The process of worship and puja in Hinduism has to begin with an invocation of the supreme deity in each part of the body. The chakras or energy centers lying dormant within the body are to be aroused along with the deities, aspects of the supreme divinity, residing in them, so that the body becomes sanctified and deified. This deified body alone can become a proper receptacle for holding the cosmic creation by the act of worship, an act of reliving the inverse process of creation.
This inverse process is offering water representing the
element water, perfume or sandal paste or saffron or musk representing the element
earth, flowers representing the element space, incense representing air and
lamp representing fire element.
The nectar through a relishable and edible product like
sweets represent jiva and tambula or betel leaves represent the all the
elements together.
Even in manasa puja (mental or conceptual worship), the
different patterns of two-finger formations are used along with the bijas of
each element to conceive these offerings in the same order – the lam bija (the
union of the thumb with the little finger) represents the earth element
offering; the ham bija (the union of thumb and the index finger) indicates the
akasha element offering; the yam bija (the union of the index finger with the
thumb) represents the offering of the vayu (air) element; the ram bija (the
union of middle finger and the thumb) indicates the offering of the tejas
(fire) element; the vam bija (the union of thumb and the finger in between the
small and the middle finger) indicates the offering of the self as enjoyable
food; and lastly, the sam bija (the offering of betel leaves with its betel nut, chunam (lime paste) and Khadira (acacia) indicates the offering of all the
elements to the supreme reality.
A proper sanctification and deification of the body, the
vital air and the mind is essential. This is technically Bhuta Shuddhi (purification
of the elements). Bhuta Shuddhi is preceded by ganapati puja (worship of the
God Ganesha). Ganesha stands for the totality of all beings; he is the Bhagavan
of the Gana (multitude). His invocation is essential so that one is mentally
prepared to perform an act of significance. The process of bhuta shuddhi is
conceptually very elaborate, but it is done in a short time with practice. This
process involves ritual annihilation of the subtle mundane body, its transformation
or rebirth as sambhava sharira (a body deified as Shiva), its energization with
the harmony of Shiva and Shakti, and its gradual manifestation in the gross
five-elemental body.