People were unable to perform Satyanarayan Puja at their residences due to shortage of priests.
Many Mumbaikars were unable to perform Satyanarayan Puja yesterday due to the shortage of Hindu priests when the entire nation was celebrating Independence Day. On the other hand, those who managed to avail the services of priests had to shell out exorbitant fees. Hindu priests basically belong from Brahmin Community and perform various poojas. Due to the advancement of technology and changing lifestyles people are pursuing professional career and are reluctant to become priests. As a result of this, the existing priests have started demanding hefty fees for performing religious rituals. They are already overburdened with more work and are unable to provide services to everyone. Thus people have no option but to pay them the charges demanded by them.
Shruti Ashiyani, a resident from Malad was unable to perform Satyanarayan Puja yesterday due to the unavailability of Hindu priests.
“I wanted to perform Satyanarayan Pooja on the special occasion of Independence Day and contacted many priests but most of them were busy in performing rituals at other places. Finally none of them agreed to perform the puja hence I had to call off my plan” said Shruti.
Many Brahmin priests had refused to perform puja as people were unwilling to pay them the fees demanded by them.
Kishor Chavan from Kandivali said, “I had purchased all the items required for performing puja. When I called a priest for performing the puja he was already busy performing ritual at other place. When I requested him to perform puja at my residence he started demanding exorbitant money from me. I then cancelled my plan to perform puja.”
As there is a great demand for priests, they are not able to cater to those who want and therefore they demand more money. Since there is a huge disposable income among the urban people hence they are willing to pay the fee demanded by priests.
A Brahmin priest spoke to AV on the condition of anonymity and said, “Earlier Brahmin’s used to follow the traditional profession and become priests but now most of them are pursuing modern profession. Youth are unwilling to become priests and instead opt for other career choices in the field like medicine, arts, journalism etc.”
When we inquired with the priests for charging hefty sum as fees from customers they replied, “We receive an opportunity to perform puja only on few occasions during the year. We have to earn our livelihood and support our family hence we have revised our fees. We don’t want to make our clients unhappy and are willing to provide better services to them.”
