Parashara named his son Krishna. As he was born on a small island in the middle of the Ganga, he was also calledDwaipayana, Krishna dwaipana grew up in his father's ashram. His life and character were well formed in the conductiveatmosphere of the ashram. He would get up early at the auspicious time of brahmi(dawn before sunrise) do his morningrituals such as sandhyavandana and fire sacrifice. Then he would study the vedas. He would go to the forest and getthe necessary quantities of darbha grass and other samith. He would also get the necessary fuel for homas and for cooking. He would serve his father and other elders in the ashram with singular devotion to the satisfaction of everyone.Ina very short time he mastererd the vedas and shastras and a number of worldly subjects and become an expert in everything he did. Real tapas is nothing but living according to the rules set for one's ashramadharma with devotion andcommitment. As a result of such devoted effort he came to be called a maharshi. He set up his ashram at Badari andbegan to teach hundereds of students and this brought him the name Badarayana as well.
Krishnadwaipana had a number of disciples. He decided to classify the veda, which was until then in one single entity.He classified the veda into four. He thought that this veritable store-house of knowledge would not be easily understood by the future geberation of people. He collected all the hymns in praise of the Lord into one section and called it Rigveda. All the mantras which are used to invoke devas and satisfy them by yajnas were compiled into onegroup and called it Yajurveda. Hymns sung to please the gods who come on being invoked to receive havis at yajnas arecompiled into one section and that is called Samaveda.
All the other mantras which are used in bringing about peace and prosperity, preventing and curing diseases, helpingthe people affected during floods and famins, protecting the good from the bad and processes involved in helpingpeople to live long and healthy lives, helping to amass wealth and such other areas are put together and the collectionis called Atharvaveda.
The four of his were disciples namely Paila, Vaishampayana, Jamini and Sumanthu were initiated to these four vedasand they were invested with the responsibility of continuing the tradition and come together and perform yajnas. AsAs a result of his dividing the veda in to four parts he came to be called Vedavyasa. He had a son by name Shuka.Hewas a Poornabrahmajnai(omniscent) at birth and therefore he was called Shukabrahma.
Sage Vedavyasa wrote the Brama Sutra in which he had discussed in detail all the darshanas which try to seek perfectknowledge about the self and soul. It is also called Vedantha Sutra Shariraka Mimamamsasutra.
The fabulous puranas which existed for thosands of years were not systematically arranged. Sage Vedavyasa divited theminto eighteen Mahapuranas. These puranas give us great details about how to lead a useful and contented life and whatare the duties of a human beings in order to lead such a life and ultimately attain salvation.