Worship and the Image (Pūjā & Mūrti)

Pūjā is worship — the ceremonial honoring of the divine, typically before a consecrated image (mūrti) in temple or home. The image is not regarded as a mere symbol but, once ritually enlivened, as a genuine seat of the deity's presence, received as an honored guest: bathed, clothed, offered food, lamps, incense, flowers, and song. To behold the deity and be beheld in return — darśana — is the heart of the encounter. Pūjā is the everyday devotional life of much of the tradition.