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The women of today are confident, dynamic personalities crossing all social and economic barriers to prove that they are no less than their male counterparts. But when it comes to religious affairs the picture is different as men still continue to dominate the performance of pujas and other rituals. It is in this light that women like Megha Gokhale have dared to stand up and created a niche for themselves in this pre-dominantly male zone. 'Bhoomi Puja', 'Shanti Puja', 'thread ceremony' a wedding ceremony, a wedding or rites and rituals for any other religious occasion, Megha knows all the mantras, shlokas and other procedures needed to conduct majority of the pujas and with each passing day she is equipping herself more and more on this subject.
The going wasn't easy for Megha, a resident of CBD Belapur, when she started out. The very idea drew a lot of flak from the conservatives in the society. But owing to the strong support and encouragement from her husband, Megha went ahead to make this her profession. Megha Gokhale today claims to be the only priestess in the whole of Navi Mumbai and is also imparting training to a bunch of women interested to become professional priests.
Born and brought up in Mhow near Indore, Megha and mastered the Gita when she was a young girl of thirteen thanks to her grandfather. Later, she completed her M. Com and worked as an accountant with Warana Dairy for eight years. But since her son was young, Megha had to quit her job., Slowly she realised that she had quality time during the day which could be spent purposefully. At the same time, she got to know about the classes at Thane for educating women about various pujas and ceremonies. The classes, held in 1995 were first of their kind in Mumbai, which had around 60 women enrolling for the course. The classes were held once a week and were free. The only charges were for the stationery and travel according to Megha. She says that today she is the only one who is practising what she has learnt.
Megha feels that there needs to be a major change in the mindset of Indians for accepting a woman conducting a puja for them. "Also only a core section of the society which wants to know about the in -depth meaning of various rites prefers a female priest," she says. Till now Medha has conducted two wedding ceremonies. However, she feels that house-warming ceremonies are a challenge. "Everything has to be done keeping the Muhurat in mind that there are a lot of small pujas involved in it," she says.
According to Megha, regular chanting of the Gayatri Mantra improves memory power and concentration. She feels that students should inculcate a habit of chanting it for doing well in academics.
Megha's first major puja was for the Thane Janata Sahakari Bank in Thane in 1996. After that she performed another puja for the Sakal group of newspapers. Megha's religious activities are at peak during the month of Shravan and Ganesh utsav. She says that she is comparatively free during Pitrapaksha when religious ceremonies are not undertaken.
Recently, Megha has started conducting her own classes at Belapur, Vashi and Nerul at students residences. "It has been over a year and so far I have received a good response," she admits. In order to equip herself with more knowledge on the subject, Megha often goes to Pune and seeks guidance from Shubhada Jog, a veteran in this field. Megha says that out of the 70 students that she is presently teaching, five will start conducting pujas by the end of this year. She, along with a group of like-minded friends plan to approach schools in Navi Mumbai to hold workshops for children.
Megha can be contacted at her residence
on 2757 1449.
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