Guru Purnima  | July 01, 2004

July 2nd 2004 is Guru Purnima day. Guru Purnima is traditionally held to be Bhagawan Vyasa's birthday. According to the Indian calendar it falls on the 15th of the month of Ashada. Bhagawan Vyasa is called Veda Vyasa - or the Compiler of the Vedas. Bhagawan Vyasa saw that, in the coming yugas (Eras of time), men would be of grosser mind and would lack the ability to learn and retain all of the Vedas. So he compiled the Vedas into four parts - the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Veda. Furthermore he wrote the Puranas so that the common people could also benefit from the knowledge of the Vedas - he conveyed the same spiritual principles through the medium of stories and parables. He is also the author of the Brahma Sutras , the quintessence of Vedanta.