My Contact wtih the Spiritual tradition of Lord Dattatreya was quite fortuitous, a discovery by chance. When I was collecting material for the comprehensive account of Sai Baba of Shirdi, I came across the experience of one Kusa Bhav. 

     Kusa Bhav served his Guru, Sri Datta Maharaj and learnt occult skills like mysterious transference of material objects. He could produce sweetmeats form "nowhere" by a wave of his hand with the power of the mantra and distribute the same to the amazed devotees as prasad. At one stage, he started pestering his guru to teach him black magic with which he could harm his opponents who derided him as a charlantan. The wise guru realized that it was not good for either of them to stay together any longer. He directed his disciple to seek spiritual guidance henceforth from Sai Baba of Shirdi and himself retired to the Himalayas to pursue his own spiritual quest for perfection. 

                                                        - Acharya Ekkirala Bharadwaja