Puja is a worship ritual performed by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains to offer devotional homage and prayer to one or more deities, to host and honor a guest, or to spiritually celebrate an event). The word "puja" is Sanskrit and means reverence, honor, homage, adoration, and worship). Puja is considered to be an especially powerful form of worshipping the Divine because it combines physical, verbal, mental, and vibrational aspects of worship.

The components of a puja vary greatly according to the sect, community, part of the country, time of day, needs of the worshipper, and religious text followed. In its simplest form, puja usually consists of making an offering of flowers or fruit to an image of a god. A puja may also include a circumambulation of the image or shrine and, in an elaborate ritual, a sacrifice and oblation to the sacred fire. Special ceremonies according to the festival calendar may also be observed, such as swinging the god or playing games according to the season.

All significant Indian holidays, including Rakhi, Diwali, Holi, Karva Chauth, Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, and Navratri, have rituals known as puja). Common items utilized in puja include a diya, ghee wicks, bells, flowers, incense sticks, cones, roli or kumkum, chawal, tilak, chandan, idols, and samagri havan). Puja is typically performed by a Hindu worshipper alone, though sometimes in the presence of a priest who is well-versed in complex rituals and hymns). In temples and priest-assisted events, puja, food, fruits, and sweets may be included as sacrificial offerings to the ceremony or deity, which, after the prayers, becomes prasad – food shared by all gathered).

Puja is considered to be a technique or discipline for fostering the spiritual growth of a devotee by facilitating action, devotion, knowledge, and focus and introspection, all of which is offered with humble and loving surrender to the Divine. Puja can consist of meditation, austerity, chanting, scripture reading, offering food, and/or prostrations. A typical puja has 27 steps. Puja can be performed individually or collectively, in silence or voiced prayer or chant. Puja is usually concluded with a light offering, an aarti to the Lord, in which light from wicks soaked in ghee or camphor is offered to one or more Gods.