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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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