Shabri, the True Devotee of the Lord

Shabri belonged to a tribal royal family. Her father was the king of the tribes called Bheel. When she grew up, her father decided to marry her to a Bheel prince. During marriage they planned to slaughter many goats and bulls. Shabri was a tender hearted devotee and so the idea perplexed her that what use was such a marriage in which so many lives would be killed! So she slealthily left her house and ran towards the forest.

After two days she reached Pampasar in Dandak forest. It was morning time. The sage Matang had come alongwith his disciples to take bath there. He was advising his disciples that we should take pity on the living creatures. This is the real religion. Shabri was much impressed by the teachings of the sage and so she decided to stay there. She made a hut for herself much away from the huts of the sages and started doing service to the sages secretly.

She used to keep bundles of wood at the door of the sages at night. Sweep the entire passage which the sages were using. The sages were amazed as to who was doing all this. They kept watch and finally caught her doing all this. She was brought before the sage Matang.

Many sages felt that they had committed a sin by using the wood brought by a low caste. But the sage Matang judged her rightly and honoured her as a devotee. He managed to make a hut near his own hut and asked her to stay there.

When the sage Matang was about to leave this mortal world, he said to Shabri, ‘I am much pleased with your devotion. Shabri also desired to leave the world alongwith the sage, but the sage said, no you stay here. One day Lord Rama will come here and you will have His Darshan.

In the very early morning, Shabri used to sweep the passage used by the other sages for going to pond for taking bath. One day she got delayed for some reason. While she was cleaning the passage, her clothes got touched with a sage. The sage was annoyed. In his anger he used disgraceful language to her. Afterwards when they went to the pond, they found the water of the pond had been polluted. For this also they blamed Shabri.

When we read Ramayana, we find that after twelve years of long await Shabri got the fruits of her devotion. When Sri Rama came to Pampasar, he straightaway came to Shabri. The sages were proud of their knowledge and devotion, but Shabri was anxiously awaiting His arrival. She had sweeped the passage, spread flowers and also arranged some fruits for him. Not only that she had even tasted those fruits to make sure that they were tasty enouth for the Lord. To her luck Sri Rama ate those fruits gladly and blessed her with the teachings of Navadha Bhakti ( The nine ways of devotion).

When the other sages came to know about Sri Rama’ arrival at Pampasar, they came to the hut of Shabri to have Darshan of Sri Rama. At that time they also told about the polluted pond. Sri Rama advised them that if Shabri touches the water of the pond with her feet, the water will become pure. The sages requested Shabri to accompany them to the pond. The moment she touched the water with her feet, the water was clean of all its impurities.

After that Sri Rama took leave of her. And soon after Shabri also left this mortal abode. Perhaps she was only waiting for Sri Rama’s Darshan having full faith on the advice of sage Matang.