vyasa

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HARI AUM

 

The piece on Sage Vyasa copied below is by Swami

Sivananda. The simplicity struck me and hence thought

of sharing.

 

Will it a be a good idea if we can post brief details

of the many sages and saints of India, some of whom

may not be so popular but have profoundly contributed

in certain areas .

 

Hope to leave this as a food for thought.( even an

issue of Navaneetham' can be devoted)

 

Regards

 

Balagopal

 

NARAYANA NARAYANA NARAYANA

 

 

 

Maharshi Vyasa

By

 

Sri Swami Sivananda

In ancient days, our forefathers, the Rishis of

Aryavartha, went to the forest to do Tapasya during

the four months following Vyasa Purnima—a particular

and important day in the Hindu calendar. On this

memorable day, Vyasa, an incarnation of the Lord

Himself, began to write his Brahma Sutras. Our ancient

Rishis did this Tapasya in caves and forests. But

times have changed and such facilities are not common

nowadays although Grihasthas and Rajas are not wanting

who are able and willing to place at the disposal of

the members of the fourth Ashrama such help and

facilities as they can afford. The forests and caves

have given place to the rooms of Sadhus in their own

Gurudwaras and Mutts. One has of necessity to suit

himself to time and place; and change of place and

situation should not be allowed to make such a

difference in our mental attitudes. Chaturmas begins

from the Vyasa Purnima Day when, according to our

Shastras, we are expected to worship Vyasa and the

Brahmavidya Gurus and begin the study of the Brahma

Sutras and other ancient books on ‘wisdom’.

 

Our mythology speaks of many Vyasas; and it is said

that there had been twenty-eight Vyasas before the

present Vyasa—Krishna Dvaipayana—took his birth at the

end of Dvapara Yuga. Krishna Dvaipayana was born of

Parasara Rishi through the Matsyakanya—Satyavathi

Devi—under some peculiar and wonderful circumstances.

Parasara was a great Jnani and one of the supreme

authorities on astrology and his book Parasara Hora is

still a textbook on astrology. He has also written a

Smriti known as Parasara Smriti which is held in such

high esteem that it is quoted by our present-day

writers on sociology and ethics. Parasara came to know

that a child, conceived at a particular Ghatika or

moment of time, would be born as the greatest man of

the age, nay, as an Amsa of Lord Vishnu Himself. On

that day, Parasara was travelling in a boat and he

spoke to the boatman about the nearing of that

auspicious time. The boatman had a daughter who was of

age and awaiting marriage. He was impressed with the

sanctity and greatness of the Rishi and offered his

daughter in marriage to Parasara. Our Vyasa was born

of this union and his birth is said to be due to the

blessing of Lord Siva Himself who blessed the union of

a sage with a Jnani of the highest order, although of

a low caste.

 

At a very tender age Vyasa gave out to his parents the

secret of his life that he should go to the forest and

do Akhanda Tapas. His mother at first did not agree,

but later gave permission on one important condition

that he should appear before her whenever she wished

for his presence. This itself shows how far-sighted

the parents and the son were. Puranas say that Vyasa

took initiation at the hands of his twenty-first Guru,

sage Vasudeva. He studied the Shastras under sages

Sanaka and Sanandana and others. He arranged the Vedas

for the good of mankind and wrote the Brahma Sutras

for the quick and easy understanding of the Srutis; he

also wrote the Mahabharata to enable women, Sudras and

other people of lesser intellect to understand the

highest knowledge in the easiest way. Vyasa wrote the

eighteen Puranas and established the system of

teaching them through Upakhyanas or discourses. In

this way, he established the three paths, viz., Karma,

Upasana and Jnana. To him is also attributed the fact

that he continued the line of his mother and that

Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura were his progeny.

Vyasa’s last work was the Bhagavata which he undertook

at the instigation of Devarshi Narada who once came to

him and advised him to write it as, without it, his

goal in life would not be reached.

 

Vyasa is considered by all Hindus as a Chiranjivi, one

who is still living and roaming throughout the world

for the well-being of his devotees. It is said that he

appears to the true and the faithful and that

Jagadguru Sankaracharya had his Darshan in the house

of sage Mandana Misra and that he appeared to many

others as well. Thus, in short, Vyasa lives for the

welfare of the world. Let us pray for his blessings on

us all and on the whole world.

 

Everybody knows that there are six important systems

of thought developed by our ancients known as the Shad

Darshanas or the six orthodox schools of philosophy,

viz., Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Purva Mimamsa

and Uttara Mimamsa or Vedanta. Each system has a

different shade of opinion. Later, these thoughts

became unwieldy, and to regulate them, the Sutras came

into existence. Treatises were written in short

aphorisms, called " Sutras " in Sanskrit, meaning clues

for memory or aids to long discussions on every topic.

In the Padma Purana, the definition of a Sutra is

given. It says that a Sutra should be concise and

unambiguous; but the brevity was carried to such an

extent that the Sutra has become unintelligible and

particularly so in the Brahma Sutras. Today we find

the same Sutra being interpreted in a dozen ways. The

Brahma Sutras written by Vyasa or Badarayana—for that

was the name which he possessed in addition—are also

known as Vedanta Sutras as they deal with Vedanta

only. They are divided into four chapters, each

chapter being subdivided again into four sections. It

is interesting to note that they begin and end with

Sutras which read together mean " the inquiry into the

real nature of Brahman has no return " , meaning that

" going by that way one reaches Immortality and no more

returns to the world " . About the authorship of these

Sutras, tradition attributes it to Vyasa.

Sankaracharya, in his Bhashya, refers to Vyasa as the

author of the Gita and the Mahabharata, and to

Badarayana as the author of the Brahma Sutras. His

followers—Vachaspathi, Anandagiri and others—identify

the two as one and the same person, while Ramanuja and

others attribute the authorship of all three to Vyasa

himself. The oldest commentary on the Brahma Sutras is

by Sankaracharya; he was later followed by Ramanuja,

Vallabha, Nimbarka, Madhva and others who established

their own schools of thought. All the five Acharyas

mostly agree on two points, viz., (i) that Brahman is

the cause of this world and (ii) that knowledge of

Brahman leads to final emancipation. But they differ

amongst themselves on the nature of this Brahman, the

relation between the individual soul and the Supreme

Soul, and the condition of the soul in the state of

release. According to some, Bhakti and not Jnana, as

interpreted by Sankara, is the chief means of

attaining liberation.

 

Vyasa’s life is a unique example of one born for the

dissemination of spiritual knowledge. His writings

inspire us and the whole world even to this day. May

we all live in the spirit of his writings!

 

 

 

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