Research paper written by London Swaminathan
Research article No.1455; Dated 3rd December 2014.

Vyasa, the black man, who was born to a fisher woman called Satyavati was very black in complexion. He was the ugliest and blackest character in the Mahabharata. But he was the purest and the greatest soul of his times. Two women Amba and Amablika, went to his bed room but refused to lie down with him because he was so ugly and black!

He was celebrated as equal to Vishnu and praised “Vysaaya Vishnu Ruupaaya, Vyasa Ruupaaya Vishnave”. He deserves two Nobel Prizes, one for Peace and another for Literature. Had there been a prize at his times, there was no one to compete with him. Neither Moses nor Homer was born. There was no literature worthy of the name in any part of the world in any language except Sanskrit in 3100 BCE. He lived just before the Kali Yuga began in 3100 BCE. Some western scholars believe that he lived around 1500 BCE and not around 3100 BCE. Even if we accept the date he was the oldest litterateur in the world!

But what it did he achieve to claim two Nobel Prizes?
Look at his literary achievements first:
1.He was so worried about the Vedas that existed at his time. When he lived the Vedas became very ancient and one person can’t master it. The Vedic literature was vast and the custom about the Vedas is unique in the world. It should not be written. One can only learn it from his Guru/teacher. So he divided them into four parts and called four most intelligent persons of his time and gave the responsibility to pass it on to future generations. The most wonderful thing happened.

Till this day that bulky literature has been passed from one generation to another by word of mouth. That shows that the Hindus are the oldest and the most intelligent people. Whether he lived 3500 years ago or 5100 years ago, it does not matter. What he did was right. Without him, we would not have the oldest record of human beings. Of course, we have Gilgamesh, which some people claim to be older than Vyasa’s Vedas. But they are primitive in nature without any higher thoughts. Vedas are full of high thoughts and pray for the welfare of all the human beings. Most of the mantras have “WE” instead of “I”.

What else did Vyasa achieve?
He compiled the longest epic in the world, Mahabharata. Till this day no body beat him. Two hundred thousand lines! One million worlds!! He threw a challenge in the very first chapter Adi Parva. What is in the world is already in it. So whatever you find in any other part is already “ tasted” by me and so they are called Vyasa’s spit, i.e Vyasa Ucchistam Jagath Sarvam. Nothing is new. Mahabharata is a veritable encyclopaedia. He collected all the materials that was available at his time and intricately woven them into the main plot of the Mahabharata. He must be the cleverest person at that time and that is why Hindus praise him as an “avatar of Vishnu”. No writer in the world has been elevated to that level!

What else did he do?
After seeing the great success in compiling the Vedas, weaving all the available moral stories in the Mahabharata, he saw one other bulky thing called Puranas, the Hindu mythology. They run to 800,000 couplets and 1.6 million lines. He took it as a challenge of his life time and compiled all the 18 Major Puranas and left others to his juniors. This was his third achievement. Even in the modern world no one can achieve such a thing with all the computers and one hundred office assistants. He compiled them and passed them successfully to his posterity. Generations to come will remember his literary achievements. Now you know why he deserved Nobel Prize for Literature.

Inspired by Vyasa, Adi Shankara also wrote hundreds of hymns in simple Sanskrit and wrote commentaries for innumerable scriptures including the Upanishads, Brahma Sutra and Vishnu Sahasranamam. So Vyasa has the credit of inspiring others. Inspired by these two sages, a Brahmin commentator by name Nachinarkiniyar wrote commentaries to most of the Sangam literature. Nobody could beat him in writing commentaries.

Why Vyasa deserves Peace Prize?
Vyasa tried his level best to avoid the great Mahabharata war. But as a Tri Kala Jnani, one who can see the past, present and future, he knew the outcome. In spite of his advice to Dridharashtra and others it did not work. But his appeal for world peace is already in the Vedas and Mahabharata. He was so clever that he wanted to write a crispy message to the entire humanity. He knew what he compiled was the bulkiest literature in the world and no one could read it in one’s life time. So he wanted to convey his message. He wrote only four couplets and called them Bharata Savitri and included in the Mahabharat. He put the peace hymn as the last hymn of Rig Veda, indicating that this is the message he wanted to give to the world. And that is message of the Vedas as well. Read the verse for yourself and decide whether Vyasa deserved a Nobel Peace Prize:–

Meet together, Speak together
Let your minds be of one accord
As the Devas of old, being of one mind
Accepted their share of sacrifice

May your counsel be common, your assembly common
Common be the mind and the thoughts of these united
A common purpose do I lay before you
And worship with your common oblation.

Let your aims be common
And your hearts of one accord
And all of you be one mind
So you may live well together
–Rig-Veda, Tenth Mandala, 191 (last hymn)

After fighting two World Wars only, the world realised and wrote a charter for the United Nations similar to this!

(For Bharata Savitri verses, please go to Santanam Nagarajan’s post in this blog “Great Secret from Mahabharata” posted on 12th August 2012)

Long Live Vyasa!
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