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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com)

 

Sage who compiled the scripture

 

CHENNAI, OCT. 15. Sanatana Dharma, which is popularly known as

Hinduism, owes its resilience to Sage Veda Vyasa who codified its

primary scripture, the Veda, with the intention of preserving its

entire corpus. In the previous eras many were able to master the

Veda due to their spiritual power. Intuiting that with the

passage of time there will be declension in Dharma, Vyasa divided

the Veda into four - Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana - and

subdivided them further into recensions so that it will be easy

to commit it to memory ensuring that it will be preserved intact.

Vyasa literally refers to the task of composition and also

classification and hence he has come to be popularly known after

the marathon task he completed.

 

Krishna Dvaipanya, as he was named at birth, was the progeny of

Sage Parasara and Satyavati. Also known by the name Badarayana,

Vyasa is revered as a partial manifestation of the Lord and this

is substantiated by the prolific works he has written - the

Mahabharata, 18 Puranas and the Brahmasutra. The Mahabharata is

hailed as the fifth Veda because of its encylcopaedic content.

The topics are intertwined with the lives of the Pandavas and the

Kauravas, the main story line. There is an interesting anecdote

relating to the composition of this epic.

 

When Vyasa had conceived its creation and was looking for a

scribe, Brahma, the creator, appeared before him and bade him to

ask Ganesa. Vinayaka agreed but on the condition that he should

not make Him wait while composing the verses. To outwit Ganesa,

Vyasa told Him that He should understand the meaning of the

verses before writing them down. Vyasa is believed to have

composed very terse verses whenever he was outpaced so that

Vinayaka had to pause and he himself mentions numerous such

difficult verses.

 

In his discourse, Sri Mani Dravida Sastri said the range of

literary genres composed by Vyasa was standing testimony to his

genius and versatility. The Mahabharata, like the other epic

Ramayana, has been very popular down the ages appealing to both

the scholar and the laity. He has elaborated the Vedic teachings

in the Puranas so that they can be perused by all. The

Brahmasutra which is in the form of terse aphorisms is a

philosophical text expounding the abstract truth based on the

Upanishads. In this work Vyasa has dilated on the Vedic passages

which are ambiguous and through logical reasoning shown their

import. The Brahmasutra has been commented upon by the preceptors

of the different Vedanta schools according to their points of

view.

 

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