Within the Smārta fold, the worship of multiple deities rests on the vision that all forms are manifestations of a single Brahman, and this vision is given a very concrete ritual expression. The classical pattern is the pañcāyatana-pūjā, in which five deities—Śiva, Viṣṇu, Devī (Śakti), Sūrya, and Gaṇeśa—are installed on a single altar. One of these is chosen as the iṣṭa-devatā, the personally cherished form, and placed at the center, with the remaining deities arranged around it. Although the central position reflects personal affinity, the underlying understanding is that none of these deities is ultimately inferior or excluded. This arrangement allows a practitioner to honor a chosen form while simultaneously training the mind to see divinity as essentially one, shining through many names and images.

In practice, equality is expressed through the pattern of ritual honors offered to each deity. Each receives the standard sequence of pūjā: invocation, offering of a seat and water, bathing, clothing, sandal paste, flowers, incense, lamp, food, and prostration, followed by formal conclusion. The iṣṭa-devatā may receive some additional stotra, japa, or more elaborate offerings, yet the other deities are not treated casually or with lesser reverence. Each is approached with its own mantras and appropriate iconography—liṅga, śālagrāma, yantra, or image—so that ritual distinction is preserved even as metaphysical unity is affirmed. The inner guideline is sama-bhāva, an evenness of regard that refuses rivalry or sectarian denigration and instead cultivates the capacity to recognize Śiva in Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu in Devī, and so on.

Daily household practice often centers on this shared shrine, with morning or evening pañcāyatana-pūjā forming a steady discipline. The worship typically begins with an invocation of Brahman, proceeds through the honoring of all five deities, and closes with the contemplative recognition that all offerings have, in truth, gone to the one Supreme Reality. Families may adapt the forms—choosing, for example, particular regional manifestations of Viṣṇu or Devī—yet the essential pattern of honoring all remains intact. In this way, the Smārta approach becomes not only a ritual system but also a spiritual pedagogy: by giving parallel honors to multiple deities while holding the insight of non-duality, the practitioner learns to reconcile devotion to a chosen form with a broad, inclusive vision of the divine.