Stay Away From Powerful People

अतिवृष्टिरनावृष्टिः मूषकाः शलभाः शुकाः ।
अत्यासन्नाश्च राजानः षडेते ईतयः स्मृताः ॥

There is a term in Sanskrit — eetihi — meaning natural disaster or natural calamity, particularly in an agrarian context, a village context.
We also say this in sankalpa of many pujas — eeti badha nivrityartham, a prayer that these should not happen.

Ativrishti – excessive rain
Anavrishti – lack of sufficient rain

In the urban society, we often forget the importance of rain. In another discourse, we have explored the importance of rain in greater detail.

If it doesn’t rain one year, what happens?
No rice, no wheat, no grains, no fruits, no vegetables — no drinking water even to drink or bathe or wash.
Can you imagine that situation?

Food stored at home or even in government warehouses will run out in a matter of days.
People will start killing each other for food and water.

This is what happens if rain god ignores us even for one year.
But we have no problem ignoring him.
If, after everything else, we have time, we pray, we get connected to God.

We don’t realize the care with which divinity is protecting us.
This is why divinity is seen as mother — motherly care.

Same is the case with Ativrishti — we have seen floods happening.
Even there, crops are destroyed.
Lives are lost. Livelihood is lost.
We don’t want either of these.

We say science has progressed, technology has progressed.
But nothing have we been able to do with Ativrishti or Anavrishti.

We try cloud seeding — but have you seen it working effectively anywhere? I don’t know.
Those who do it — they come out and say, it worked. God knows.

Rats, rodents — they are a threat to crops.
That’s why we pray to Lord Ganesha, to keep them under his control.
They also need food, but not to the extent that they damage the entire field or the entire crop.
Everything should be balanced.

There is a sukta in Atharva Veda particularly to tackle menace of rats.

Shalabhas are flies — like butterflies, but not the beautiful ones.
These are like locusts, grasshoppers.
They come in thousands all of a sudden and destroy an entire area.
And they will be gone in minutes.
They are shalabhas — another natural calamity.
Nothing can be done about them. You can only pray that they don’t come.

Shukas – parrots – they also do this.
They come in hundreds, attack a field, and go away.
Nothing will be left.

That makes it five. There are six eetis.

The sixth is the most interesting one —
A king or a ruler who is very close to you.
He can destroy you any time.
Rulers are unpredictable.
For no rhyme or reason, they can turn against you and destroy you in a second.

So, if you think that you know some powerful people very closely, you move about with them — it may not be really something to brag about.
They are like fire — fire cooks your food, but if you get too close to fire, you will be burned.

The shloka calls a ruler who is too close to you also a natural calamity — he can strike any time and destroy you.

I remember a wise man saying once:

I don’t know any powerful people, but I know people who know powerful people.
This is wisdom — that stay away from powerful people.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi