Mangalore, Oct 28: A Kannada newspaper which claimed that the two newly-appointed widow priests at Kudroli Shree Gokarnanatheshwara Temple had been ‘missing’, regarding to this the managing trustee of the temple committee Janardhan Poojary on Monday October 28 organized a press meet at Kudroli Temple.
Poojary said that the two widow priests were in leave for ten days after Dasara celebrations and had not gone missing as claimed.
He further said that what the media and the people claimed about the widow priests is not true. They asked for the leave for 10 days. However today Lakshmi Shanthi had performed the pooja as the older priest Indira Shanthi had gone to her house where she herself would perform Satyanarayana Pooja. As I have said long back, these two priests do not have any restrictions and they can come and go anytime they wish he added.
Reacting to complaints by devotees that they will not accept Prasadam if the priests do not perform the puja properly, Poojary said, “It is sufficient if the devotee prays with full devotion to god. He or she does not need a mediator.”
As per the principles of Narayana Guru no discrimination on the basis of religion, caste or creed will be done in this temple. We have given full freedom to the newly-appointed widows to perform Puja. So far, one woman has come forward to be a priest and we are training her. Whoever wants to come is welcome, and we will give the training,” he added.
Poojary also asked chief minister to appoint women, especially widows, to offer puja in all the 36,000 temples across the state.
H.S.Sairam, president, Temple Development Committee,Vice president Raghavendra Kuloor, Treasurer Padmaraj R, trustees Harikrishna Bantwal and Mahesh Chandra,were present.
