The Devi Bhagavata Purana describes Vyasa’s birth and antecedents in detail when he is born as the son of Sage Parasara and Satyavati under mystifying circumstances through Divine Will at the end of Dwapara Yuga.
While narrating this incident, the Suta Pauranika makes it clear that since the Lord takes the ‘aavesa avatar’ to manifest His Jnana Shakti according to His mysterious Sankalpa, the incarnation gains more importance than any other causal conditions, pointed out Sri K. Srinivasan in a discourse. The Lord engaged in the tasks of Srishti, Stiti and Laya often comes to this earth in person when His presence is called for. Siva, for instance, comes directly to grace His devotees and grants them the highest knowledge and bhakti as in the case of the Nayanmars.
Among Vishnu’s incarnations, Matsya, Kurma, and Varaha avatars are known as ‘amsa avatars.’ when to achieve some specific purpose, a prominent aspect of His becomes manifest. Narasimha avatar is an example of ‘aavesa avatar’ taken to protect Prahlada and kill Hiranyakasipu while Rama and Krishna avatars are Poorna avatars. It is held that He is born as Vyasa in every Dwapara Yuga for the sake of people in Kali Yuga whose understanding power keeps declining. His name in this instance is Krishna Dvaipayana while the term Vyasa refers to his role in classifying the unwieldy Vedas into six parts for easy understanding. The Vedas are said to be limitless as the saying ‘Anatho vai Vedaha’ signifies. He has presented the essence of the Upanishads in the Brahma Sutras. His voluminous and impressive contributions to sacred literature could be possible only by God’s grace. None but the Lord could have composed the Mahabharata and the puranas of such weight and substance.
