Today is Guru Pournima, also known as Vyasa Pournima. It is called so
because it happens to be the birthday of the respected sage Vyasa.
Vyasa, you will appreciate is the one who is solely responsible for the
documentation of every scripture we know of today. Perhaps he had a
premonition that in the age to come, the Guru-Sishya parampara will be gone and these things cannot spread by word of mouth any longer.
Whatever the reason, we are beneficiaries of this wonderful work that He has done for us.
I have read one book in particular, the Krishnavatara by K.M.Munshi which comes in seven volumes. The sixth one deals in detail about the life and times of Veda Vyasa. He had a very tough life. All the sages of His time were divided and nobody had the courage or vision to put them all together. Worse, everybody tried to resist Veda Vyasa's efforts to unify the Vedas and document them. So, it is to limitless credit of Vyasa that He persevered and achieved the unification of the Vedas and passed it on for generations to come. As you would expect, Vyasa had to sacrifice a lot and work very hard towards this supreme goal. Little wonder then that, we equate Him to Lord Vishnu HIMSELF!!
With that note, may I urge you all to fondly remember this great architect of our way of life and pay obeisance to the one who almost single handedly rescued all the scriptures that we know from relegation into oblivion.
Finally to quote Him, as also Baba does
Ashtadasa puraneshu Vyasasya vachanam dhruvam
Paropakaraya punyaya papaya parapeedanam.
