Book 2/Chapter 2/1:39
On the birth of Vyâsa Deva
1-10. Once on an occasion, the highly energetic
Muni Parâs'ara went out on pilgrimage and arrived on the banks of the Yamunâ,
and spoke to the religious fisherman who was taking his food then thus :-- “O
fisherman! Take me on your boat and
carry me to the other side of the river.” Hearing this, the fisherman spoke to
the beautiful girl Matsyagandhâ :-- “O beautiful smiling one! This religious ascetic intends to cross the river;
so take the boat and carry him to the other bank.”
Thus ordered by her father, the exceedingly
beautiful Vasu girl Matsyagandhâ began to steer the boat whereon sat the Muni. Thus while the boat was sliding on the waters
of the Yamunâ; the Muni Parâs'ara saw the beautiful-eyed damsel Matsyagandhâ
and became as if under the command of the great destiny, greatly enamoured of
her. He desired to enjoy Matsyagandhâ,
full of youth and beauty and with his right hand caught hold of her left hand.
The blue coloured Matsya looking askance
spoke out smilingly in the following words :-- O knower of Dharma! What are you going to do, pierced by the
arrows of Cupid? What you desire now, is
it worthy of your family or your study of the S’âstras or worthy of your
Tapasyâ; see, you are born in the line of Vas'istha and you are well known as
of good character. O best of Brâhmins! You are quite aware that the attaining of a
man-birth in this world is very rare; and over and above this the attainment of
Brâhminhood is, as far as my knowledge goes, particularly difficult.
11-14. O Prince of Brâhmins! You are the foremost and best as far as your
family, goodness, and learning in the Vedas and other S’âstras are concerned;
you are well versed in Dharma; how is it, then, that you are going to do this
act, not worthy of an Ârya, though you see me possessed of this bad smell of
fish throughout my body. O one of
unbaffled understanding! O best of
twice-born! What auspicious sign do you
see in my body that you are stricken with passion on my account that you have
caught hold of my hand to enjoy me? Why
have you gotten your own Dharma?
Thus saying, Matsyagandhâ thought within
herself :-- “Alas! This Brâhmin has
certainly lost his brains in order to enjoy me; certainly he will be drowned
just now in his attempt to enjoy me in this boat; his mind is so much agitated
with the arrows of Cupid that no body, it seems, can act against his will.”
Thus thinking Matsyagandhâ spoke again to the
Muni :-- “O highly fortunate one! Hold
patience! let me first take you to the
other side of the river; then you may do as you please.”
15-19.
Hearing these reasonable words, the Muni let
loose of her hand and took his seat on the boat and gradually got down on the
other bank of the river. But the Muni,
becoming again extremely passionate caught hold of Matsyagandhâ; when the young
woman spoke to Parâs’ara, in front of her, shuddering :-- “O best of Munis! My body is emitting very bad smell; do you
not feel this? You know very well that
the sexual intercourse between male and female of similar types brings in
happiness and comfort.” Thus spoken to, Parâs’ara made Matsyagandhâ emit sweet scent like that of
musk to a distance of one Yojana (8 miles) and her body exceedingly lovely and
beautiful and, becoming extremely passionate, again caught hold of her right
hand.
20-34. Then the auspicious Satyavatî addressed Parâs’ara
Muni, resolved to enjoy her, thus :-- “O Muni!
Behold! all are looking at us; my
father too, is there on the bank of the Yamunâ; so, O Muni! wait till night this beastly act before all
is highly unsatisfactory to me.
The wise persons declare it a great sin to
commit sexual intercourse during day they have ordained night time as the best
time of intercourse for men not the day time; the more so that many person's
eyes are in this direction. So, O intelligent
one! hold on your passion for a while;
for the blame pronounced by the public is horrible.
Hearing these reasonable words, the
liberal minded Parâs'ara created, by his influence of Tapasyâ, a dense fog so
that both the banks of the Yamunâ became covered with darkness.
Then Matsyagandhâ gently spoke to the Muni
:-- “O best of Dvîjas! I am not as yet
married; I am now a girl; you will go away after enjoying me; your semen virile
is not fruitless; so Brâhman! What will
be my fate? If I be pregnant today, what
shall I say to my father? and what will
be my future state? There is no doubt that, after enjoying me,
you will go away; what will I do afterwards; kindly say.”
Hearing these words of Matsyagandhâ,
Parâs'ara said :-- “O beloved! After you
have done my pleasant duty, you will remain a girl as you are now; yet, O timid one!
ask from me any boon you like; I will grant it to you.”
Satyavatî then said :-- “O best Brâhman, O
giver of one's honour! grant me these
things :-- That my father and mother do not know anything of this affair and
that my virginity be again as ever the same.
Also let an extraordinarily powerful energetic son be born to me like
you; let this nice smell continue to remain always in my body and let my youth
and beauty remain afresh and increase ever more.
Hearing this, Parâs'ara said :-- “O
beautiful one! a son, very pure and
holy, will be born to you, from Nârâyana's part! his name will be famous in the three worlds. O beautiful one! never before my heart was agitated with such passion. I do not know why I have become so much
passionate for you. I saw the unrivalled
beauties of Apsarâs but I never lost my patience; but seeing you, I have become
attracted to you; it must be under the direction of Providence; know it certain
that there must be some mysterious cause in this. However Fate is unavoidable to all; otherwise
you are full of so bad smell; why shall I be fascinated by your sight?
O beautiful one! your son will be famed in the three worlds;
will compose the Purânas and will sub-divide the Vedas. Thus saying, the Muni Parâs'ara enjoyed
Matsyagandhâ, who became quite submissive; and after bathing in the Yamunâ,
quickly went away.
On the other hand, the chaste Satyavatî,
too, became pregnant and immediately gave birth on the island of Yamunâ to a
son beautiful, as if the Second Kâmadeva, the god of Love, Kâmadeva.
No sooner that son, very fiery and highly
potent, was born than he devoted his mind to tapasyâ and spoke to his own
mother Satyavatî thus :--“O Mother! now
go wherever you like; I will also go to perform tapasyâ. O highly fortunate one; No sooner you
remember me, I will come to you. O
Mother! where you will have any onerous
duty, remember me and I will instantly come to you. Let all good be unto you; now I go. Avoid all cares and live happily. Thus saying, Vyâsadeva went out. Matsyagandhâ, too, went back to her father.
Vyâsa was named also Dvaipâyan (born in an
island, a Dvîpa) in as much as Satyavatî gave birth to him in a Dvîpa island);
and as he was born of Visnu's parts, he grew up no sooner he was born.
The Muni Dvaipâyana bathed in every Tîrtha
and performed the highest asceticism. Thus
Dvaipâyan Vyâsa was born of Parâs'ara in Satyavatî’s womb. Seeing the advent of Kali Yuga, he adorned
the tree of the Vedas with many S’âkhâs (branches). It is because he expanded the Vedas many S’âkhâs,
that he is denominated also as VedaVyâs; he composed eighteen Purânas,
Samhitas, the excellent Mahâbhârat, subdivided the Vedas and made his disciples
Sumantu, Jaimini, Paila, Vaisâmpâyan, Asita, Devala and his son S’uka to study
them.
Sûta said :-- “O Munis! Thus I have described to you the birth of the
holy Vyâsa, the son of Satyavatî and all the causes. O Munis!
Do not allow any doubt enter your mind as regards his birth; for it is
always advisable to take up only the good things as far as the lives of great
persons and Munis are concerned. There
must be some extraordinary mysterious cause owing to which Satyavatî was born
of a fish, and she was first united to Parâs'ara and then to Sântanu. Otherwise how can one account for the fact of
the Muni Parâs’ara being so much agitated by passion and why he would behave
like a mean low person in the committal of a a grossly blameable act? Now has been spoken the wonderful birth story of Vyâsa Deva
together with all incidents, and enveloped under the great mystery. If any man hears this holy narrative, he will
be freed from sins and will never fall into difficulties and will always be
happy.
Thus ends the Second Chapter of the Second
Skandha on the birth of Vyâsa Deva in the Mahâpurânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam
of 18,000 verses.
Source: Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
Source: Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
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