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Venerable preceptor

CHENNAI: The Vedas are a storehouse of information comprising the utterances of the Rishis to whom the truths were revealed in the form of Vedic mantras. But it is difficult to extract specific information or comprehend the Vedic truths from this corpus of knowledge.

Sage Vyasa’s role in this regard is monumental. The term Vyasa means split, differentiate, or describe and it was a title he acquired because of his extraordinary feat of categorising and compiling the primordial Vedas into four and thereby making the divine knowledge accessible to people. His original name is Krishna (dark complexioned) Dvaipayana (born in an island) and he is accredited as the author of the Puranas and the Brahma Sutras.

Sri N. V. Devi Prasad said in a lecture that apart from the popular ten incarnations of the Lord, He continues to pervade, influence and guide humanity and it is believed that the Lord chose to be born as Sage Vyasa to propagate the ancient wisdom and to establish the basic tenets of Sanatana dharma. Sage Vyasa is hence honoured as a preceptor by all schools of Vedanta philosophy. Lord Krishna clarifies the truth of His incarnations to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita when He traces the lineage of preceptors of the eternal truth. The Lord Himself had taught this knowledge initially to Vivaswat, and then it was handed down to Manu and Ikshvaku. The sages in royal succession had carried it from teacher to teacher till it was lost and forgotten through the ages.

The Lord said that though He is without a beginning or an end and hence birthless and deathless, He seems to be born. His incarnations take place because of His Sankalpa (divine will) and His Maya. He is the master of His Prakriti, the power that makes Him.

He is all pervading and whenever goodness becomes weak and the power of evil increases He makes His presence felt. “In every age I come back to deliver the holy, destroy the sin of the sinner and establish righteousness.”

While all human beings also have lived many lives, they do not remember these, but the past, present and the future remain clearly accessible to the Lord’s omniscience.

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