Poem 1 :Sabari -The Epitome of devotion

Read this poem followed by the meaning of the poem and its relation to the story of Sabari !! 

Poem 1:

Chitta Suddi kaligi chesina punyamu

Konchamainanu adi koduva kadu

Vittanambu marri vrikshamunaku nenta

Viswadabhirama vinura vema.

 

Telugu version :

చి త్త శుద్ధి  కలిగి చేసిన పుణ్యము 

కొంచమైనను  అది కొదువ కాదు 

విత్తనంబు మఱ్ఱి వృక్షము నకు నెంత ,

విశ్వధ అభిరామ వినుర వేమా . 

Meaning: A small act of kindness embedded with the right intention is sufficient to weigh one's worth as it gives sweet fruits of success. Haven't we seen the size of the tiny seed that spurs out into a huge Banyan tree? 

Rama left Ayodhya along with Seeta and his brother Lakshmana to fulfill the promise of his father Dasaratha. Despite all the hurdles Rama and Seeta led a happy and simple life in the Jungle. One day Sita asked Rama to fetch the beautiful golden deer that she found in the jungle: In fact Maricha a demon provoked by Ravana the demon King came in disguise as the golden Deer tempted sita as an act of revenge for Lakshmana's act of cutting Surpanakha's nose and ears. Sita was fascinated to see such a beautiful Golden deer and coaxed Rama to fetch her the same. Thus to fetch it, Rama went first, forcibly followed by Lakshmana on demand of Sita. While Seeta was alone Ravana came in disguise as a sage and abducted her. The sadness of Rama knew no bounds. Rama and Lakshmana started searching for Seeta. In this process, once they reached the Pampa river where they met an old lady named Sabari who was a staunch devotee of Rama. She was overwhelmed with happiness to see and meet Rama. She wanted to feed Rama with some fruits around her as she's too old and poor to fetch a feast for Rama. She served Rama with small berries tasting them one by one before serving them to him. Her intention is to serve good and tasty fruits to Rama that's it. Despite her poverty and old age she still wanted to showcase her love and respect towards Rama and thus through this act of kindness of serving pre-tasted fruits,she expressed her devotion. Neither she has realized the error of serving the half-bitten fruits to a King /God nor did Rama felt as he understood her intention.

We find another example of simple act of dutiful nature in Ramayana itself . While constructing the bridge across the sea to reach Sri Lanka ,to save Sita ,a small squirrel too contributed by carrying little pebbles on her back to fulfill her duty and showcase her respect towards Rama, and in turn Lord Rama took the squirrel in his palm and softly patted her back thus leaving three finger marks on the squirrels.  Thus her act of kindness fetched beautiful three marks on all the squirrels forever. This is the result of a small act of kindness or duty-mindedness.