Birth Of Veda Vyasa - Part 1

Now, Mahabahrata is going to narrate the birth of Veda Vyasa, rather the incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa.
What is the meaning of Vyasa?
व्यासो विस्तारः
Vyasa expands.
Expands what?
Expands the Vedic principles into the Puranas and Mahabharata so that evryone can understand them easily.
That is one of the purposes of his avatara.
Vyasa's mother is Satyavati.
Many people think that Satyavati is a fisherwoman.
That's not what Mahabharata says.
Satyavati was the biological daughter of a very famous king called Vasu.
He had another name, Uparichara.
He was gifted a vimana made of crystal by Devendra.
Viamanas are chariots that can fly
King Vasu always used roam around in that vimana through the sky. Mostly he was in the sky only, so he was called Uparichara.
King Vasu did intense tapas.
A king observing tapas upsets Indra.
Will he acquire so much power through tapas that he will try to take my position as the king of Swarga.
On earth, a king can expand his kingdom through conquest.
But if his ambition grows beyond the earth then he has to either undertake tapas or perform yajnas.
If the king performs one hundred Ashwamedha yagas, he becomes eligible to become the king of Swargaloka.
So whenever someone, particularly a king either performs tapas or does very elaborate yajnas, Indra smells competition.
The real name of the present Indra is Purandara.
His tenure is seventy one chaturyugas.
After that Bali Chakravarthy will become Indra.
We are in the twenty eighth Chaturyuga now.
Fourty three more to go.
But then someone can claim Indra's position in between also.
If Vamana had not sent Bali to Pathala, he could have claimed rulership of Swargaloka that time itself, because he had already performed one hundred Ashwamedhas.
Indra along with other Devas went to Vasu Raja and made him understand.
You should be rather protecting the earth rather than engaging in tapas.
Varna samkara is a big threat.
Mixing of the four varnas is a big threat which can eventually lead to the collapse of the society.
Only a capable king like you will be able to enforce the varna-system.
That is the duty of the king.
If you observe the duty entrusted to you as a king, then you don't have to do any tapas.
You will naturally get place in the punyalokas, the higher worlds.
I stay in Swarga, you are on earth, but we will be friends.
Take up the rulership of Chedi a beautiful kingdom.
Chedi is very prosperous even now.
Chedi is abundant in resources.
People of Chedi are very virtuous.
Every one is well taken care of in Chedi.
They are all kind towards animals.
They don't lie even for humour.
Be the king of Chedi.
Sitting in Chedi you will be able to see what all happpens in the three worlds.
In addition to the vimana, Indra gave Vasu Raja the Vaijayanti-mala also the garland which ensures victory in battle.
It is also called Indramala, and acts like an armour.
Vaijayanti-mala became a sign of identification of Vasu Raja in addition to the vimana.
Then Indra also gave a bamboo stick.
This stick is to be used for the worship of Indra during new year.
It is dug into the ground on the last day of the current year, taken out on the new year day kept at a high place and worshiped.
Indra is invoked onto that stick in the form of a swan and worshiped.
A king who performs this puja on the new year will meet with success everywhere and he will have abundance of wealth.
His kingdom will make progress in every respect.
This puja is called Indrotsava.
Uparichara performed this puja every year.
Five strong and valorous sons were born to him.
Out of them, Vasu appointed Brihadratha as the king of Magadha.
The others, Pratyagraha, Kushamba, Manivahana, and Mavella were given rulership of kingdoms with their own names respectively.
Uparichara used to observe the happenings in all these kingdoms from the sky sitting in his vimana.
There was a river called Shuktimati in Vasu's kingdom.
There was mountiain called Kolahala.
Both had life.
Kolahala wanted to unite with Shuktimati and blocked her path.
Seeing this Uparichra kicked at Kolahala.
A fissure developed in Kolahala and Shuktimati started flowing out.
However, Shutimati conceived from Kolahla, twins were born to her, a boy and a girl.
The boy, Vasu made the commnder of his army.
The girl was called Girika.
Vasu married her.
When Vasu was about to consummate the marriage, suddenly there was an attack by wild animals.
Vasu had to leave to control the situation.
His mind was filled with desire to unite with Girika, but he was compelled to leave.
In the forest, still his mind full of desire and constantly thinking about Girika while sitting under a tree his semen came out.
Vasu did not want it to be wasted. It was collected on a leaf.
He energized it with mantras chanted at the time of conception, called an eagle and sent it across to Girika so that she can used it for conceiving.
When the eagle was flying with it another eagle saw him and thought he must carrying some food.
He attacked and both of them fought in the sky the semen fell down, into river Yamuna below.
An Apsara called Adrika was cursed by Brahma and turned into a fish.
Adrika was at the spot where the semen fell.
Brahma had told her that she will get relief from the curse after givinb bith to two human children.
When she saw the semen, she swallowed and that turned into pregnancy.
Ten months went by.
The fish was caught by fishermen.
When they cut it open, they found a boy and a girl inside.
The fish assumed her original form of Apsasra and went back to Swargaloka.
The fishermen took the boy and the girl to Raja Vasu and narrated the miraculous incident.
Vasu accepted the boy who later became a great king by the name Matsya.
The girl, he gave back to the chief of the fishermen and said: You can raise her as your own daughter.
But why?
Why did Vasu do like that?
He has done a lot of tapas, must have definitely had jnana-drishti.
He had all these miraculous powers and stuff like Vaijayanti with him.
He must have foreseen, this girl has to become the mother of the Lord when he takes avatara as Krishna Dvaipayana.
The girl had the peculiar smell of the fish.
She was called Matsyagandha.
Since she had great qualities she became famous as Satyavati.