The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi fulfilled his promise of constructing Ram Mandir on January 22, 2024, when he took part in the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the temple. It was a magnificent moment in India's history as Lord Ram finally returned to his home in Ayodhya after a wait of over 500 years. According to so many Sanatani people worldwide, the construction of Ayodhya Ram Mandir is the first step towards 'Akhand Bharat'.
After the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, all eyes are on Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura. For the unversed, the people of Varanasi and Mathura have been raising their voices against the construction of the respective mosques for decades. It couldn't become a national issue because the demolition of Babri Masjid brought Ayodhya Ram Mandir's popularity to an entirely different stature.
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Coming back to Ayodhya Ram Mandir, there is no doubt that it holds a similar importance of the Char Dham Yatra in every Sanatani's life. Several people expressed their desire to visit Ram Lalla's birthplace with their parents and families, which clearly proves that visiting Ayodhya is now on every Sanatani's wishlist. Since the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ayodhya Ram Mandir, several interesting facts about the temple are making their way to the internet every now and then.
One such jaw-dropping fact is that the priest, who conducted the consecration ceremony was a 22-year-old youngster named Mohit Pandey. The young pujari grabbed eyeballs when he reportedly performed the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ayodhya Ram Mandir with the honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi. Thus, today, we are going to talk about him as he is also reportedly going to be the heir of Ram mandir's chief priest, Acharya Satyendra Das.
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According to multiple reports on the internet, Ayodhya Ram Mandir's priest, Mohit Pandey was born in 2001 in Belhaura, Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. The young pujari belongs to the Brahmin community, and while his father is a farmer, his mother is a homemaker. Right from an early age, Mohit had an interest in Vedas, and after he met one of his uncles, who was a scholar in Vedas, the youngster decided to make his career as a priest.
Talking about the educational qualifications of Mohit Pandey, he completed his schooling at Shri Dudheshwar Nath Math Veda Vidyapeeth, which is in Ghaziabad. After this, he went to Sri Venkateshwara Veterinary University, Tirupati, in order to pursue a BA (Shastri) program.
Not only this, but Mohit Pandey also pursued Master's degree (Acharya degree) in Samaveda from the same university in Tirupati. As per multiple sources, Mohit is preparing for a PhD degree to gain as much knowledge as possible about Vedas and religious practices that are crucial in his work as a priest.
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To work as a priest in one of India's biggest temples, Ayodhya Ram Mandir is a dream of every Sanatani priest across the country. However, when the recruitment process was held, only a few could crack the rigorous selection process. For the unversed, Shri Ram Janmdhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust advertised the need for 20 priests who will be serving at Ayodhya Ram Mandir, and the selection board received 3000 applications.
The first process of the selection was to filter out the candidates who didn't have the required degrees or proper Vedic knowledge to back their application. After which, as per reports, out of 3000, only 200-300 priests were selected for the interview round. The interview panel was comprised of Jaykant Mishra (Hindu preacher from Vrindavan) and two Mahants from Ayodhya, Mithilesh Nandani Sharan and Satayanarayan Das.
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Out of the 200-300 priests who reached the interview process, only 20 were selected, and Mohit Pandey was one of them. After completing the gruelling selection process, Mohit and the other 19 priests underwent a 6-month training before the inauguration ceremony of Ayodhya Ram Mandir. During this training, Mohit learnt the in-depth process of Sandhya Vandan, Karma Kand, Mantras, and everything related to the pujan of Lord Ram.
After Mohit Pandey was selected for the position of priest at Ayodhya Ram Mandir, he received a big thumbs up and a lot of praises from the head priest of his college, Dudheshwar Ved Vidyalaya. Sharing how proud he was after he got the news of Mohit's selection, the head priest, Mahant Narayan Giri revealed that he trained him for 10 years. He also added that Mohit's command of Sanskriti played a major factor in his selection. Lauding his efforts, Narayan Giri said:
"It's a matter of great pride for us that our student has been chosen as a priest at the Ayodhya Ram temple. We trained him here for 10 long years. It isn't an easy test to pass. But his command over Sanskrit and pronunciation of words to worship the lord would have held him in good stead. He was trained in all these."
Well, we found Mohit Pandey's journey to becoming a priest in Ayodhya Ram Mandir quite inspiring. What about you? Let us know.
Also Read: Meet Arun Yogiraj, Who Carved Ayodhya Ram Mandir's Ram Lalla Idol: Left 9 to 5 Job To Be A Sculptor
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