Vyasa

Srimad Bhagavad-gita emphasizes that the Lord Almighty incarnates in this world for the establishment of Dharma as and when necessary.  Dharma can be established in many ways, namely, protecting the pious, destroying the wicked, removing ignorance, and establishing knowledge.  Among such incarnations, in the dvaparayuga, Lord Vishnu was born as Vedavyasa in order to remove ignorance and establish knowledge on a firm basis.  Out of the three basic energies (desire, action and knowledge) this avatara of Vishnu represents jnanasakti.

Born of Maharshi Parasara and Satyavatidevi, Vyasa is known by several names.  We may refer to him as Vedavyasa, or merely Vyasa because he codified the Vedas into four sections, viz. Rig, Yajus, Sama and Atharva, and taught them to his four disciples, Pila, Vaisampayana, Jaimini and Sumantu respectively for the benefit of posterity.  He is also known as Dvaipayana, because he was born in an island; Krishna as he was dark in colour, and more familiarly as Krishna-dvaipayana, combining both the names.  As he performed tapas under a badara tree, he is referred to as Badarayana.

                       “Cogent presentation of truths spread out in different Sastras, directing the disciple to follow the tenets of our Dharma, and practising them himself rigidly, are said to be the chief characteristic of an ideal guru.”

Sri Vyasa was a shining example of these qualities.  Books written by him are so many and voluminous, and unsurpassed in depth of thought and elegance of expression, so much so that we are sometimes led to wonder whether one person could have found the time to write such a large variety of literature, and that perhaps several persons wrote these Volumes and passed them under the name of Vyasa.  But there is no reason to doubt their authenticity, as both internal and external evidences go to prove that they were all the products of one mighty intellect. 

The Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Yoga and Sankhya systems of philosophy try to arrive at the ultimate truth by means of reasoning only.  Purvamimamsa, although based on the authority of the Vedas, is unable to express the true import of the Upanishads, which form the final expression of the Vedas.  To this extent, all these systems of philosophy are defective in arriving at the Atmatattva, the truth that is the Atman.  To a careful student, it will be apparent that it is not possible to understand the ultimate truth that is Atman purely by intellectual arguments.  At the same time, it has to be stated that the Upanishads are not in any way contrary to reasoning.  To understand the Upanishadic thought, although human intelligence can be useful to a certain extent, we can never arrive at the ultimate truth through reasoning alone.

The following passage from the Mahabharata, namely, tarko’pratishthah srutayah vibhinnah, (Vana parva, 314-119) also confirms this view of the Brahma-sutra.  If we examine the Vyasa-sutra we shall come to the conclusion that Advaita alone is their true import.  We shall now explain a few sutras here:
                        “The state of liberation, according to Advaita philosophy, is the attainment of the one’s own disembodied nature of eternal bliss and knowledge—the removal of nescience.  According to others, it is settling in a superior world with body, mind, and other senses.  In the Vyasa-sutra, “sampadyavirbhavah svena sabdat”  (4-4-1), the words “svena” and “avirbhava” clearly declare that the liberation is the manifestation of one’s own self.  The same conclusion is arrived at in the succeeding sutras also, viz.

Therefore, it follows that to expound the Vedas, a study of the Itihasa and Puranas is necessary.  It is thus to the credit of Sri Vyasa that he wrote these puranas and the magnum opus, the Mahabharatha.
                        (1) Creation,  (2) Dissolution,  (3) Manvantara,  (4) the Genealogy of the Surya and Chandravamsa, and (5) the story of the descendants of these Vamsas—these five are elaborately dealt with in the Puranas only with a view to explain clearly and in easy language the profound and ultimate truth of Atman and Brahman.  It is, therefore, that in all these Puranas, under some pretext or other, compact and terse philosophic chapters are added, like precious gems n a jewel-box.  For example,
                        * Brahma-gita in the Yajnavaibhavakanda of the Sutasamhita in the Skanda Purana.
                        * Jadopakhyana, comprising the 36th to 44th chapters of the Markandeyapuranam.
                        * Isvaragita in the uttara-kanda of Kurmapuranam.
                        * Srutigita, Uddhavagita, and other portions in Bhagavata.
                        * Bhagavadgita, Sanatsujatiyam and Moksadharmaprakaranam of Santi parva in the Mahabharata, etc.

(1) Brahman, (2) Padmam, (3) Vaishnavam, (4) Saivam,(5) Bhagavatam, (6) Bhavishyam, (7) Naradiyam, (8) Markandeyam, (9) Agneyam, (10) Brahmavaivartam, (11) Lingam, (12) Varaham, (13) Skandam, (14) Vamanam (15) Kaurmam, (16) Matsyam, (17) Garudam, (18) Vayaviyam.

It is thus obvious that without the oil of Mahabharata the lamp of our knowledge will cease to burn.
                        “Even if one is learned in all the four Vedas and their auxiliary disciplines, one will not be considered a scholar if he has not mastered the Mahabharata.
yo vidyat caturo vedan
   sangopanishado dvijah
na chakyanamidam vidyat
naiva sa syat vichakshanah.
                        As is Vishnu among the gods, Brahmins among two-legged animals, chudamani among jewels, vajrayudham among weapons, mind among senses, even so is Mahabharata among Sastras.
tridasanam yatha vishnuh
dvipadam brahmano yatha
bhushananam ca sarvesham
yatha chudamanirvarah
yathayudhanam kulisam
indriyanam yatha manah
tateha sarvasastranam
mahabharatamuttamam (Markandeya-Puranam, 1.4 & 5).
                        A Dharma-sastra by name Vyasasmriti and Vyasasiksha explaining the lakshana of the Vedas are also to be found in the name of Sri Vyasa.
                        Thus Sri Vedavyasa has written many books to expound the sacred truths contained in the Vedas and the Upanishads.
                        We have not seen Sri Vyasa face to face.  But we are very lucky no in having in our midst the great scholar-saint, Sri Kamakoti-pithadhipati Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Pujyapadah at whose feet I dedicate this humble essay of mine.