Was Sanjaya fighting in the battle of Kurukshetra, or was he with Dhritarashtra in Hastinapura narrating the events?
Sanjaya fought in the battle, and was one of the few to return from the battlefield. He was the last person that Sahadeva was going to kill, but Arjuna stopped him and said, "No. He is our friend. Let him go and report to the old, blind man, Dhritarashtra. " So Sanjaya left the field of battle. On the way he met Duryodhana before reaching Hastinapura.
But there is also another description in the Mahabharata, where Sanjaya is sitting in Hastinapura and speaking to Dhritarashtra while the battle is going on. How is it possible that Sanjaya is fighting on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, and simultaneously speaking to Dhritarashtra in Hastinapura. It was by the mercy of Vyasa that he was able to expand himself into two forms and act in both places simultaneously. In those times it was not such an impossible task, especially for those who were direct disciples of Vyasadeva. The Gita uses the words vyasa-prasadat. By the mercy of Vyasa it was possible.
What was the role of non-vedic kings in the Mahabharata war?
In the Mahabharat there is mention of kings who were outside the levels of "civilization" who took part in the Great War. They would belong to the 10th, 11th, and 12th varnas. Vedic civilization is based on four varnas (divisions of society), but there are people who do not fit within these four. They can not measure up to this high standard. The scriptures list a total of twelve designations, the four vedic varnas, and eight additional non-vedic varnas. In the battle of Kurukshetra, Duryodhana took all of the lower fighters onto his side. It is stated that none of them fought on the side of the Pandavas.
Their warfare was throwing rocks and other very primitive actions. Among all of the great maha-rathas, the astra fighters, these others were completely primitive. For example, they would go into the elephant division of an army and make the elephants sick. They were humans, but in comparison to the maha-rathas they were like insects. Duryodhana sent many such people to disturb Bhima’s movements. Bhima was such a high-class physical fighter that when he saw these groups of people walking with rocks, trying to hit him, he would become very much agitated. It would make him do things which were completely inordinate. Because he was physically too powerful, he would get upset and throw everything everywhere. Just to disorganize him Dhuryodhana was using them.
They would go and bite the elephant’s legs, and because their teeth were poisonous, the elephant would faint. This was their fighting. They wouldn't go in front of the elephants like Bhima and hold them by the trunk to throw them. They would walk under the elephants, and do all kinds of annoying things like putting needles in the elephant's tail. In contrast to the great heros fighting in the war, like Drona and Kripa, who used their powerful astras, these others were exactly like insects.
When Parashurama went around the world killing the kshatriyas, what does it mean and who did he kill?
Parashurama was killing ruling kshatriyas, which means rulers of all the fifty-four countries that made up Bharata-khanda and the Aryan empire. There is an Upa-purana which deals only with Parashurama lila. There it is mentioned the names of whom he killed, and they are all within these fifty-four countries.
Parashurama would kill only the kings, nobody lesser than the kings. But the kings had their armies with them, so ultimately everyone was killed. Afterwards there was no kshatriya left to whom the planet could be given, so Parashurama had to give it to the brahmanas.
When you take these fifty-four countries, it means you have the entire world. In the rest of the world there were only subservient kings who ruled under any one of these fifty-four.
Especially the distant kings, like after Kaikeya (Afghanistan) up-to the middle of Europe; those kings ruled the rest of the continents. If there was a king ruling in Kashyapa's tank, which is today the Caspian Sea, then he was also ruling out to the Northern and Western side of Europe. And those people who were ruling under the Sun flag in Japan, which at that time used to be a part of the "other land", they were ruling the previous America, which was in the Pacific ocean.
If you take the fifty-four countries, those kings, then you have all the six continents. The other lands were colonies and subservient kings of these Aryan kings. In those other lands the varnashrama was either two-thirds or one-thirds practiced. Accordingly, those rulers were like chiefs. They were not like kings. They collected tax, they paid tax and then they enjoyed their ruling. For example, the present Borneo, which used to be Parana Dvipa, or the present Fiji which which used to be the Ramanika Dvipa. They were kings who were not in the Sun or Moon dynasties. They were kings who were working under the rule of the fifty-four kings.
When we say world we must also understand that we are not talking about the world map which is presently in existence. In the ancient times the geographical regions were completely different. We are not talking about the present world. England was not an island; it was a part of Europe. We are speaking of an ancient time, long ago. The geographical regions were very different. They did not have to travel three months by ship to go to America from Europe. That was not the way. The way was by land through the eastern side.
Why is varnashrama or Vedic dharma manifested only in India and not in the rest of the world?
To understand this answer we must study the philosophy of the history of the world, especially in reference to political geography - the various lands and countries. At the time of Yudhishthira Maharaja the whole planet, all the six continents, were ruled under one flag. This rule lasted until Yudhishthira Maharaja. Before that it was even more perfect, and the Bharata-khanda or India was from the Caspian sea up to Cambodia; and in the north, if you want to see in regards to the present countries, you can say from Lithuania to seven thousand miles south of Cape Comorin (in South India). That is what is meant by Bharata-khanda; that is fifty-four countries, the "India"; and then there are other countries apart from India.
India was made up of these fifty-four countries, and there were also other countries existing at that time. In those other countries the varnasrama was not perfectly practiced. In India (Bharata-khanda) this varnasrama (Vaidhika-dharma) was perfectly in practice.
After the Mahabharata war, and after the "dark age" in between there was a lot of mixing up - people leaving from here and coming back from there. So we find that remnants are there only in India. You can practically say that even in India now it is not there. So, if in India it is not there, then you can understand why in other places it is not there. India is the heart of varnashrama, but the heart itself is in a bypass surgery stage. So, naturally the rest of the body must be mute.
It’s only a question of the changes of time. For example, today, due to the spreading of Krishna consciousness, varnasharama is being more perfectly practiced in the western countries than in India itself. So this is all due to the changes of time. If you look back in history, you can see that it was the other way before.
It is not that the varnashrama belongs to one country. Civilization starts with varnashrama. Sometimes civilization in one part of the world may be high, and sometimes in another part it may be high. In which ever it is high or low, the closest remnants will be seen in the heart. This is why it looks like varnashrama, or caste, or anything is Indian; but that’s not so.
Anywhere in the world there is natural divisions - intellectual class, administrative class, business class and working class. That’s what varnashrama means in its essence. However you see it, it is only when people are civilized that it is functional; but if they are not civilized it is not functional.
Civilized means with a spiritual goal for life. This is the indication of civilization. But when that goal is not spiritual, when it becomes materialistic, then naturally the divisions of varnashrama end up as castes, tribes, clans and the like. It again changes wherever the spiritual goal is pinpointed in a human civilization. There the varnashrama becomes the first sign of civilization, the division of society. But this is only if the spiritual goal is put as the target.
When discussing varnasrama we must understand the two classifications, namely daiva (spiritual) varnashrama and arthika (material) or asuri varnashrama.
Daiva varnashrama is the perfect ideal which we are talking about. Even in ancient India, it was not that it was always daiva varnashrama being practiced. That is always fluctuating. And sometimes it is even found that the demons follow daiva varnashram more perfectly. For example, at the time of Mahabali, the asuras were following daiva varnashrama more perfectly than the devas. This is why they were successful. So there are many details we must take into account.
The idea that varnashrama belongs to a particular geographic area is not correct. It is something to do with the culture of a civilized society. They may not be having the same name, but still, it is varnashrama. If the society is distinctly divided into the intellectual class, administrative class, business class and working class, even though they may not be using the Sanskrit words, it is still varnashrama. It may not be consisting of the rituals and other things, such as purificatory processes (samskaras) etc., but still it is the same
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