Thus Spake the Divine - Founding Soul of Our Dharma

Thus Spake the Divine

Founding Soul of Our Dharma

In this chapter, Poojyasri Maha Periyava brings out the eminence of Veda Vyasa, who split the primordial Veda into four parts. He then handed over these parts to His most competent disciples.

Periyava says Veda Vyasa is thus the founding stone of our Hindu Religion. A s you know, when Krishna Avatara came to an end, Kali Yuga started. Immense darkness of Adharma (injustice) spread through the Kali Yuga. A Great Soul, an epitome of compassion, arrived and expressed an ardent wish that in this darkness of Adharma, the light of Veda should continue to glow at least in some manner. Thus, He commenced His mission of preserving Vedas. He knew that the people of Kali Yuga were not capable of reciting Vedas in their complete form. However, peace and prosperity for living beings could still come if there were sounds of Vedas in this Universe.

Keeping this and incapacity of Kali Yuga people in mind, He classified the Primordial Single Veda into four parts. He chose four of His worthy disciples and disseminated to each one Veda. He then told them to impart the four Vedas to others and also preserve them through their respective lineage of disciples. He passed on Rig Veda to Pailar, Yajur Veda to Vaisambayanar, Sama Veda to Jaimini and Atharvana Veda to Sumanthu. Thus, the Veda, which is boundless, got divided into four segments for easy understanding and comprehension of people of Kali Yuga, who could now practise Vedas within their life time.

Veda Vyasa, the epitome of Veda, is that Great Soul, who divided the Veda into four with the objective of preserving it during the Kali Yuga. Vyasa in Sanskrit means “to split” or “to compile”. Veda Vyasa is also known by other names, such as Badarayanar, Dvaiyapanar and Krishna Dvaiyapanar (He was called Krishna as He was dark, but to differentiate from Lord Krishna, He was called as Krishna Dvaiyapanar).

In fact, Vyasa and Krishna are not different. Veda Vyasa is the avatara of Maha Vishnu. Once, in the masquerade of an old Brahmin, Veda Vyasa entered into a debate with Adi Shankara Bhagavadpada with a view to explore the latter’s proficiency. When they were debating aggressively, Padmapada, the disciple of Acharya, could identify both these Avataras through his wisdom eye. To Padmapada, the real identities of the two were visible, which he brings out in his Shloka to mean “Acharya is the incarnation of Parameshvara and Vyasa that of Narayan”. Lord Krishna himself in Gita has said, “Among the pontiffs, I am Vyasa”. Vishnu Sahasranamam highlights the oneness of Vyasa and Vishnu in the verse as “Vyasaya Vishnu Roopaya, Vyasa Roopaya Vishnave”. Here, let us see the hereditary Guru Parampara. After God Dakshinamurti, the epitome of Wisdom who is a silent Cosmic Guru, Narayan is the first Guru of the Advaita Vedanta. Then comes his son Brahma followed by His son Vasishta. Vasishta’s son is Parasarar (who composed the Vishnu Purana). Parasarar’s son is Vyasa.

Shuka was the son of the sage Vyasa and the main narrator of Bhagavata Purana. Shuka is a staunch ascetic sage who renounced the world in pursuit of Moksha and practiced absolute celibacy. Thus, he has no heir. Does it mean that the Guru Parampara came to an end with Shuka? No! Then it turned out to be the Guru- Sishya Parampara. Shuka’s disciple was Kaudapatha, who was followed by his disciple Govind Bhagavadpada. Our Shankara Bhagavadpada is the disciple of Govind Bhagavadpada. The four disciples of Shankara Bhagavadpada were Padmapada, Hasthamalakar, Thodakar and Sureshwar. After that, all the Acharyas of Shankara Peetha are our Gurus. All of us should recite the following shloka, which depicts the Guru Parampara.

om narayanam padmabhuvam vasishtam,

shaktim, cha tat putra parasharam ca,

vyasam shukam gaudapadam mahantam,

govinda yogeendra mathasya shishyam.

sri shankaracharyamathasya padmapadam ca,

hastamalakam ca shishyam.

tam totakam varttikakaramanyan,

asmad guroon santatammanatosmi.

In the above verse, ‘Padmabhuvam’ refers to Brahma and ‘Varttikakara’ refers to Sureshwara. All other names are directly mentioned.

Thus, Vyasa is an important person in the Guru Parampara. He is just not the aspect of Vishnu. He is the incarnation of all the three Gods viz. Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. That is why this Shloka recites as “Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnuhu, Guru Devo Maheshvaraha”.

Vyasa did not stop with classifying the Veda. Knowing the complexity of Veda, he wanted the essence of Veda to reach all ordinary people. Therefore, he wrote 18 Puranas in which he highlighted the essence of Veda viz. Ahimsa, Satyam, Dharma etc.

He brought out this essence in the form of stories, so that ordinary people could understand the crux of Dharma and practice the same in their own lives. Vyasa also wrote the Mahabharata, which is considered the fifth Veda, to enable common people to understand the highest knowledge in the easiest way.

Sri Vyasa has also composed the Brahma Sutra. Brahma Sutra envisages the philosophy of Brahmam, the absolute Truth in the shortest form. Shuka, His own son became his disciple for Brahma Sutra.

I told you about the four disciples who disseminated four Vedas. It was Suthar who was initiated by Vyasa and propagated Puranas and Mahabharata. Suthar, highly pious and intelligent was born in chariot rider caste.

Shankara (Advaita), Ramanuja (Visishtadvaita), Madhvacharya (Dvaita), Sri Kandacharya (Shaivaite) and Valabhacharya (Krishna Bhakti Marga) have all written Bashyam for the Brahma Sutra, keeping their respective philosophies as the underlying base. Brahma Sutra has exclusive reverence in the world of scholars.

We, who claim ourselves as Hindus, fall under one of the above philosophies. This does not mean that we are divided. Just because the branches of a tree are spread in different directions, does it mean that they are all different? Both the stem and the root are the base for all branches. Similarly, it is Veda Vyasa, who forms the root for all the philosophies under Hindu Religion.

It is always common that where there are different concepts and different opinions, people will have a tendency to analyse and compare them. However, we owe a lot to Veda Vyasa for being the pinnacle for the Hindu Religion with his scholarly efforts. My ardent desire is that at least once in a year, we should celebrate the accomplishments of Veda Vyasa by way of assembling together and conducting debates and discussions on the works of Vyasa. Hindu Religion would not have existed had Veda Vyasa been not there. He is the founding stone for our Hindu Religion. Vyasa’s last work was the Bhagavatam, which he undertook on instigation by Devarishi Narada, the celestial sage. Narada once came to Vyasa and advised him to write Bhagavatam, without which, his goal in life could not be reached.

Vyasa is considered by Hindus as Chiranjivi or immortal, one who is still living and walking on the earth for the well-being of his devotees. It is said that he appears to the true and the faithful and that Sri Bhagavadpada had his darshan, as did many others. Vyasa’s life is a unique example of one born for dissemination of spiritual knowledge. His writings inspire us and the whole world even to this day in innumerable ways.

During Avani Avittam day (Changing of Sacred Thread every year), both the married and unmarried men in the Brahmin community, while wearing the new sacred thread, salute Veda Vyasa at the outset. The other caste people offer their salutations to Vyasa by way of pooja, Tarpanam and homam. Sanyasis are those, who disown the sacred thread. They instead offer their gratitude to Veda Vyasa by way of Vyasa Pooja when taking up the Chathur Masya Fasting.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.