Pūjā — daily worship

पूजा

Also written: puja · how to do puja · shodashopachara · arati · murti worship · idol worship hinduism · पूजा

Pūjā treats the deity as an honoured guest received in the home. That is not a metaphor — the sequence of the classical rite is precisely the sequence of receiving a distinguished visitor, and it is drawn from the rules of hospitality.

The rule of hospitality it is drawn from is not a courtesy but a commandment, and it is given in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad's graduation address, in a series of four identical constructions.

मातृदेवो भव। पितृदेवो भव। आचार्यदेवो भव। अतिथिदेवो भव॥

mātṛ-devo bhava. pitṛ-devo bhava. ācārya-devo bhava. atithi-devo bhava

Be one to whom the mother is a god. Be one to whom the father is a god. Be one to whom the teacher is a god. Be one to whom the guest is a god.

— Taittirīya Upaniṣad 1.11.2

The fourth term is the one that matters here. Mother, father and teacher are known; atithi means literally one who comes without a date — the unannounced arrival, the stranger. To place that person in the same construction as one's own mother is to abolish the distinction between the family and whoever turns up. Pūjā runs this sentence backwards: if a guest is to be received as a god, then a god is received as a guest, and the sixteen acts below are simply what one does for a visitor who has come a long way.

The sixteen offerings

#	Upacāra	Act
1	Āvāhana	Inviting the deity to be present
2	Āsana	Offering a seat
3	Pādya	Water for the feet
4	Arghya	Water for the hands
5	Ācamana	Water to sip
6	Snāna	Bathing
7	Vastra	Clothing
8	Yajñopavīta	The sacred thread
9	Gandha	Sandal paste
10	Puṣpa	Flowers
11	Dhūpa	Incense
12	Dīpa	Lamp
13	Naivedya	Food
14	Tāmbūla	Betel, after the meal
15	Nīrājana	Ārati — the waving of light
16	Pradakṣiṇā and namaskāra	Circumambulation and prostration; then visarjana, taking leave

What the image is and is not

The tradition's own account: the mūrti is a locus, consented to by the deity, for the sake of a worshipper whose mind cannot rest on the formless. The deity is invoked into it at the start and respectfully taken leave of at the end — which is exactly why images are immersed at the close of a festival. No one who dissolves an image in a river a week after making it has confused the image with God.

रूपं रूपविवर्जितस्य भवतो ध्यानेन यत्कल्पितम्।

rūpaṁ rūpa-vivarjitasya bhavato dhyānena yat kalpitam

The form imagined in meditation, for You who are without form — forgive it.

— Śaṅkarācārya, Kṣamā-prārthanā

आवाहनं न जानामि न जानामि विसर्जनम्। पूजां चैव न जानामि क्षम्यतां परमेश्वर॥

āvāhanaṁ na jānāmi na jānāmi visarjanam pūjāṁ caiva na jānāmi kṣamyatāṁ parameśvara

I do not know the invocation; I do not know the taking of leave. I do not even know how to worship. Forgive it, Supreme Lord.

— Kṣamā-prārthanā, recited at the close of pūjā

What is actually being offered

The Gītā settles the question of scale in one verse, and the four things it names are chosen for their cheapness.

पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति। तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः॥

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

A leaf, a flower, a fruit, water — whoever offers Me these with devotion, that offering of devotion, from one whose self is disciplined, I accept and eat.

— Bhagavad Gītā 9.26

A leaf, a flower, a fruit and water are the four things available to a person with nothing. No animal, no gold, no fee, no priest, no fire and no qualification appear in the list. What is specified instead is the giver's condition — bhaktyā, with devotion, and prayatātmanaḥ, from one who is composed. The verse relocates the entire value of an offering from the object to the offerer, which is why the elaborate sixteen-part rite and a cup of water are held to be the same act performed at different scales.

And the following verse extends the same operation past the shrine, to everything else a person does in a day.

यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत्। यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम्॥

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give, whatever austerity you practise — do that as an offering to Me.

— Bhagavad Gītā 9.27

Pūjā — daily worship

The sixteen offerings

What the image is and is not

What is actually being offered

Yoga — the paths of union

Svara Yoga — the science of the breath

Dhyāna — meditation

Mantra and japa