{"id":2720,"date":"2025-01-31T20:27:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T01:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sudlatnid.com\/?p=2720"},"modified":"2025-01-31T20:27:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T01:27:03","slug":"shabari-the-greatest-devotee-of-lord-shri-ram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/?p=2720","title":{"rendered":"Shabari the greatest devotee of Lord Shri Ram"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2723 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/sudlatnid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GiW81GbaYAM75vS-267x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"267\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GiW81GbaYAM75vS-267x300.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GiW81GbaYAM75vS.jpg 605w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 267px) 100vw, 267px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When Maharishi Matanga was ready to leave for heaven, he gave the responsibility of the ashram to young Shabari, who was just ten years old. But Shabari, holding his hand tightly, began to cry and begged to go with him. Seeing her tears, the Maharishi gently said, \u201cDaughter, stay here. One day, God Himself will come to this ashram.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shabari, innocent and full of faith, asked, \u201cWhen will you come back?\u201d Maharishi Matanga, who could see the past, present, and future, knelt before her and bowed. The other sages were shocked to see a Guru bow to his young disciple, but they remained silent, awed by his wisdom.<\/p>\n<p>The Maharishi then explained, \u201cGod\u2019s arrival will take time. King Dasharatha has not even married yet. First, he will marry Kaushalya, and the wait will begin. Then he will marry Sumitra, and the wait will continue. Later, he will marry Kaikeyi, and only after many years will God be born as their son.<\/p>\n<p>He will grow up, marry Janaki, and go into exile for 14 years. In the last year of exile, when Janaki is kidnapped, He will come here searching for her. At that time, you will tell Him to befriend Sugreev and help Him defeat Ravana.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shabari was confused. She couldn\u2019t understand how long this wait would be. With innocent impatience, she asked, \u201cGurudev, how will I wait for so long?\u201d Maharishi Matanga reassured her, \u201cGod will definitely come. This is certain. He can come at any time because He is beyond time.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, He once came out of a pillar to save Prahlad. He will come to you too. Just wait patiently. The world will remember me as your Guru, and this is the reward for my penance.\u201d Shabari followed her Guru\u2019s words and stayed in the ashram. Every day, she waited for Prabhu Ram.<\/p>\n<p>She spread flowers on the path, believing He could come any moment. Years passed, but her faith never wavered. She grew old, yet her heart remained as innocent as ever. One day, her wait ended. Prabhu Ram\u2019s feet touched the flowers she had lovingly spread. Overwhelmed, tears streamed down her face. Her Guru\u2019s words had come true, Prabhu had come to her.<\/p>\n<p>Prabhu Ram, who had never eaten leftovers from his own mothers, accepted Shabari\u2019s offering of simple berries with love and gratitude. Shabari looked at Him with tearful eyes and said, \u201cPrabhu Ram, did you face many difficulties finding my small hut?\u201d Smiling, Shri Ram replied, \u201cMother, I had to come to you. No difficulty could stop me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shabari continued, \u201cPrabhu, I have waited for you since before you were born. I didn\u2019t even know what you looked like or why you would come to me. I only knew that someone great would come to fulfill my wait.\u201d Ram responded gently, \u201cEven before my birth, it was decided that I would come to your ashram.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shabari then said, \u201cThere are two kinds of devotion \u2018Vanari Bhava\u2019 and \u2018Marjari Bhava.\u2019 A baby monkey holds tightly to its mother, clinging with all its strength, trusting her completely. This is one way of devotion holding on to God with all your effort. But I chose the second way, like a kitten. A kitten doesn\u2019t cling to its mother but sits calmly, knowing the mother will carry and protect it. I waited for you with that trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hearing this, Prabhu Ram smiled warmly, appreciating her pure and unwavering devotion.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2721\" src=\"http:\/\/sudlatnid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GiW81GbaYAM75vS-267x300.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"267\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Maharishi Matanga was ready to leave for heaven, he gave the responsibility of the ashram to young Shabari, who was just ten years old. But Shabari, holding his hand tightly, began to cry and&hellip;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"excerpt-readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/?p=2720\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional","odd"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GiW81GbaYAM75vS.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2724,"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions\/2724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sudlatnid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}