Hyderabad: Ankita Shri Shri Mal, a 25-year-old with a bachelors in business who runs a successful baking business, was felicitated by her family on her decision to become a Jain monk at Feelkhana here on Friday.
She and other female Jain monks offered special prayers at the Jain temple in Feelkhana.
It has been a remarkable decision as Ankita is a seasoned cake-maker, a smartphone-savvy sports enthusiast, who loves dancing. She will be giving up everything after a formal ceremony in Guntur.
From May, she will only be wearing white clothes and live on alms. Ankita is opting for a life where they are not supposed to use electricity, not even electric bulbs and fans and will be travelling barefoot.
“People have 20-year and 40-year plans, think of family and career. I feel content with the life I have chosen for myself,” she said.
On being asked whether the decision was taken because she had noticed some wrongdoings in the society, pats comes the answer “youngsters are getting depressed for small things and many of them are attempting suicides. People should realise the importance of life. They should respect their life and those of others also.”
“It was my mother who encouraged me to embark on this journey. My father is a businessman and I have three sisters and a brother. I don’t think my journey will be tough as I chose a path of happiness,” she said.
Senior monk Sadhvi Harshpoorna Shri ji, said “I became a monk when I was 17 years old. Now I am 45. For up to eight months every year, we will be travelling to different places and preaching divine and non-violence messages. We live by begging and women are not supposed to touch men. Many kill animals and eat them, which is so hurting.”
Praveen Jain Nahata, joint secretary of the Jain temple at Charkaman, said, “It’s a great honour for us to take the procession (vargoda) on chariot this Sunday. The procession, which will also have Ankita, will start from the Koti Jain temple in the morning and culminate at the Kachiguda Jain temple, where 23 Jain monks will participate in a religious programme.”
