Pradyumna: Translation: "Then Bhéñma, the great valiant grandsire of the Kuru dynasty, the grandfather of the fighters, blew his conchshell very loudly like the sound of a lion, giving Duryodhana joy."

Prabhupäda: So Duryodhana was doubting that "My grandfather, Bhéñma, is more affectionately inclined to the other party. So he may not be lenient in fighting." So in order to encourage Duryodhana, tasya saïjanayan harñam. "Don’t think that I am lenient. I am strong." Immediately, to encourage him, he blew his conchshell. Nowadays they use bugle. Formerly the conchshells were used by the kings.

And not that in modern days the fighting takes place—the poor soldiers, they come to fight, and the leaders, they remain in safety place. It is not like that. All of them came out, kñatriya. Bhéñmadeva came, Duryodhana came, Arjuna came. And face to face, they had to fight. Not that the poor soldiers would fight and they would remain in a secure place, no. So tasya saïjanayan harñaà kuru-våddhaù. Kuru-våddha, the oldest man in the dynasty, Kuru dynasty, pitämaha, he’s the grandfather of Arjuna and Duryodhana. The Dhåtaräñöra’s elder uncle, his father’s elder brother. He was very old man, brahmacäré, and in that old age also, he was taking the risk of fighting. This is kñatriya spirit. Not that only... Dhåtaräñöra was escaping. Not escaping, because he was physically incapable, blind, therefore he did not come in the battlefield. Otherwise even Bhéñmadeva, in such old age he also came. This is kñatriya spirit. When there is fight, there is no rest. And fight means "Either the other party should be killed or I shall be killed." Not that without any decision the fighting will be stopped. No, that cannot be. When there is two parties, must be belligerent, one party. So decision is that "Either you kill me or I kill you." Not that without killing... "Without being killed one of us, the fighting cannot be stopped."

Just like Jaräsandha was fighting with Bhéma. During daytime the fighting was going on, and at night Bhéma was a guest of Jaräsandha. As guest is honored, respected, all the parties... But during daytime the fighting was going on. And this fighting went on for twenty-eight days. Still, there was no decision. Then Kåñëa gave hint, Bhémasena, that "Jaräsandha has got a defect. He is joined, two bodies joined. So if you bifurcate him, then he will be killed." So later on Bhémasena took that policy, and Jaräsandha was killed.

So amongst the kñatriyas when there is fighting, unless one party is killed, the fighting cannot be stopped. This is the Battle of Kurukñetra, to see the history of the former kings and kñatriyas, how they were determined. This is one of the qualifications of kñatriya: not to go away from the fighting. When there is challenge of fighting, immediately a kñatriya would accept. That is kñatriya spirit. Éçvara-bhävaà ca, and ruling over others. And charitable. These are the symptoms of kñatriya.

They are described in the Bhagavad-gétä, brähmaëa qualification, kñatriya qualification, vaiçya qualification, çüdra qualification. So... Very nice arrangement, Vedic civilization. Everyone is guided by the superior. The brähmaëa guides the kñatriyas, the kñatriya guides the vaiçyas, and the vaiçya employs the çüdras. Cätur-varëyaà mayä såñöaà guëa-karma-vibhägaçaù [Bg. 4.13]. In this way, four divisions of brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, they manage the whole society so nicely. The kñatriyas, as the kñatriya’s business was to give protection to the citizens, similarly, vaiçya’s duty was to give protection to the animals. Kåñi-go-rakñya-väëijyaà vaiçya-karma svabhäva-jam [Bg. 18.44].

Vaiçya, they should engage themselves in agricultural production and giving protection to the cows, especially mentioned, go-rakñya. Go-rakñya, cow protection, is one of the items of state affairs. And now there is no cow protection. Poor cows, they deliver milk, and later on they become slaughtered. How much sinful the modern society is, and they still want peace and prosperity. That is not possible. The society must be divided—brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, çüdra—and they must execute their proper duty. And the vaiçyas, they should give protection to the cows. And the çüdras, they should work under the direction of the higher three divisions. In this way there will be nice management.

Then, as it is stated during the reign of Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira, kämaà vavarña parjanyaù [SB 1.10.4]. Then nature also will help. If you keep things all right, according to the direction, then nature also will help you. Nature will give you sufficient foodstuff. Vavarña parjanyaù, kämam. Whatever the necessities of life, it will be supplied by nature simply by proper pouring of water, våñöi. Actually, now the whole world is suffering for drought. There is scarcity of rain. And if the rain is stopped for one or two years more, there will be havoc. It is already there, havoc. In India there is famine, because they are more, mostly agriculturists. So there is famine. In other countries they have got industries. But India is not so industrially advanced. So without water, nothing can be produced.