Shloka 3.74.4
शबरी-आश्रम-प्रवेशः (Rama and Lakshmana at Sabari’s Hermitage)
तौ पुष्करिण्याः पम्पायास्तीरमासाद्य पश्चिमम्।अपश्यतां ततस्तत्र शबर्या रम्यमाश्रमम्।।।।
kaccit te nirjitā vighnāḥ kaccit te vardhate tapaḥ | kaccit te niyataḥ krodha āhāraś ca tapodhane ||
“Have the obstacles to your practice been overcome? Is your tapas steadily increasing? And, O treasure of penance, are anger—and even the impulse for food—kept under restraint?”
Both reached the west bank of lake Pampa and saw the delightful hermitage of Sabari.
Dharma as inner discipline: true spiritual life requires conquering obstacles and regulating anger and appetite—self-mastery is treated as a moral achievement, not merely a ritual one.
Rāma, after being received, inquires into Śabarī’s ascetic welfare—her tapas, and her mastery over anger and bodily urges.
Rāma’s compassion and discernment: he honors ascetic life by asking about real ethical progress (control of anger and desire), not superficial markers.