Birth of Vyasa

All glories Sri Guru and Gauranga.

Today is Guru Purnima. On this day, one honors the spiritual master. According to some, Srila Vyasadeva was born on this day. (According to the Maadhva Uttaradi Matha calendar, he is born on Vaishakha sukla 12.) He was born to Satyavati and Parashara Muni on an island and named Krishna Dvaipayana. He is regarded as a saktyavesha avatara in the Gaudiya and Sri Vaishnava traditions. (See CC Adi chp 1 or 2? and ParasharaBhattar's Vishnu sahasranama stotra commentary). Maadhva-s however regard his a full incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Gerald

The following desription of Vyasadeva's birth is from a Mahabharata website:

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/~lakshman/Desh/mb.html.

The birth of Vyasa

The Chedi prince Uparichara was hunting one fine spring day in the forest. The birds cooed, the bees swarmed and a fragrant breeze gently swayed the trees. The king lay down to rest and had an erotic dream.

When he awoke, he found that his vital seed had left him. He picked up the leaf onto which it had fallen and asked a hawk to carry it to his queen. The hawk dropped the leaf, however, when it was attacked in mid-flight. The seed fell into the Yamuna and was gobbled up by a fish. The fish swam upstream into Santanu's kingdom where it was caught and cut open by a fisherman. The fisherman found a baby girl inside the fish and raised her as his own.

This young girl, Satyavati, was very beautiful but she smelled of fish. The wandering storyteller Parasara saw Satyavati sculling her boat on the Yamuna and desired her. He promised her that he would remove the smell of fish that clung to her and Satyavati gladly gave herself up. Since it was broad daylight and Satyavati was modest, Parasara created a fog to hide them as they made love. The smell of fish that had clung to Satyavati from the day she was born vanished and was replaced by the fragrance of flowers.

On a river island, Satyavati gave birth to Vyasa. She returned to her father while Parasara took the child Vyasa with him to the forest. Thus was the great poet Vyasa conceived, O King, in a fog, upon the water by a wandering ministrel.