The term Vyasa in Sanskrit language means “compiler” and Vyasa Maharishi/Saint/Guru is an important figure in most vedanta dharma/tradition and so called today as “hindu” tradition. He is sometimes called Veda Vyasa i.e. “One who classified the Vedas” or Krishna Dvaipayana. Guru Vyasa is the author of the important epic in vedanta dharma which is “Mahabharata“. He is also a character in it. He is considered to be the scribe of both the Vedas and Puranas. According to Vedanta believers, Guru Vyasa is an avatar of the lord Vishnu himself. Vyasa is also considered to be one of the seven Chiranjivini’s (long lived or immortals), who are still in existence. Guru Vyasa lived around the 3rd millennium BCE. The festival of Guru Purnima is dedicated to him. It is also known as Vyasa Purnima, for it is the day believed to be both his birthday and the day he divided the Vedas. It is said that there have been 28 Vyasas before the present Vyasa whose name is Krishna Dvaipayana and he took his birth at the end of Dwapara Yuga.
Krishna Dvaipayana was born of Parasara Rishi through the Matsya (Fish) kanya (girl) Satyavathi Devi under some peculiar and wonderful circumstances. Parasara was a great saint and a very respectable and a knowledgeable human being and was holding on 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. Scriptures do give the information that the primordial guru/teacher for Vyasa is Vasudeva. Scriptures also mentions Vyasa also studied the under sages liked Sanaka and Sanandana
Guru Veda Vyasa classified the Vedas into four division which we refer to as: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharvana/Atharva Veda, which was one of the biggest gift to human society. Since guru vyasa created the sub division and hence he is referred to as Veda Vyasa, or “Splitter of the Vedas”. 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.
Sage Vyasa was also the author of Brahmasutra and also the author of 18 puranas and took ‘Upakhyanas’ or discourses as a method of teaching. Vyasa also categorized 3 methods of practices where a human can explore to its full capability and those are: “Path of Karma”, “Path of devotion or upasana”, “Path of knowledge or Jnana” and it is said that the last work of Vyasa was Bhagavatam which was started with the help of Deva-Rishi Narada.
