Sage Vyaasa gave everything that he was for the posterity of Sanaatana Dharma

Sage Vyaasa gave everything that he was for the posterity of Sanaatana Dharma

Today is Guru-Vyaas Purnima. It is also called Guru Purnima. This day celebrates the life, works and teachings of the Sage Vyaasa whose original name was Krishnadvipayana, the son of Sage Parashara.  Sage Vyaasa is honored for his immense and indelible contribution to the literature body of Sanatana Dharma. It is often said that without Sage Vyaasa, there would have been no recorded Hindu literature. It is for this reason he is considered a manifestation of the Lord Himself—Maha Vishnu.

Hindu literature and knowledge body referred to as Vedas confirms to the tradition of oral transmission—from teacher to student. It was never written down. In the passage of time, influenced by several factors such as invasions, pursuit of higher economic interests, natural causes influencing migration, et.al, Vyaasji recognized the need to record whatever knowledge was possible to be documented. In this bid, he compiled the Vedas and divided them into four categories—Rig, Saama, Yajur and Arthava.

The versatile sage recorded the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad Geeta which are the bases of the Vedanta School of Philosophy. Sage Vyaas then recorded the various Puraanas preserving Pancha-Lakshana viz., history, cosmology (with various symbolical illustrations of philosophical principles), secondary creation, genealogy of kings and of Manvantaras which the Puraanas contain. The Puranas were written to popularise the religion of the Vedas. They contain the essence of the Vedas.

Amongst the Itihasas (epics) the Mahabharata was documented by the saint. The Sage saw at a particular time the decadence of the epic and ventured recoreded it. It is said that the Mahabharata was so large an epic that whatever Vyaasji could have gathered, the complied it into 100,000 verses. It was this illustrious Vyaasa who listened to the Bhagavad Geeta and scribed it for posterity. Certainly, had it not been for the works of Sage Vyaasa, what would have been the lot of Hindu literature? Indeed, as Hindus we are indebted to the Great Sage. Today as we celebrate his life and works, let us commit to further preserve, spread and imbibe in his eternal works. May the benign sage who gave everything that he was for the posterity of Sanaatana Dharma live on eternally in our hearts.