Meera Bai’s love for Krishna is epic and the devotion of Shabari for Lord Rama is just as popular. Shabari was a tribal girl, looking for her spiritual calling. After days of hunting, she met Sage Matanga at the foot of the Mountain Rishyamukha and accepted him as her guru. As she grew old, the sage touched by her seva, tells Shabri that she needs to wait for Lord Rama’s darshan before attaining her spiritual growth. So, Shabari would go out of her ashram, with the help of a walking stick and pluck berries, first taste it, and if it was sweet she would put it in her basket and discard the bitter ones. She wanted to serve only sweet fruits to Rama. The thought never occurred to her that it was bhog and should be consumed by god before a human being. When Lord Rama visits her village, even though several other yogis wait to receive Rama in their ashrams, Rama goes to visit Shabari because of her sincere devotion.

As she offers the fruits to Rama and Lakshmana points that Shabari has already tasted them and were, therefore, unworthy of being eaten. To this, Rama  states, nothing could equal these berry fruits, offered with pure affection and devotion. Although Lakshmana doesn’t taste the fruits, touched by Shabari’s devotion, Rama blesses the tree to grow leaves naturally grow in the shape of a bowl so that Shabri doesn’t need to make more bowls.