Sabari's hospitality and Rama

I think the balavikas kids would love a teacher like HRaunty who'll entertain them with a variety of things and in so many different ways. You seem to possess a veritable cornucopia of skills in things which the kids love. Wonderful.

 

Wow, we have a great story teller amidst us hrastro??. it is an art, and i hope you are still taking classes for the kids.

the sabari upacharam always brings the vatsalyam and the culmination of a wait in front of my eyes. for me, it is more about sabari, waiting for rama on the word from matanga muni who tells her that it is not yet time for her to join him when he was to leave his body..that she was the one who deserved to see Rama. following the guru's orders, she waits. and her smarana of rama resonates around the plants, the animals..and i remember a lalitha geetham where the parrots, the plants, the cucukoo, the peacocks, greet him when he starts walking towards sabari.

A lady who was more than tapasvi..a story that teaches patience, bhakti.

Even tyagarajar was moved and describes sabari's fortune in one of his krithis.

entani nE varNintunu shabarI bhAgyam

dAntula vara kAntalu jagamanta nindi uNDagan

kanulAra sEvinci kammani phalamula nosagi tanuvu pulakarinca
pAdayugamulaku mrokka ina kulapati samukhambuna punarAvrtti
rahita padamunu bondina tyAgarAjanuturAli puNyamunu

 

My dear harstro,

I have always been fascinated by the unconditional devotion of Shabari.

The fact that Lord Rama would visit her someday was enough for her to stick to her pure devotion.
In Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says that your devotion becomes colorful and radiant when you love me unconditionally and with gratitude.
Shabari has shown us this kind of devotion which we all need to learn.She never doubted or questioned once despite she had to wait longer period of time to be blessed by HIS darshan.

Love,
Bhavna

 

Well, you are quite the storyteller! I am glad that the tradition still exists. Amar Chitra Katha or DVDs are still not the same as a bedtime story!

In their quest to explain the world and find meaning, human beings have evolved a great capacity for myth-making. This myth is a very convenient way of rationalizing defeat at the hands of foreign invaders, but it is also a version of the interleaving of a million stories and characters that we see in our mythology. In the end everybody is only a few degrees of separation away from everyone else!!

This Queen Victoria as Shabari story reminds me of one of the most curious myths in modern times i.e. the Cargo Cult of John Frum in the islands of the South Pacific (esp. Vanuatu). Have you heard of it? If not, I will say no more and let you discover it!

(1) John Frum and the Cargo Cults • Damn Interesting
(2) www.geocities.ws/skeptichume/JohnPrum.doc

Link#2 is an article from a 1995 issue of Harper's magazine - it's well worth reading. Enjoy!

 

OMG !! I flipped when I read this..... Just imagine, sweet, motherly 'vatsalya-purna' Shabri, being Queen Victoria, who ruled to bring (even if not intentionally) misery on her Lord's Bhoomi..... :rotfl