Bhagavad Gita Training
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Vyasa
Vyasa is a central and much revered figure in most Hindu traditions, and is traditionally known as the author of the Mahabharata epos, which the Bhagavad Gita is a small part of.Life and Exploits of Vyasa according to Tradition
ON THE bank of the river Ganges lived the charming maiden Satyavati. She was the daughter of the chief of the fishermen's tribe (an aboriginal princess), and took sages across the river in her boat.Satyavati used to smell unpleasantly, but one day she ferried the rishi (seer-sage) Parashara across the river. He took a liking to her and blessed her with a sweet aroma and a son who was named Krishna Dwaipayana because he was to be dark (krishna) and born on an island (dwaipayana, meaning 'island-born') in the Yamuna River, Uttar Pradesh. He was also given the title Vyasa (compiler, arranger) later.
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| Vyasa grew up and left his mother the day he was born, tradition holds. |
Vyasa mastered the Vedas. It is said that he dictated the entire epic at a stretch while the elephant-headed Ganesh acted as the scribe. Vyasa also played a central role in the unfolding story he wrote by appearing and disappearing on the scene whenever his mother or her family members sought his help. He solved their problems.
But before that Vyasa grew up in forests living with hermits. Next he lived in the forests near the river Sarasvati and became a teacher and a priest. During that period he fathered a son and disciple, Suka, and gathered a large group of disciples. Late in life, living in caves in the Himalayas, he portioned the ancient Veda songs into four books, composed very many and long Puranas works, and composed the poetic work Mahabharata in two and a half years.
It was at this stage he supposedly dictated to a god with pot-bellied, human body and an elephant head on top. This was carried through because God the Creator (Brahma) asked Vyasa to enlist the elephant-headed god, Ganesh, as his scribe. The elephant head was a replacement for a head that had been cut off by his father in a rash moment, when the boy, Ganesh, had hindered him from entering the room of his mother to have sex with her even though she was unwilling at the time, and had asked her boy to be at the door as her sentry. To recompense the heinous deed the father said they could send servants into the forest and give the boy the head of the first corpse they found. That happened to be an elephant. This belief is part of the tradition too, and the brave, pot-bellied god with an elephant head is venerated as a giver of success [Clh].
Vyasa is credited with writing the long poem, but it is more likely that he compiled existing material. It is the bharata form of 24,000 verses that is ascribed to Veda-Vyasa specifically. The bharata "of realism, wisdom and compassion" later swelled several times in the hands of others and became the Mahabharata, that is, the large bharata.
The final author, or editor, is taken to be a Brahmin [Xmi 61]. With the poem's three editions, three beginnings and a long process of making of 800 years or so, it is held that there is really no single author. [Xmi 56, 61]
Other Stories Ascribed to Veda-Vyasa
Vyasa (Veda-Vyasa, or Krishna-Dvaipayana) is believed to have written so many works. A group of them are the Hindu Purananas. They are long stories intended for people who could not go into high Sanskrit philosophy with its intricacies. Stories from eighteen main Puranas and just as many subsidiary Puranas were told in markets and other common places, and intertwined in the stories there were norms and proverbial sayings, and much else. Vyasa is credited with writing the eighteen major, if not all, Puranas. And his son Shuka is the narrator of the major Purana Bhagavata-Purana.NOT STRICT CONSISTENCY: Six Puranas glorify Brahma, six Vishnu, and six Shiva. In the Shiva Purana, Shiva is highly eulogised and Vishnu is put in an inferior position and sometimes belittled. In the Vishnu Purana it is the other way round; Hari (Vishnu) is highly eulogised an Shiva is given an inferior position - by the same author - That makes little sense today. However, some suggest that Vyasa was not just a single person but a class of scholars.
SHAREWARE TALES ABOUND: Not a few ancient stories are shareware among different Puranas, and further. For example, a story of the fire-god Agni from the still older Vedas, reappears in the Srimat Bhagavata (about Vishna as Krishna), with Krishna presented as the main character of the obviously adapted story, and so on.
One author ascribed to up to thirty-six works that hail different gods on turn, in part with shared stories where different gods are interchanged as "top-dogs" - could it help to understand him somewhat - or perhaps ancient Indian tradition that wanted to seek credibility for works by ascribing them to some greatly respected personage of the past?
FANTASTIC TALES: According to a long epic poem that Vyasa himself dictated and Hindus revere, Vyasa was born on the same day as his mother conceived, grew up in one day, understood life very well and soon walked away from there, while his mother still looked exactly like a virgin after giving birth to him.
This is made plain in the very first part (parva) of the ancient epic poem Mahabharata, which Vyasa wrote - or as tradition has it: The epic poem was dictated by Vyasa himself to a success-giving god with the head of a recently dead elephant placed on top of a pot-bellied human form, since that writer-god's own father, Shiva, had cut off his real head in a fit of unjust-looking anger. But with an elephant's head on his neck, he could write very well . . . So they say.
I suggest you do not take everything so literally.
Prolific Author, to Say the Least
The earliest portions of the Mahabharata are estimated to date from roughly the 4th century BC, when writing was introduced to India. Yet there is some evidence that writing may have been known in India between 1100 BC and 700 BC.Not only the Vedas, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas are attributed to Vyasa; the Brahma Sutra too is attributed to him. And that makes Vyasa the proponent of the crest-jewel school of Hindu philosophy, that is, Vedanta. As the island on which Vyasa was born is said to have been covered by Badara (Indian jujube) trees, he is also known as Badarayana.
Even though Vyasa is considered the Badarayana who wrote the Sutras, many historians think Vyasa and Badarayana were two different personalities.
Vyasa is also credited with a commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
What Could Be Worthy Gita Training Here?
Learn to find, sort, and handle sources as to their probable worth somehow, and strive to consider and judge (evaluate) on top of substantial evidence. Blind faith should not be needed or called for. Nor is just as blind denial. Compare: "Twin fools: One believes anything and the other nothing (American proverb)." If we lack solid evidence, we have to keep this well in mind: It is just as wrong to dismiss a thing for lack of good evidence as believing it blindly, gullibly. Feel free to keep difficult theoretical problems in suspense, avoiding getting emotionally involved. That is a side to vairagya, evenminded non-attachment, which the Gita praises. Science too.Further, to be sceptical is fit in both Buddhism, general science, sides of Vedanta (that part of Hinduism), and for hearsay. Learn from Buddha:
Do not believe anything just because it has been passed along and retold for many generations – because it has become a traditional practice – simply because it is well-known everywhere – just because it is cited in a text – solely on the grounds of logical reasoning – merely because it accords with your philosophy – because it appeals to "common sense" – because of preconceived notions – because the speaker seems trustworthy and acceptable – thinking, "This is what our teacher says." . . . But when you yourselves directly know, "These [and these] things are wholesome, blameless, praised by the wise; when adopted and carried out they lead to well-being, prosperity and happiness," then you should accept and practise them. [From the Kalama Sutta, excerpts].Do not disbelieve like that either. To handle one's feelings and ideas calmly and as neutrally as can be, forms part of a basic, scientific approach. You can count on that.
Literature
Gambhirananda, swami, tr. Brahma-Sutra-Bhasya of Sri Sankaracarya. 4th ed. Calcutta: Advaita, 1983. — Difficult reading.
Ganguli, K., tr. The Mahabharata, Vols 1-12. 4th ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1981. — An "ordeal of volumes". On-line.
Johnston, Charles, tr. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. London: Stuart and Watkins, 1968. — Terse. On-line too.
Raghunathan, N., tr. Srimad Bhagavatam, Vols 1-2. Madras: Vighneswara, 1976. — Other translations are on-line.
Subramaniam, Kamala, tr. Mahabharata. Bombay: Bharatiya Book University, 1982. — A fine retelling of the stories.
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