Vyasa

Veda Vyasa(Devanagari:व्यास, वेदव्यासveda-vyāsa), or simplyVyasa,is a central and revered figure in mostHindu traditions.He is also sometimes calledKrishna Dvaipāyana(referring to his complexion and birthplace). He is the one who classified theVedasinto four parts). He is the author of theMahabharata,as well as a character in it. He is considered to be the scribe of both the Vedas andPuranas.According to Hindu beliefs, Vyasa is an incarnation ofGod Vishnu.

Vyasa lived around 3000 BCE. The festival ofGuru Purnimais dedicated to him. It is also known as Vyasa Purnima for it is the day believed to be both his birthday and the day he divided the Vedas. Vyasa was grandfather to theKauravasandPandavasof theMahabharataepic which he composed. Their fathers,DhritarashtraandPandu,the sons ofVichitraviryaby the royal family, were fathered by him. He had a third son,Vidura,by a serving maid Parishrami.

Sources

Vyasa:literally one who spreads, also known as Veda Vyasa and Krishnadvaipayana, traditionally recognized as the author) as well as protagonist) of theSanskritMahabharata,thePuranas,andUpansishadsand the compiler of theVedas.

18 chapters of Vyasa'sJayaconstitutes theBhagavad Gita,the sacred text of theHindus.Thus, this work of Vyasa, called Jaya deals with diverse subjects likegeography,history,warfare,religionandmorality.

File:Vyasa with his mother.jpg

Vyasa:Remember me when things are to be done.

• Vyâsa (Sk.).. Lit., one who expands or amplifies; an interpreter, or rather a revealer; for that which he explains, interprets and amplifies is a mystery to the profane. This term was applied in days of old to the highest Gurus in India. There were many Vyâsas in Aryavarta; one was the compiler and arranger of the Vedas; another, the author of the Mahâbhârata—the twenty-eighth Vyâsa or revealer in the order of succession—and the last one of note was the author of Uttara Mîmânsâ, the sixth school or system of Indian philosophy. He was also the founder of the Vedânta system.The Purânas mention only twenty-eight Vyâsas, who at various ages descended to the earth to promulgate Vedic truths.

• Sage Vyasa is known as Veda Vyasa, as he classified and compiled together, the vast body of Vedas ormantrasthen existing. He classified the Vedas in four, namelyRig,Yajur,SamaandAtharvanaand taught them respectively to four great Rishis –Sumantu,Vaisampayana,Jaiminiand Paila.
  • Kamakoti Organization,inVyasa and Vedic Religion

• Sage Vyasa also composed the 18Puranas,which contain the purport of the Vedas and askedSuta,a sage revered for hisknowledgeanddevotion,toteachthem to theworld.
  • Kamakoti Organization,in "Vyasa and Vedic Religion".

• 18 chapters of Vyasa'sJayaconstitutes theBhagavad Gita,the sacred text of theHindus.Thus, this work of Vyasa, called Jaya deals with diverse subjects likegeography,history,warfare,religionandmorality.
  • B. K. Pandey, inEncyclopaedia of Indian philosophers, Volume 2,p. 14.

• Vyasa:literally one who spreads, also known as Veda Vyasa and Krishnadvaipayana, traditionally recognized as the author) as well as protagonist) of theSanskritMahabharata,thePuranas,andUpansishadsand the compiler of theVedas.
  • Kumkum Roy, inHistorical Dictionary of Ancient India,p 471.

• In every third world age (Dvapara),Vishnu,in the person of Vyasa, in order to promote the good ofmankind,divides theVeda,which is properly but one, into many portions. Observing the limitedperseverance,energy,and application ofmortals,he makes the Veda fourfold, to adapt it to their capacities; and the bodily form which he assumes, in order to effect that classification, is known by the name of Veda-vyasa. Of the different Vyasas in the presentManvantaraand the branches which they have taught, you shall have an account. Twenty-eight times have the Vedas been arranged by the greatRishisin theVaivasvataManvantara... and consequently eight and twenty Vyasas have passed away; by whom, in the respective periods, the Veda has been divided into four. The first... distribution was made bySvayambhu(Brahma) himself; in the second, the arranger of the Veda (Vyasa) wasPrajapati... (and so on up to twenty-eight).
  • Vishnu Purana(Book 3, Ch 3), inThe Vishńu Puráńa: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition,p. 219.

Glimpses of Indian Culture

Dinkar Joshi.Glimpses of Indian Culture.

• Veda Vyas did not possess four faces, yet he was likeBrahma.He did not have four hands yet he acted likeVishnu.He did not have third eye and yet he was likeShiva.“I bow to Vishnu embodied in Vyas and Vyas embodied in Vishnu. One who enriched India through his speech, I bow to thee O Veda Vyas, thepoetandcreatorofdestinyand the knower of all.
  • In P.44.

• Shri Krishnasays in theGita,“I am Vyas among Munis [sages].” Veda Vyas is the heart of ourculture,the founder and spokesperson ofVedic dharma.Vyasa was endowed withdivineenergy.He was great yogi, unfathomablescholar,poet par excellence, accomplishedphilosopher,greatpreacher,mightymetaphysicalas well as a reveredsingerandpreacherof Krishna bhakthi. Vyasa was a personification of Vishnu and godincarnate.
  • in P.44.

A Reader's Guide to the Education of the Dharma King

Alf Hiltebeitel.Rethinking the Mahabharata: A Reader's Guide to the Education of the Dharma King.

• Remember me when things are to be done.
  • Vyasa to his mother Satyavati Kali, after he was born and forced his body to mature that very day by will power”, meaning that he would appear before her whenever she thought of him, quoted by Alf Hiltebeitel in P.47.

• Vyasa appears whenSatyavatisummons him to sire sons withAmbikaandAmbalika,widows of theKurukingVichitravirya.
  • In p. 47.

Seer of the Fifth Veda: Kr̥ṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa in the Mahābhārata

Vyasa:He [Dhritarashtra] will be a man with strength of a myriad elephants, a great and royalrsi,of greatfortune,greatpower,and greatintelligence.And 100 powerful sons will be his, but because of his mother’s lack ofvirtue,he shall be bornblind.

Pandu -Because you paled on seeing myugliness,your son shall bepale(pandu), and that will be his name, O, woman with the beautiful face:Vyasa

Bruce M. Sullivan.Seer of the Fifth Veda: Kr̥ṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa in the Mahābhārata.

• In the religious traditions of the Hindus, the most important author of sacred texts is Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. He is traditionally credited with the arrangement of the Veda into four texts as well as the composition of the epic Mahbharata (Mbh), many Puranas, and other works. Vyasa, however, has been described as mythical as his existence is impossible to prove except in myths and legends such as are preserved in the epic.
  • In p. 1.

• Various inscriptions refer to the Mbh (Mahabharata) as the composition of Vyasa, the Veda divider, the son ofParasara,and as containing 100,000 verses...
  • In p. 3.

• Although the MBh is the text having the most information about Vyasa, there are few references to him inSanskrit literaturethat predated the MBh or is atleast contemporaneous with the early phase.
  • In p. 4.

• He will be a man with strength of a myriad elephants, a great and royalrsi,of greatfortune,greatpower,and greatintelligence.And 100 powerful sons will be his, but because of his mother’s lack ofvirtue,he shall be bornblind.
  • Vyasa’s curse to the first widowed wife of his half brother on the son to be born to them. His mother [Satyavati] had asked him to produce heirs to thethronewith the two widows of his half-brother. The first princess closed her eyes as Vyasa was in fearfulasceticcondition when he slept with her. In due timeDhritarshtrawas born blind. Quoted in p. 58.

• Because you paled on seeing myugliness,your son shall bepale(pandu), and that will be his name, O, woman with the beautiful face.
  • Vyasa’s curse to the second widowed wife of his half brother on the son to be born to them. The second widowed princess was frightened at the ugly sight of Vyasa during their union. Thus,Pandu,a pale looking son was born to them. Quoted in P.58.

• Still not satisfied that a qualifiedprincehad been born to thedynasty,Satyavatiprevailed upon her son to try a third time. It was again the turn of the first princess, but she aghast at the prospect of another encounter with Vyasa, sent to him as her substitute, a servant woman. Vyasa and this servant woman both substitutes, conceivedVidura,who became the wise counselor to the Kaurava court, said to be incarnation of the godDharma.
  • In p. 58

Vyasa is depicted as thespiritualpreceptorof fiveBrahminswho learned from him the Vedas and the MBh, and whom he instructed inreligion.He also gave spiritual counsel to members of theBharat family,bothPandavasandKauravas,exercising control over their lives. That he was their spiritual preceptor as well as their concerned elder is particularly evident in the case of Pandavas, in whose lives the major events were supervised by Vyasa.

• Vyasa is depicted as thespiritualpreceptorof fiveBrahminswho learned from him the Vedas and the MBh, and whom he instructed inreligion.He also gave spiritual counsel to members of theBharat family,bothPandavasandKauravas,exercising control over their lives. That he was their spiritual preceptor as well as their concerned elder is particularly evident in the case of Pandavas, in whose lives the major events were supervised by Vyasa.
  • In p. 50.

• The comprehensive picture drawn here of Vyasa in the MBh includes his functions as seer, priest, ascetic, and spiritual preceptor. Of all the epic’s, Vyasa is the one who most closely corresponds to the idea of brahminhood promulgated by thedharma literatureand the MBh’sShanti Parvan- The section of the epic having the greater similarity to the dharma literature.
  • In pp.50-51.

• Vyasa’s words had trasnsformatory power according to legend. A group of people inBengalregard themselves as brahmins, because Vyasa once called them Brahmins; hence they are “Vyasokta” brahmins. The myth of their origin tells how Vyasa once hailed some people on the opposite bank of a river, mistaking them for brahmins in the early morning-mist. In fact, they were fishermen mending their nets rather thanBrahminsdoing their morningworshiprites,but because he had greeted them as Brahmins and his words could not be false, his speech transformed them to Brahmins.
  • Prof Ralph Nicholos, in p. 50.

• Vyasa’s activities in theMBhcover the full range of activities traditionally deemed appropriate for a brahmin. Unquestionably Vyasa is the epic’s foremost expert on theVedaand the ritual activity enjoined by the Veda. Having rearranged the one Veda into four texts, Vyasa taught those to his five pupils along with MBh as the fifth Veda.
  • In p,51.

• Because a long stay in the same place does not add to one’s ownhappinessand might disturb the sereneascetics;thedeerare eaten up and theplantsandherbsdepleted.
  • Vyasa's advise to thePandavas,his grandsons who were staying in the forest. Quoted in p. 49.

• It has been said bySanatkumaraand the great-spirited Vyasa, and it is enjoined in the Veda, O, King that one should go to Pratudaka onpilgrimage.
  • w:PulastyaPulastyain p. 49.

Hindu Culture, An Introduction

I am ready, but only on one condition. Once I start writing, you should not stop dictating to me:Ganeshato Vyasa

On the writing of MahabharataError on call toTemplate:cite web:Parametersurlandtitlemust be specifiedSwami Tejomayananada..

• Vyasa wrote the first 40,000versesand this book was namedJaya.Afterwards other writers added more stories and it became known asBharata.Later still more additions were made until the composition became theMahabharataas we know it today....We believe that Veds Vyasa was one person and that he alone composed the entire Mahabharata consisting of 100,000 verses, it is theworld’s largestepicin existence today and anencyclopediaofknowledge.
  • Swami Tejomayananada, in p. 139.

• It is said that when Veda Vyasa conceived theMahabharatain hismindhe knew that it would be a very large work and that he would need astenographerto take dictation....Lord Brahmaappeared and told him to invokeLord Ganesha,the god of knowledge, who would assist Vyasa in his work.
  • Swami Tejomayananada, in p. 139.

• I am ready, but only on one condition. Once I start writing, you should not stop dictating to me.
  • Ganeshato Vyasa on the latter’s request to him to write down his narration of Mahabharata. Quoted in p. 139.

• All right, I also have a condition:that you should not write down anything without grasping the full significance of what I say.
  • Vyasa's condition agreeing to the terms set by Ganesha. Quoted in p. 139.

• What is the meaning of this?
  • Ganeshaasked Vyasa when a difficult verse was narrated which he could not easily understand. This gave time to Vyasa to think and to compose his next verses. Quoted in p. 139.

The Yoga Darsana Of Patanjali With The Sankhya Pravacana Commentary Of Vyasa

In all living beings exists the self-benediction,‘would that I were never to cease. May I live on’. And this self-benediction cannot exist in him who has notexperiencedthe nature ofdeath.And by this experience of a formerlifeis inferred. This is theafflictionof Love of Life, which flows by its ownpotency:Vyasa

Vyasa’s commentary on Patanjali’s yoga sutraThe Yoga Darsana Of Patanjali With The Sankhya Pravacana Commentary Of Vyasa....

• Thedesireto possess, the thirst for and the hankering afterpleasureor the means thereof, preceded by aremembranceof the pleasure in one has who hasenjoyedit, is attachment.
  • In p. 103.

• The repulsion, theanxiety,the wish for removal and theangeratpainand the means thereof, which stick in themindin consequence of feeling of pain, in the case of him who has felt the pain, preceded by a remembrance of the pain, isaversion.
  • In p. 104.

• In all living beings exists the self-benediction, ‘would that I were never to cease. May I live on’. And this self-benediction cannot exist in him who has notexperiencedthe nature ofdeath.And by this experience of a formerlifeis inferred. This is theafflictionof Love of Life, which flows by its ownpotency.
  • In pp. 104-105.

• The vehicle of actions begin to ripen into fruit when theafflictionsexist; not when the afflictions have been rooted out. As the rice in the paddy has the power to grow only so long as the chaff remains attached thereto and their seed power is not burnt up, not when the chaff has been removed, so also does the vehicle of actions grow into ripeness, when the afflictions are attached to it, and when is seed-power not has not been burnt up byintellection;not when the afflictions have been removed.
  • In p. 110.

• The pain which has passed away has been spent up byexperience.It cannot, therefore, fall within the sphere of avoidable. And that which ispresent,is being experienced at the time of itsexistence;it cannot, therefore, be considered as the avoidable with reference to thefuturemovement of time. Hence that pain alone which has not yet been experienced, troubles theYogiwho issensitiveas the eye-ball; it does not trouble any other knower. Hence that alone is avoidable pain.
  • In p. 124.

• The knower is thePurusa(theconscious principle (Kshetrajna)) who cognizes the reflection from the Will-to-know byconjunction.The knowable consists of all the characteristics present in the essence of the Will-to know. This, then the knowable behaves like amagnet.It is useful only when placed here. On account of its capacity of knowability, it becomes the possession of the lord, the Purusa, who is of the nature of power of knowing. It becomes the object of the act ofenjoyment,in as much as although by natureindependent,it becomes dependent on another, existing as it does for fulfilling the object of that other....The conjunction therewith is the cause, by giving that up is secured the completeremedyof pain, in as much as that is found to be the cause of removal the real thing, the cause ofpain.
  • in p. 125.

• The knowable is of the nature of etc. The quality of essentiality (Sattva) is of the nature of illumination.Energy(Rajas) is of the nature of activity.Inertiais of the nature of inactivity. These ‘qualities’ are capable of being coloured more or less by proximity to one another. They are ever evolving. They have the characteristics of conjunction and separation. Theymanifestsupport by each lending support to the other by proximity...
  • In p. 129.

• Conjunctionis that which brings about the recognition of the natures of the power of owning and the capacity of being owned. The Purusa is the owner. The knowable’ is whatever is owned. The former is conjoined to the latter for the purpose of knowing. Thecognitionof the knowable which follows from that conjunction isenjoyment.The knowledge, however, of the nature of knower is emancipation. Conjunction therefore ends when it has caused knowledge. Knowledge, is therefore, called the cause of separation. Knowledge is the contradictory of ignorance. Therefore, ignorance is, therefore, is said to be the reason for conjunction. Her knowledge is not the cause of freedom (Moksa); because the absence of Ignorance itself, meaning as does the absence of bondage, is freedom (Moksa)…
  • In p. 144.

• Painis removed on the removal of the cause of pain. In the removal of pain consists the establishment of thePurusain its ownnature.What then is the means of attaining the state of this removal of pain? Discriminativeknowledgeundisturbed is the means of removal.
  • In p. 151

Indian Adept (siddha) -The gods, theRishisand theSiddhasbecome visible to him who is given to study, and they do take part in his work.

• Cleanliness,Contentment,Purificatory Action, Study and the making ofIshvara,themotiveof all actions, are observances.
  Of these Cleanliness is external when brought about by earth and water etc., and consists in the eating of pure things, etc. It is internal when it consists in the washing away of impurities of themind.
  Contentment is the absence of desire to secure more of the necessities of life than one already processes.
  Contentment is the absence ofdesireto secure more of the necessities of life than one already possesses…
  • In p. 163.

• ...causing of injuries to others is of three descriptions, that which is done and that which is permitted to be done. Each again is three-fold. Prompted bydesireof gain, as in the case of one who desires to obtain flesh and skin; prompted byangeras in the case of a man who has received someinjury;done thoughignoranceof the realnatureof anact,under the impression that the act proposed is avirtue.
  • In p. 166.

• The gods, theRishisand theSiddhasbecome visible to him who is given to study, and they do take part in his work.
  • in p, 173.

• The faculty oftrance(Samadhi) becomes perfect in him who dedicates all his powers toIshvara.By this he knows all that he desires to know, just as it is in reality, in another place, in another body or at anothertime.Then hisintellectknows everything as it is.
  • in p. 173.

Veda Vyasa Maharshi

• I recognize You as the supreme imperishable being, the Ultimate Truth to be known by the scriptures. You are the support of all creation; You are the eternal protector of Sanātan Dharma (the Eternal Religion); and You are the everlasting Supreme Divine Personality.
• You are without beginning, middle, or end; Your power has no limits. Your arms are infinite; the sun and the moon are like Your eyes, and fire is like Your mouth. I see you warming the entire creation by Your radiance.
  • Bhagavad Gita11.19-20
• The Supreme Lord said: I am mightyTime,the source of destruction that comes forth to annihilate the worlds. Even without your participation, the warriors arrayed in the opposing army shall cease to exist.
• Therefore, arise and conquer your foes... These warriors stand already slain by Me, and you will only be an instrument of My work, O expert archer.
  • Bhagavad Gita11.32-33
• Those who perform all their duties for My sake, who depend upon Me and are devoted to Me, who are free from attachment, and are withoutmalicetoward all beings, such devotees certainly come to Me.
  • Bhagavad Gita11.55

Vyasa Purnima

• Guru Purnimmais also called Vyasa Purnimna. On this day Bhagavan Veda Vyasa was born to sageParasharaand a fisherwoman. On this day Bhagavan Vedavyasa is said to have commenced the great workBrahma Sutra.Hence this day is also dedicated to the study of Brahma Sutra. He represents the entireGuruParamparaand he is worshipped very well.
  • Anonymous, inAwakening Indians to India,p. 167.

Gita II, 51,52, & 53

• Passionless is the consciousness of being Master on the part of one who has rid himself of thirst for either seen or revealed objects.
• The mind stuff (chitta) -- if it be rid of thirst for objects that are seen, such as women, or food or drink or power, if it be rid of thirst for the object revealed (in the vedas) such as the attainment of Heaven or the discarnate state or of resolution into primary matter -- if even when in contact with objects either supernormal or not it be, by virtue of elevation, aware of the inadequateness of objects - will have a consciousness of being Master...
  • Translation by J.H. Woods of the comment by Veda Vyasa, as quoted in:The Light of the Soul... a paraphrase of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjaliwith commentary,byAlice A. Bailey,(commentary on Book I, Sutra 15), p. 29 (1927)

See also

• Ageless Wisdom teachings
• Krishna