Puja

Puja is a ritual act of honoring a deity or revered presence through offerings, prayers, and other observances. It ranges from brief personal rites to elaborate temple ceremonies.

Upachara: Upachara are the acts of service offered to a deity during worship, such as presenting water, food, or incense. These customary services provide a framework for the offerings made during puja.
Murti: A murti is a consecrated image or embodied form of a deity used in Hindu worship. Puja often addresses a deity through a murti treated as a living presence.
Griha puja: Griha puja is Hindu worship performed in a home, often before a household shrine. It shows how puja can be adapted to daily domestic life.
Yajna: Yajna is a Vedic sacrificial ritual centered on offerings made into a consecrated fire. Unlike many pujas centered on an image, yajna makes the fire and its offerings central.
Seva: Seva is selfless service performed as a religious or ethical practice. Puja frames service to a deity as an act of devotion.
Arati: Arati is a Hindu worship rite in which a flame is circled before a deity and offered with accompanying prayers or songs. The moving flame is a recognizable offering within many puja ceremonies.
Darshan: Darshan is the auspicious act of seeing and being seen by a deity, holy person, or sacred object. The exchange of sight is a central way worshippers encounter a deity during puja.
Panchayatana puja: Panchayatana puja is a Hindu practice of worshipping five deities together, associated especially with Smarta traditions. This form organizes puja around a group of deities rather than a single focus.
Homa: Homa is a Hindu fire ritual in which offerings are placed into a sacred flame with mantras. Homa can accompany worship, but its defining action is offering into fire.
Ahimsa: Ahimsa is the principle of nonviolence toward living beings in Indian religious and ethical traditions. Choices about offerings can reflect broader commitments to nonviolence.

Linked from 33 pages