Devotion is the underlying principle of Pooja or Worship. Adi Shakaracharya puts it in right perspective in below excerpt from Vivekachudamani:
स्वस्वरूपानुसन्धानं भक्तिरित्यभिधीयते
svasvarūpānusandhānam bhaktirityabhidhīyate
स्वात्मतत्त्वानुसन्धानं भक्तिरित्यपरे जगुः
svātmatattvānusandhānam bhaktirityapare jaguh
(Vivekachudamani 31,32)
Translation: Constant contemplation of one's own real nature is Devotion. Reuniting with that nature is declared to be Devotion by others
Worshipping is not an act of flaunting expensive items to keep up with the joneses. Its a means to remind ourselves of auspicious qualities that remain hidden within us by projecting it onto God or Goddess. Dieties are as real as our very own existence but gets clouded due to external sense stimulations and attachments which often lead us to negative qualities personified by Demons haunting us every moment lurking within as bogieman. Pooja is means to bring forth light within us to remove the darkness that we nurtured unknowingly for lifetimes.
“When, hearing the name of Hari or Rāma once, you shed tears and your hair stands on end, then you may know for certain that you do not have to perform such devotions as the sandhyā any more. Then only will you have a right to renounce rituals; or rather, rituals will drop away of themselves. Then it will be enough if you repeat only the name of Rāma or Hari, or even simply Om.” Continuing, he said, “The sandhyā merges in the Gāyatri, and the Gāyatri merges in Om.”
“Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.” chapter 1
As long as our mind's attention is dictated by external world, its prudent to keep it engaged with God in language it understands better: physical items of value. Lets consider a Rainbow that evokes beautiful feelings for anyone. Compare just saying word Rainbow -to- imagining it and then -to- drawing it out to best of our capacity. Drawing involves complete indulgence of attention to exclusion of everything else.
Pooja too is intended to be an all exclusive act where we lighten-up Altar, decorate God, feed them and offer other important items that we would only offer to most important person in our lives whom we feel indebted to. Doing this daily with utmost sincerity and love is what cultivates Devotion to God and thereby to qualities within ourselves that they personify.
Each item we offer during pooja has significance at all levels of ones existence. Panchopachara (five offerings) pooja is shortest of all offerings in worship that we learned during Laghu MahaGanapati homa vidhi. They symbolically represent we offering ourselves completely to God at all five gross elements level that we are constituted of.
As we develop chitta-suddhi, i.e clarity in consciousness, this pooja evolves into an all-in-all internal process where we offer ourselves at all gross, subtle and causal levels to Deity. At one stage, the fine thread separating us from Deity dissolves leading us to real Meditation upon our Self without much effort. This is the end goal of all Sadhana.
Sri Matre namah
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