Chap 33: AVATAR - God's Incarnations ( STORY OF VED VYAS)

Ved Vyaas, or Baadaraayan, or Krishna Dwaipaayan divided the Veda in four parts and taught them to his four disciples for the ease of learning, remembering and teaching to other people. Pail, Vaishampaayan, Sumantu, and Jaimini. Since Vyaas  expanded the Gyaan (knowledge) among the people so much, that is why he is known as the incarnation of knowledge also. Whenever the Dharma is destroyed from the Earth, Bhagvaan incarnates on the Earth. Incarnation is of four types -

(1) Nityaavataar - He is present here all the time in the form of Saadhu, Sant (saints) and great Rishi. That is His Nityaavataar.

(2) Anshaavataar - He incarnates in this form just to fulfill only one work, such as Matsya Avataar, Varaah Avataar, Vaaman Avataar, Mohinee Avataar etc.

(3) Aaveshaavataar - He incarnates in this form for His Bhakt when he is in trouble, such as Narasinh Avataar

(4) Poorn Avataar - He incarnates in this form when He has to do all the above three works - to protect Saadhu, destroying Raakshas and to establish Dharm, such as Krishn Avataar

As per the legend, Ved Vyasa wanted to compose Mahabharata. He needed a very intelligent person to write down the Mahabharata for him. So Ved Vyasa prayed to Lord Brahma for guidance. Brahma Dev suggested him to request Lord Ganesha for this noble job as Ganesha has the highest intellect in the world.

When Ved Vyasa requested Lord Ganesha for this divine task. then Ganesha was not very pleased as he didn’t want to write down verses dictated by Sage Vyasa. So Ganesha made a condition that I will scribe down the Mahabharata but my pen should not stop. That means you have to continuously dictate the verses.

Now Sage Vyasa was at a loss. Because he will be needing some time to compose the Mahabharata verses. So he thought deeply and came out with a solution and accepted the Ganesha condition. The solution of Ved Vyasa was to put one condition that Ganesha should understand the verse before writing it down. While dictating the verses, Sage Vyasa used to compose some difficult verses in between which used to slow down Ganesha speed as he needs to understand the verse before writing it down and thus gave Ved Vyasa the much needed time to compose the next verse.

While writing the Mahabharata verses it happens that Ganesha’s pen broke down. But Ganesha has given his word that he will write non-stop. So to keep his promise, Ganesha broke one of his tusks and started writing again. This is one of the many legends associated with the theme “Why Ganesha has only one tusk”. Other stories are related with Saturn (Shani Dev), Sage Durvasa etc.

When we look at Symbolism associated with Lord Ganesha, then single tusk signifies ‘one truth’ or ‘non-duality’. It signifies that we have to move from duality to non-duality. The dual world is imperfect and ever-changing. We have to attain to the supreme perfection that is to realize our true nature (Moksha). As Lord Krishna said in  Bhagavad Gita, that on rebirth we just change the body but the soul remains the same.

The moral of the story is to finish what you have started and have a total commitment towards the work which you have undertaken.

If by chance you encounter any problems in your project then do pray to Lord Ganesha as he can remove any obstacles from your path. Any sincere prayer done to Ganesha is answered.