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Rishi Veda Vyasa is a Hindu
figure of yore, a divine guru, a luminary of spirituality whose status in Hinduism is equal to that of the gods and goddesses. Appearingly anachronisitically in
numerous texts from the Classic to early Modern period of Hinduism, he plays an important role in not only the literature but the
belief of many Hindus. His name means "splitter," as in "Veda Vyasa," or "Splitter of the Vedas," a feat that, according to
Hindus, allowed mere mortals to comprehend the grandeur of divine knowledge. He is also purported to have written the Mahabharata.
He is also known as Krishna Dvaipayana (the dark one born on an island) and in modern Indian languages is known as Rishi Veda Vyaas or, more simply,
Vyaas.
Vyasa: a 'history'
By most accounts of yore, Vyasa was the grandfather of both the warring parties of the Mahabharata, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. He is also the narrator of the story and is said to have asked Lord Ganesh to aid him in writing it down for posterity.
Vyasa was the son of Satyavati, a ferryman's daughter, and the wandering sage
Parashara. He was born on an island in
the River Yamuna. The father of the princes Dhritarashtra and Pandu (by Ambika and Ambalika, the
wives of King Vichitravirya), he also had a third son, Vidura, by a serving maid.
According to some accounts he is supposed to have sectioned the Vedic scriptures into
appropriate format for the rest of humanity. His knowledge was supposed to be unique and whatever he knew could only be partially
learnt by anyone else, whether by meditation, study of the vedas, fasting, self improvement, etc.
He is deemed to be the ideal Brahmarishi, omniscient, truthful, purest of the pure and possessor of knowledge of the essence
of Brahma.
A sage also named Veda Vyasa (ca. 650-850), obviously deriving the name from the more mythic rishi, wrote the oldest
extant and most influential commentary on the Yoga
Sutras of Patanjali called Yoga-Bhashya.
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