Rishi Vedavyas was born in an island; hence he came to be known as Dwaipaayana. Being dark complexioned, he was named Krishna Dwaipaayana. Soon after the birth, Vedavyas took his mother's permission and went out for penance. He built his hermitage at the verdant surroundings of Badribana, which is also the penance ground of Nara-Narayana (where Nara and Narayana observe penance in sage forms). For the purpose of his oblations, Vyasa divided Vedas into four parts. Oblations (Yagyas) have four rituals- Adhvaryu, Hota, Udgata and Brahma. For the simplicity of the mediator (who carries out the oblations), the hymns used in those four rituals were divided in four parts. Thus, four parts of Vedas or four Vedas simply came into existence.

Since the reading and reciting of Vedas were reserved for the Dvijas (Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishyas), Vyasa created Mahabharata for the benifit of all. In Mahabharata, Vyasa has described all the parts of religion extremely beautifully.

Glory of Vyasa is very amazing. He was proficient among the scholars and great among the poets. Whatever things we see today in the world were not beyond his imagination. Whatever we see and hear about today, was present in Vyasa's heart. There has been no person in any era as great as Vyasa.

Vyasa was extremely talented. His talent is apparent in 18 Puranas and Mahabharata that he had created and divided the Vedas. Vedavyas had purified his heart through severe penance, hence metaphysical knowledge (Tatva Gyan) got a firm hold in his heart. He had compiled such enchanting plays in the Puranas that everybody could get something of his interest and field. Despite creating such a large number of scriptures, however he was not satisfied by his work. So one day he was sitting at the banks of river Saraswati in a depressed mood and thinking that his work was incomplete.

He was reflecting over the well being of the people in ensuing Kaliyuga. He knew that people would not follow religion, rituals of oblation and Vedas etc. So he was straining his mind over what to do so that people could follow religious conducts and hence get salvation. He was thus reflecting over a serious matter when Narad arrived. Narad enquired about the reason of Vyasa's concern. When Vyasa told him, Narad preached him the Shrimad Bhagwat. After Narad left him, Rishi Vedavyas created Shrimad Bhagwat in 18 thousand couplets.