller in all the four-fold aspects of sound, viz., Para, Pasyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari-is from the subtlest of the grosses of expressions of sound.I beseech you to bless me and help me in this venture of mine..'

-

Saraswati Gangadhara extols Lord Ganesha as follows: 'You are the remover of all obstacles.You keep your large fan-like ears always waving.The air-waves produced thereby drive away all the obstacles in the path of your devotees. In your stomach rest all the worlds,and that is why you are extolled as Lambodara. Even all the gods have to worship you alone first,before undertaking any of their divine tasks.I pray, you have to bless this venture of mine and help me
through.'

-

Saraswati Gangadhara extols Lord Ganesha as follows: 'You are the remover of all obstacles.You keep your large fan-like ears always waving.The air-waves produced thereby drive away all the obstacles in the path of your devotees. In your stomach rest all the worlds,and that is why you are extolled as Lambodara. Even all the gods have to worship you alone first,before undertaking any of their divine tasks.I pray, you have to bless this venture of mine and help me
through.'

-

Saraswati Gangadhara, the blessed devotee of Dattavatara Sri Narasimha Saraswati, before setting out to write the sacred Guru Charitra (the life story of the Avatar),invokes the grace of Lord Ganesha. Without Lord Ganesha's grace, nothing can be achieved.He is Mangala Murthi, the embodiment of all the
auspicious attributes and the abode of all auspiciousness. He is most easily pleased, responds instantaneously,and bestows his grace ever readily on whosoever calls out to him. He makes the impossible possible. With his grace and help the sage Vyasa could compose the incomparable and
monumental Mahabharata, the ever greatest of the epics.

-

Chapter 1a - Namdharak is blessed with the Vision of Sri Guru Nath
To transcribe into finite language, in the confines of limited vocabulary,the infinite glory and effulgence of Guru Dattatreya, the unified manifestation of the Supreme Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara is an impossible task for any.Even the Vedas failed and beat a retreat faltering an excuse 'Not this.., not this..,etc. But even so, if at least a small and single ray of Supreme effulgence of the Godhead can becaptured, that is enough to redeem the world. And through divine grace,the impossible becomes possible to some or a little extent at least.

-

The original volume of Guru Charitra contains 52 chapters and it is written in the form of conversation between
Naamdharak and his spiritual Guru Shri Siddha Muni, who was a disciple of Shri Narasimha Saraswati.
Several miraculous deeds are associated with these two Gurus - 5 such deeds are relating to Shripada Shri
Vallabh (chapters 5 to 10) and 26 are relating to Shri Narasimha Saraswati, (chapters 11 to 51) besides
many mythological (pouranik) tales have also been narrated in this volume by way of illustration. The
main aim of the book is to extol the greatness of the Spiritual preceptor (Guru) and to dispel the ignorant
notion that He is just another human.

-

Shri Dattatreya had taken birth at the Ashram of Atri and Anasuya in very very old times (Krita Yuga)
and it is believed that his two incarnations namely Shripada Shri Vallabha and Shri Narasimha Saraswati
had taken place in the Deccan in about the 14th and 15th Century(A. D.) respectively. Shri Manikya
Prabhu, Shri Akkalkot Maharaj, Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi and Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati are some of
the great Saints who are considered as the Avatars (incarnations) or Amsas (taking a part of His powers)
of Shri Dattatreya.

-

Shri Dattatreya had taken birth at the Ashram of Atri and Anasuya in very very old times (Krita Yuga)
and it is believed that his two incarnations namely Shripada Shri Vallabha and Shri Narasimha Saraswati
had taken place in the Deccan in about the 14th and 15th Century(A. D.) respectively. Shri Manikya
Prabhu, Shri Akkalkot Maharaj, Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi and Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati are some of
the great Saints who are considered as the Avatars (incarnations) or Amsas (taking a part of His powers)
of Shri Dattatreya.

-

Guru Charitra is regarded as divine, capable of blessing one and all who read it with respect and is placed
with images of Gods and adored in almost all devotees' houses of Maharashtra. It is much respected and
is very popular like Vedas, Ramayan, Mahabharat, Bhagawat and other puranas in sanskrit and
Dnyaneshwari, Dasbodh, Eknathi Bhagwat etc. in Marathi. In the last century, it has spread its influence
far and wide and legion are the experiences got by those devotees who read it regularly with respect.

-