In the Smarta tradition, worship is typically organized around a group of five principal deities known as the *Panchayatana*. These five are Vishnu, Shiva, Devi (or Shakti), Ganesha, and Surya. Each of these deities is honored as a fully valid and complete manifestation of the divine, and any one of them may serve as the central focus of a practitioner’s devotion. The others are then arranged around that chosen form, symbolizing a harmonious circle of divinities rather than a rigid hierarchy. This pattern of worship reflects a deliberate inclusivity, allowing space for varied temperaments and devotional leanings within a single ritual framework.

Some Smarta lineages also include a sixth deity, Skanda or Kartikeya, especially in certain regional traditions. Even when this sixth form is honored, the basic structure still revolves around the same core set of deities. The presence of these multiple divine forms does not imply a fragmentation of the sacred, but rather a recognition that the one reality can be intuited and approached through many images and names. Thus, the ritual array of Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, Ganesha, Surya, and sometimes Kartikeya becomes a kind of mandala, inviting contemplation of unity within diversity.

Underlying this pattern of worship is a non-dual philosophical vision in which all these deities are understood as manifestations of a single ultimate reality, Brahman. Devotees may choose one *ishta-devata*, a personally cherished form such as Krishna, Rama, Durga, or another manifestation of these principal deities, while still acknowledging the others as equally real expressions of the same truth. The ritual honoring of multiple deities, therefore, does not dilute devotion but deepens it, encouraging a recognition that the divine cannot be confined to any single image. In this way, Smarta practice holds together rich devotional plurality with a contemplative awareness of non-dual oneness.