Sripaada SriVallabh Swami was born in a pious Brahmin family in a village named Pithapur, East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh, India to a couple Appala Raju Sharma and Sumati, they were devotees of Lord Dattatreya. They never failed in following customs and traditions of Lord Dattatreya. They had two sons, one was lame and the other was blind. They often offer food to poor and wandering sages. One day, they were performing the annual ceremony in their house and many brahmins were invited as guests for the cermony. As per the tradition no one touch the food on that day before these guests consumes it. At the same time Lord Dattatreya in disguise appeared infront of their house in the form of a sadhu (saint), bearing the Kamandalam and asked for food. Sumati, with immense faith that the saint was none other than the Lord to whom the whole annual ceremony was being offered, gave Him food even before the guests were fed.
Her devotion touched the Lord’s heart and at once granted a vision of His true form, which had three heads, dressed in a tiger’s skin and his body besmeared with vibhuti (sacred ash). The blessed housewife immersed in the divine glory of the Lord and felt that the highest achievement of her birth was fulfilled. The Lord said, “Mother, I am pleased with your devotion. Even before you fed the guests, you have given me food, you can ask your wish and I made it become true one day. Then, she said, “Lord! you addressed me as ‘Mother’, so please let your word be turned into truth ”. Lord granted her wish upon one condition that when the couple make arrangements for his marriage, he surely left the home because that was not His purpose of incarnation and acquire sanyas for the advancement of the mankind, by saying this he disappeared. Sumati told her husband about the incident with happiness, and in the mean time Lord manifested Him with divine radiance as a baby boy to the couple, they named the boy as “Sripaad”. This was the first incarnation of the Lord Dattatreya in Kali Yug.
As the days and months passed by at the age of eight according to tradition the boy rendered with sacred Upanayanam (thread cermony). After that very next moment the boy started recitation of vedic hymns, everybody including His parents at the cermony astonished with this Divine miracle.
At the age of sixteen when his parents were searching for appropriate bride, he told his opinion to left the home and take hold of sanyasashram. He reminisce all to his parents which He told to his mother long back at the time of cermony and to bring back His mother from sarrow, He sanctified his both elder brothers with perfect health and blessed His parents with three daughters, and left home. This incident scattered the veil of illusion to his parents that he was not their son but Lord descended for the betterment of whole universe.
Later on, he travelled many holy places like Varanasi, Brindhavan, Mathura reached Badrinath, there he blessed many elevated souls, at Urvasi Kund he took bath and gave salvation to great devoted soul Sri Sarveshwarananda Swami. From there he went to Nepal meet up Hanuman ji (who is succeeding Bramha) and praised him a lot for his recitation of sacred syllable “Ram” countless times, which, Chitragupta was not able to count the number. And asked him to take birth in Bharadwaja gotram in this earth after some time by name Sai. Then Hanumanji asked Lord to give him his “Sayujya Stiti” means with complete super powers same as him. Then Lord ask Kalapurusha to transform Hanumanji’s bodily atoms equivalent to him. Hanumanji wishes, virtuousness of Sanata Dharma should mingle with the goodness in Islam and took the incarnation as ”Samartha Sadguru” a combination of both the beliefs. Then he obeisance before Lord and uttered Allah Malik means God is Ultimate.
After that Lord Sripaada went to pious Gokarna Kshetram in order to bless the spiritual seekers. Lord lived there for three years in Gokarna, uplifted general people spiritually there, after that he moved on to Kurvapur and settled down there.
As days passed by, He had a lot of disciples there whom he was safegaurding their life cycle. Miraculously, one day Lord rescued a Bramhin boy who came there to commit suicide, his mother rushed there to save him. Lord enquired them the reason for the suicide then his mother said, as the boy was not clever by birth unable to recite even a single verse of sacred hymns, people started humiliating him, with that anguish he ran out from home to commit suicide, Oh! Lord, please help us. For that Lord with great compassion consoled them blessed that boy with divine knowledge and told his mother to devout rest of her whole life in the worship of Lord Shiva, for that devoution she could became mother to a knowledgeable son like him in her next life. Here, we all have to remember one thing that there is no other human being in this universe who is equivalent to him, means He himself reincarnate again in next life as a son to that woman.
One day Lord decided to conceal physically this incarnation in Krishna river and spiritually He is always there for devotees, they always feel His presence and grace. His divine soul is ever visible. The Lord is eternal. As He is the source of the whole universe, His activities are infinite.