After his explanation of the importance of symbology, Hazrat Inayat Khan now unfolds the significance of the Brahmanic form of worship.

Puja is the name of the Brahman form of worship, which is from the beginning to end a symbolical expression of what the seeker has to perform on the path of spiritual attainment. Before sunrise, the Hindu bathes in a stream of running water and calls it the Ganges, the sacred river, no matter what river or water it may happen to be. He then proceeds with flowers to the shrine of the deity. He puts the flowers on the deity, repeating a mantram; he stands to greet the deity with joined hands and prostrates himself. Then he rings a bell and repeats the sacred word. Then he takes rice in his hands and puts it at the feet of the deity; and with the tip of his finger, he makes a mark with red powder called Kumkum, first on the shrine and then on his own forehead. After this, he lightly anoints the deity with a certain ointment, whereupon he touches his forehead with the same ointment. Next, he prostrates himself, before making three circles around the shrine. Then he rings the bell again, and the service is ended. Afterwards he goes and stands before the sun and does his breathing exercises, and that completes the next part of his worship.

However primitive this form of worship may seem, it has a deep meaning behind it. The bath in the Ganges signifies being purified before one makes any effort on the spiritual path. The purification of both body and mind is necessary before one takes the first step towards the God-ideal. One must not approach the deity before such purification, outer purification as well as inner purification, for only when a person is pure will he find it easy to attain the desired presence of God.

The meaning of presenting flowers is that God is pleased with offerings which are delicate, beautiful, and fragrant. Delicacy means tenderness of heart; beauty of color means fineness of character; and fragrance, the virtue of the soul. This is the offering with which God is pleased. The worshipper holds the thought that his self is devoted in perfect discipline to the supreme will of God. His joined hands express no action on the part of himself, but complete surrender. The meaning of prostration is self-denial in the true sense of the word, which means, ‘I am not; Thou art.’ Whispering the words and ringing the bell signifies that the same words ring like a bell in one’s heart. Touching the red powder means touching the eternal life, and when he touches the deity with the powder, it means that from this source he will gain eternal life. When he touches his forehead with it, it means he has gained it for himself. The ointment means wisdom and applying it to the god and then to his own forehead means that true wisdom can be obtained from God alone, and that he himself has gained it. The three circles round the shrine indicate that life is a journey, and that the journey is made to attain his goal, which is God. ‘Every step I take in my life,’ the Brahman thinks, ‘will be in His direction, in the search for God.’

The second part of the service, when he stands before the sun, means that God is to be sought in the light, and the breathing exercises weld that link of inner communication between God and the worshipper.