Hinduism

=== Bhakti (worship) ===
{{Main|Bhakti|Puja (Hinduism)|Japa|Mantra|Bhajan}}
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| footer            = A home shrine with offerings at a regional [[Vishu]] festival (left); a priest in a temple (right)
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''Bhakti'' refers to devotion, participation in and the love of a personal god or a representational god by a devotee.<ref name="encyclopediabrit" group="web">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2009 |title=Bhakti |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63933/bhakti |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174330/https://www.britannica.com/topic/bhakti |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="karen">{{Cite book |last=Pechelis |first=Karen |title=The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies |url=https://archive.org/details/continuumcompani00fraz |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8264-9966-0 |editor-last=Frazier |editor-first=Jessica |pages=[https://archive.org/details/continuumcompani00fraz/page/107 107]–121 |chapter=Bhakti Traditions |editor-last2=Flood |editor-first2=Gavin}}</ref> ''Bhakti-marga'' is considered in Hinduism to be one of many possible paths of spirituality and alternative means to moksha.<ref>{{harvnb|Lochtefeld|2002a|pp=98–100}}; also see articles on karmamārga and jnanamārga</ref> The other paths, left to the choice of a Hindu, are ''Jnana-marga'' (path of knowledge), ''Karma-marga'' (path of works), ''Rāja-marga'' (path of contemplation and meditation).<ref name="johnmartin">{{Cite book |last=Sahajananda |first=John Martin |year=2014 |title=Fully Human Fully Divine |publisher=Partridge India |isbn=978-1-4828-1955-7 |page=60}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tiwari |first=Kedar Nath |title=Comparative Religion |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=2009 |isbn=978-81-208-0293-3 |page=31}}</ref>

Bhakti is practised in a number of ways, ranging from reciting mantras, [[japa]]s (incantations), to individual private prayers in one's home shrine,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Huyler |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnNcDn36VHcC |title=Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-300-08905-9 |pages=10–11, 71 |access-date=9 November 2017 |archive-date=28 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328161119/https://books.google.com/books?id=cnNcDn36VHcC |url-status=live }}</ref> or in a temple before a [[murti]] or sacred image of a deity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gonda |first=Jan |year=1963 |title=The Indian Mantra |journal=Oriens |volume=16 |pages=244–297 |doi=10.1163/18778372-01601016}}</ref>{{sfn|Fowler|1997|pp=41–50}} [[Hindu temple]]s and domestic altars, are important elements of worship in contemporary theistic Hinduism.<ref name="Foulston2012p20">{{Cite book|last=Foulston|first=Lynn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3N4mGlbutbgC|title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|isbn=978-1-135-18978-5|editor-last=Cush|editor-first=Denise|pages=21–22, 868|display-editors=etal|access-date=10 November 2017|archive-date=28 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328161120/https://books.google.com/books?id=3N4mGlbutbgC|url-status=live}}</ref> While many visit a temple on special occasions, most offer daily prayers at a domestic altar, typically a dedicated part of the home that includes sacred images of deities or gurus.<ref name="Foulston2012p20" />

One form of daily worship is aarti, or "supplication", a ritual in which a flame is offered and "accompanied by a song of praise".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Lutgendorf|first=Philip|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fVFC2Nx-LP8C&q=hanuman's+tale|title=Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-804220-4|page=401|language=en|access-date=29 December 2020|archive-date=29 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174158/https://books.google.com/books?id=fVFC2Nx-LP8C&q=hanuman%27s+tale|url-status=live}}</ref> Notable aartis include [[Om Jai Jagdish Hare]], a [[Hindi language|Hindi]] prayer to [[Vishnu]], and [[Sukhakarta Dukhaharta]], a [[Marathi language|Marathi]] prayer to [[Ganesha]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ganesh, the benevolent|date=1995|publisher=Marg Publications|editor=Pal, Pratapaditya |isbn=81-85026-31-9|location=Bombay|oclc=34752006 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Raj|first=Dhooleka S.|title=Where Are You From?: Middle-Class Migrants in the Modern World|date=2003|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-23382-9 |jstor=10.1525/j.ctt1pn917}}</ref> Aarti can be used to make offerings to entities ranging from deities to "human exemplar[s]".<ref name=":0" /> For instance, Aarti is offered to [[Hanuman]], a devotee of God, in many temples, including [[Balaji Mandir (disambiguation)|Balaji temples]], where the primary deity is an incarnation of [[Venkateswara|Vishnu]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lutgendorf|first=Philip|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fVFC2Nx-LP8C&q=hanuman's+tale|title=Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-804220-4|pages=23, 262|language=en|access-date=29 December 2020|archive-date=29 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174126/https://books.google.com/books?id=fVFC2Nx-LP8C&q=hanuman%27s+tale|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Swaminarayan Sampradaya|Swaminarayan]] temples and home shrines, aarti is offered to [[Swaminarayan]], considered by followers to be [[Supreme God (Hinduism)|Supreme God]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Raymond Brady|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODdqDwAAQBAJ&q=an+introduction+to+swaminarayan+hinduism|title=Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism|year= 2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-42114-0|pages=84, 153–154|language=en|access-date=29 December 2020|archive-date=29 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174204/https://books.google.com/books?id=ODdqDwAAQBAJ&q=an+introduction+to+swaminarayan+hinduism|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other personal and community practices include puja as well as aarti,{{sfn|Lochtefeld|2002a|p=51}} kirtan, or bhajan, where devotional verses and hymns are read or poems are sung by a group of devotees.<ref group="web">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2015 |title=Puja |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/puja |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174151/https://www.britannica.com/topic/puja |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=DeNapoli |first=Antoinette |title=Real Sadhus Sing to God |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-994003-5 |pages=19–24}}</ref> While the choice of the deity is at the discretion of the Hindu, the most observed traditions of Hindu devotion include Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reinhart |first=Robin |title=Contemporary Hinduism: ritual, culture, and practice |url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryhind0000unse_x1k0 |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57607-905-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/contemporaryhind0000unse_x1k0/page/35 35]–47|publisher=Abc-Clio }}</ref> A Hindu may worship multiple deities, all as henotheistic manifestations of the same ultimate reality, cosmic spirit and absolute spiritual concept called Brahman.{{sfn|Prentiss|2014}}{{sfn|Sharma|2000|pp=72–75}}<ref name="avatars" /> Bhakti-marga, states Pechelis, is more than ritual devotionalism, it includes practices and spiritual activities aimed at refining one's state of mind, knowing god, participating in god, and internalising god.{{sfn|Prentiss|2014|pp=22–29}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Religion |publisher=Thomson Gale |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-02-865735-6 |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |volume=2 |pages=856–857}}</ref> While bhakti practices are popular and easily observable aspect of Hinduism, not all Hindus practice bhakti, or believe in god-with-attributes (''saguna Brahman'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Bob |title=Hindus meeting Christians |publisher=OCMS |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-870345-39-2 |pages=288–295 |postscript=;}}<br />{{Cite book |last=Vroom |first=Hendrick |title=No Other Gods |url=https://archive.org/details/noothergodschris0000vroo |publisher=Eerdmans Publishing |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8028-4097-4 |location=Cambridge |pages=[https://archive.org/details/noothergodschris0000vroo/page/68 68]–69}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Smart |first=Ninian |title=The Yogi and the Devotee |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-415-68499-6 |pages=52–80}}</ref> Concurrent Hindu practices include a belief in god-without-attributes (''[[nirguna Brahman]]''), and god within oneself.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ardley |first=Jane |title=Spirituality and Politics: Gandhian and Tibetan cases, in The Tibetan Independence Movement |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-138-86264-7 |pages=ix, 98–99, 112–113 |postscript=;}}<br />{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Helen |title=Roots of Wisdom: A Tapestry of Philosophical Traditions |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-285-19712-8 |pages=188–189|publisher=Cengage Learning }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhavasar |first=SN |title=Hindu Spirituality: Postclassical and Modern |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=2004 |isbn=978-81-208-1937-5 |editor-last=Sundararajan |editor-first=K. R. |pages=28–29 |editor-last2=Mukerji |editor-first2=Bithika}}</ref>