INTRODUCTION

Brahma Rishi Vasishta was kul guru of Dasharatha Maha Raja of Ramayana. Sage Vashishta had 100 sons. All of them were killed by a  Rakshasa influenced by Sage Vishwamitra. Sage Vashita could not retaliate as he was a Brahma Rishi who has conquered anger. In grief he tired to do suicide. After failing to end his life by many methods he came back home sadly. He heard a small voice telling the Vedas.There he found his eldest son Shakti’s wife Adrisyanti. His daughter-in-law was pregnant and the small child inside her was chanting the Vedas. Parasara was born to Shakti posthumously. He performed a great sacrifice to destroy the Rakshasas, for a Rakshasa had killed his father. He became a Maha Rishi expert in astrology. The word Parasara means the vivifier of the dead. Once, while crossing a river, he calculated that a great person could be born now. He expressed his desire to the ferry girl, b

ut she wasreluctant. He convinced her that no blame would attach to her and that she would regain her virginity after the act. At last she consented, on the condition that the odor of fish that clung to her (for she had been born inside a fish), be changed to fragnance. This girl was none other than Satyavati, who was later married to King Shantanu. They were united in an islet in the middle of the river. This act was hidden from the prying eyes of the world, with the aid of a mist, created by the yogic powers of Parasara. A son was born immediately to her. Since this was a divine birth, the child grew to adulthood in minutes and after promising his mother that he would return whenver she had a need for him, left to study the scriptures with his father. This child was Vyasa, who later composed the Mahabharata. Since he was dark and born in an island he is also known as Krishna(dark)-Dwaipayana (born in an island). Sage Vyas’s son is Sukha Brahma Rishi.