This piece is inspired by an incident that is believed to be described in the 14th century Telugu saint Ranganatha’s “Ramayanaamu”. While the mighty vanara’s are busy building the bridge, a squirrel is running around and coming in their way and causing some vanara’s to lose their patience. Rama observes this and much admires the effort of the squirrel as it wets itself in the waves, rolls in the sand, and shakes off the sand on the bridge. He tells the vanaras to respect and recognize effort and importance of what the squirrel is doing by filling the gaps between the boulders. An inspirational lesson that no effort is small when done in the right spirit and within the limitations of one’s ability. The title of the piece is inspired by the great Tyagaraja’s (18th Century) composition Karuna Samudra. The quote on the art is from the beautiful closing lines of 16th century saint, Tulsidas Goswami’s composition where he asks Rama to reside in his hrudaya and help him conquer the demons of desire (leaving universal preeti in his heart).