Hindu Dharma has a glorious past of great Saints and Sages. Several Saints ascended to the state of Guru and showed the path of God realisation to many. They also taught spirituality to the society through their conduct and actions.

Their mission was not just limited to spirituality but they also did substantial work for the defence of nation whenever it was in difficulties. Some of the Saints travelled all over the world and disseminated the spiritual knowledge of Bharat there without any personal expectations. Millions of people abroad are getting benefit of that. For last lakhs of years, the Sages took tremendous efforts to preserve the Vedic Knowledge which is the pride of Bharat. They also created many subjects connected with the human life and made it easy. The most important thing however is that the Saints of Bharat have donated the world the tradition of Guru-disciple.

The current scene however is different. The cricketers, movie heroes and heroines have become the ideals of Hindus. Also the two vices of selfishness and narrow mindedness have become dominant in Hindus which is causing lot of harm to Hindu society. Under such circumstances it has become essential to study and follow the life of Saints who have imparted the teaching of sacrifice, love. devotion to righteousness, devotion to nation, helping the society and kashtradharma( duty of a warrior). We are hereby publishing the matter related to them so that people should come to know about such great Saints. We pray at the feet of God that let Hindus get the inspiration to study and follow their biography and teachings.

It is said that there have 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.

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.

Maharshi Vyasa

Vyasaya Vishnu Roopaya, Vyasa Roopaya Vishnave |
Namove Bhrama Nithaye, Vasishtaya Namo Namaha:||

Meaning: Salutation to Vyas who is in the form of Vishnu and Vishnu who is in the form of Vyas and one who is the treasure house of the Vedas. Salutation to one who was born in the noble family of Vasishta. The honour of being equal to Vishnu belonged to Maharshi Vyas.

The sage classified the primordial single Veda into four. Hence he was called Veda Vyasa, or "Splitter of the Vedas," the splitting being a feat that allowed mortals to understand the divine knowledge of the Veda. He was the editor of the Vedic literature. The Sanskrit word Vyasa means split, differentiate, or describe; it also means editor. This title is the most popular way of referring to him.

The Purana (Book 3, Ch 3) says:

In every third world age (Dvapara), Vishnu, in the person of Vyasa, in order to promote the good of mankind, divides the Veda, which is properly but one, into many portions. Observing the limited perseverance, energy, and application of mortals, he makes the Veda four-fold, to adapt it to their capacities; and the bodily form which he assumes, in order to effect that classification, is known by the name of Veda-vyasa. Of the different Vyasas in the present Manvantara and the branches which they have taught, you shall have an account. Twenty-eight times have the Vedas been arranged by the great Rishis in the Vaivasvata Manvantara... and consequently eight and twenty Vyasas have passed away; by whom, in the respective periods, the Veda has been divided into four. The first... distribution was made by Svayambhu (Brahma) himself; in the second, the arranger of the Veda (Vyasa) was Prajapati... (and so on up to twenty-eight)

Author of the Mahabharata

Vyasa is traditionally known as author of the Mahabharata in which he also played an important role. His mother later married the king of Hastinapura, and had two sons. Both sons died without an issue and taking recourse to an ancient practice called Niyoga where a chosen man can father sons with the widow of a person who dies issueless, she requests Vyasa to produce sons on behalf of her dead son Vichitravirya. Vyasa fathers the princes Dhritarashtra and Pandu (by Ambika and Ambalika, the wives of dead king. The sequence of events also leads to a third son, Vidura, by a serving maid to the queens. While these are 'legally' not his sons, another son Shuka, born of a celestial nymph, is considered his true spiritual heir. He thus was the grandfather of both the warring parties of the Mahabharata, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. He serves as a spiritual guide to the young princes.

He asked Ganesha to aid him in writing the Mahabharat. In the first book, it is stated that Ganesha imposed a condition that Vyasa narrate the story without pause, and Vyasa made a counter-condition that Lord Ganesh understand the verse before he transcribed it.

Thus, Maharshi Vyas recited the Mahabharat, which has more than one lakh verses, without stopping even once, in order to fulfill Lord Ganapati’s condition!

Lord Ganapati had a sharp intellect. As Vyas kept reciting, He kept comprehending the meaning and writing it down. Vyas had no time to think. But He too was clever; when He needed time to mentally organise the next verse, He would recite a difficult verse, which could have two or three interpretations and hence, was difficult to comprehend at once. This would force Lord Ganapati to stop and ponder over its meaning and this gave Vyas the time to mentally compose the next few verses. In this manner the Mahabharat was recited by Vyas and written by Ganapati. That which is not found in the Mahabharat, is not found anywhere else in the world.

The world has nothing additional to speak of!

All that is written in this world is the uttering of Vyas; that is why it is said,

(Meaning – That which is spoken by the world, is nothing but the ‘left-overs’ of Vyas) – Gurudev Dr. Kate Swamiji.

Vyas is beyond Pravrutti and Nivrutti

‘Vyas’ is the line joining the centre point of a circular object to the circumference on both the sides. ‘Vyas’ brings about a division of the circular wheel of Creation. Maharshi Vyas touches both sides – these two sides are ‘Pravrutti’ and ‘Nivrutti’; and yet, He remains unbound by them – this is the reason He is known as ‘Vyas’ – Shankaracharya, Karveerpeeth, Kolhapur.

Author of Puranas

In addition to the epic, he is also credited with the writing of the eighteen major, if not all, Puranas. His son Shuka Acharya is the narrator of the Bhagavata Purana.

Author of Brahma Sutra

The Brahma-Sutra is attributed to Badarayana - which makes him the proponent of the crest-jewel school of Hindu philosophy, i.e., Vedanta. As the island on which Vyasa was born is said to have been covered by Badara (Indian jujube) trees, he is known as Badarayana.

References:

hindupedia.com
hindujagruti.org