Sabari Moksham !!

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Dhyaanam

Jayathu Jayathu RamO Jaanaki VallabhOyam

I Jayathu Jayathu RamO Chandrachootaarchithangri :

II Jayathu Jayathu vaaNinaathanaatha : paramaathmaa I Jayathu Jayathu RamO

nathanaatha: krupALu :

Swami Desikan covers the glorious incident of Sabari Moksham in his last

salutation related to aaranya kaandam .

Avandhya mahima muni jana bhajana mushitha hrudhaya kalusha sabhari moksha

saakshi bhuta ! Jaya ! Jaya !

(Meaning ) : O Lord who was the witness to the Moksha attainment of Sabari , who

through her devoted service to the assembly of sages of unblemished reputation

had all of her blemishes removed ! Hail to Thee ! Hail to Thee !

 

Sabari was an old lady, who lived on the banks of Pampaa river. She spent her

life serving the sages doing penance in that region . This service earned her a

vast amount of PuNyams which in turn destroyed any blemishes that she might have

had. She had started her Bhakthi Yogam in a previous birth and completed that

yogam in her next birth as a resident of Pampaa theeram . When Rama stopped at

Pampaa Vanam on his way to meet Sugreeva , she met Rama and was blessed to have

his darsana bhagyam to her heart's content . She offered the Lord fruits that

she had collected from the forest with great affection . Then she ascended Sri

Vaikuntam right infront of Rama's eyes . Hence Swami Desikan describes Rama as

the witness to Sabari's Bhagyam. Srimad RamaayaNam devotes the entire 74th

sargam of AaraNya Khaandham to describe Rama's visit to the asramam of Sabari in

Matanga Vanam on the banks of Pampaa river . Valmiki describes Pampaa as a lake

.. Today's Pampaa is a river where Ayyappa bhakthaas take a plunge before

ascending the Sabari Malai to continue with their pilgrimage to have the

darsanam of Dharma Saasthaa . Sabari meets Rama and Lakshmana at her aasramam.

She had already attained perfection through Yoga saadhanaa . Rama asks about her

welfare and state of spiritual progress. Sabari replied ; " O Rama! the flower of

humanity ! My asceticsm has become fruitful today and the highest heaven will

defenitely fall to my lot , now that you have been worshipped by me ( adhya

praapthaa tapa: siddhi: tava samdarsanAn maya , adhya mE sapalam janma

guravasccha sapujithaa: II adhya mE spalam taptham svargascchaiva bhavishyathi )

.. She entered the agni kuntam after clasping Rama's lotus feet and ascended to

heaven with DivyaabharaNam , celestial garlands and heavenly raiment. Rama was a

witness to this glorious event on the banks of Pampaa . Saint Thyagaraja

celebrates Sabari's bhagyam in two of his krithis. In the MukhAri krithi "

entani nE varNinthunu Sabari Bhagyamu " , he wonders as to how he can adequately

describe the special blessings that Bhaktha Sabari received from Sri Rama .

Sadguru states that there were many rishi patnis of high stature at Matanga

Vanam as a result of their penance and yet Sri Rama selected Sabari as his

hostess and accepted her hospitality with great affection. Sadguru wonders loud

: " That grest blessed soul saluted your lotus feet , got rid of her cycles of

births and deaths and attained moksham infront of You . What way can I describe

Sabari's unique bhagyam ? " . In a second krithi set in ragam KiraNaavaLi (

Paraaku nee kelaraa Ramaa ) , Sadguru Thygaraja swamigaL is angry at Rama for

His indifference to him . Our Sadhguru is in a mood of Amarsha Rosha Roshokthi .

He asks : " Why should You , who are immanent in the movable and the immovable ,

be indifferent where I am concerned ? Have I treated You with scant courtesy

like Sabari who gave You the leavings of fruits after she had tasted them or

have I , like Guha , given You a bed of leaves without realising Your status ?

" . Here Saint Thayagaraja refers to one version of Sabari's hospitality .

According to this version , Sabari checked the ripeness of the fruits that she

collected for Sri Rama. She tasted them and gave only those fruits that she

thought was ripe enough for Sri Rama's use. She gave the Yecchil (left overs)

out of her great desire to give nothing but the best among her collection of

fruits. Our Sadguru taunts Rama and asks Him how Rama ignored him , when he

behaved much better than Sabari. With great DaakshiNyam , Sadguryu asks these

questions . Saint Thyagaraja's regards for the exceptional Bhagyam of Sabari is

very clear in his Mukhari Krithi . Srimad RaamaayaNam has no support for the

reference of Sabari tasting the fruits first and offering only those that were

fit for Sri Rama's consumption.One another version of RamAyaNam is the source of

Saint Thyagaraja's reference in his KiraNAvaLi krithi .

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