In a Smārta household, daily worship unfolds around the pañcāyatana-pūjā, the reverential honoring of five deities—Śiva, Viṣṇu, Devī, Gaṇeśa, and Sūrya—arranged on a home altar, with the family’s chosen iṣṭa-devatā at the center. The day’s worship generally begins in the early morning, after bathing and basic purification, when the shrine is cleaned, a lamp is lit, and simple offerings such as water, flowers, fruits, and sometimes incense are prepared. The practitioner often performs ācamanam (sipping sanctified water) and simple bodily purification, sometimes accompanied by a brief resolve (saṅkalpa) to undertake the day’s worship. This external preparation is frequently joined with an inward orientation, in which the deities are remembered as expressions of the one Brahman, even as each is approached in a distinct form.

The core of the daily ritual consists of offering the traditional upacāras (services) to each deity, usually beginning with Gaṇeśa and then proceeding to the iṣṭa-devatā and the remaining deities. These offerings may follow the full sequence—inviting the deity (āvāhana), offering a seat (āsana), water for feet and hands (pādya, arghya), water for sipping (ācamanam), ritual bathing (snāna), clothing and ornaments (vastra, ābharaṇa), sandal paste and flowers (gandha, puṣpa), incense and lamp (dhūpa, dīpa), food (naivedya), and circumambulation (pradakṣiṇā)—or a simplified form, depending on time and family custom. Mantras and short hymns particular to each deity are recited, and the worshiper bows, offers prayers, and may perform a brief ārati, waving the lamp before the assembled images. At the close of this sequence, a common ārati is often offered to all deities together, accompanied by bell-ringing and simple devotional songs.

After the formal offerings, the food placed before the deities is regarded as prasāda and shared among family members, reinforcing the sense that daily sustenance itself is a gift of the divine. Many Smārtas also integrate mantra-japa and scriptural recitation into this period, drawing from texts such as the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma or other revered hymns, and then sit for a short meditation. In that contemplative silence, the many forms honored on the altar are understood as manifestations of a single, non-dual Reality, and the chosen deity is seen not as separate from others but as a particularly intimate doorway to Brahman. Even when the routine is abbreviated to the lighting of a lamp, a few mantras, and simple offerings, the underlying Advaitic vision remains: multiple deities are lovingly served, while the heart rests in the awareness of their essential unity.