A practitioner worships their Ishta-deva through the form of a murti. This worship may involve offering items to their chosen divinity such as incense or flowers, reciting mantras, singing their names and offering prayers.
Remembering the deity and internally building a relationship with (or through) them is considered essential to the practice. Within the Advaita schools it is believed that the human mind needs a concrete form to understand the divine that ultimately can never be defined. Just as one can understand the abstract concept of a color only after one has seen a concrete form, one can only realize the deity through a form of murti. In contrast, the Dvaita associated schools believe the Supreme Being to possess a divine form, and offer worship to their Ishta-deva as either a representation or direct expansion of the Supreme Person. For example Vaishnava schools offer worship exclusively to murtis of Vishnu, or his associated avatars such as Krishna or Rama.
Shaivites worshi ...more