Hinduism

=== Rituals ===
{{Main|Puja (Hinduism)|Arti (Hinduism)|Abhisheka|Japa|Havan|Yajna|Hindu wedding}}
[[File:(A) Hindu wedding, Saptapadi ritual before Agni Yajna.jpg|right|thumb|A wedding is the most extensive personal ritual an adult Hindu undertakes in his or her life. A typical [[Hindu wedding]] is solemnised before Vedic [[Yajna|fire]] ritual (shown).{{sfn|Lochtefeld|2002a|p=427}}]]
Most Hindus observe [[Puja (Hinduism)|religious rituals at home]].<ref>{{harvnb|Muesse|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/hindutraditionsc00mues/page/216 216]}}. "rituals daily prescribe routine"</ref> The rituals vary greatly among regions, villages, and individuals. They are not mandatory in Hinduism. The nature and place of rituals is an individual's choice. Some devout Hindus perform daily rituals such as worshiping at dawn after bathing (usually at a family shrine, and typically includes lighting a lamp and offering foodstuffs before the images of deities), recitation from religious scripts, singing bhajans (devotional hymns), yoga, [[meditation]], chanting mantras and others.{{sfn|Heitzman|Worden|1996|pp=145–146}}

Vedic rituals of fire-oblation (''[[yajna]]'') and chanting of Vedic hymns are observed on special occasions, such as a Hindu wedding.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sharma |first=A |year=1985 |title=Marriage in the Hindu religious tradition |journal=Journal of Ecumenical Studies |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=69–80}}</ref> Other major life-stage events, such as rituals after death, include the ''yajña'' and chanting of Vedic [[mantra]]s.<ref group="web">{{Cite web |title=Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 |url=http://www.sudhirlaw.com/HMA55.htm |access-date=25 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605133731/http://www.sudhirlaw.com/HMA55.htm |archive-date=5 June 2007}}</ref>

The words of the mantras are "themselves sacred,"{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|pp=346–347}} and "do not constitute [[Speech act|linguistic utterances]]."{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=347}} Instead, as Klostermaier notes, in their application in Vedic rituals they become [[Magic (supernatural)|magical]] sounds, "means to an end."{{refn|group=note|Klostermaier: "''Brahman'', derived from the root ''bŗh'' <nowiki>=</nowiki> to grow, to become great, was originally identical with the Vedic word, that makes people prosper: words were the pricipan means to approach the gods who dwelled in a different sphere. It was not a big step from this notion of "reified [[Speech act|speech-act]]" to that "of the speech-act being looked at implicitly and explicitly as a means to an end." {{harvnb|Klostermaier|2007|p=55}} quotes Madhav M. Deshpande (1990), [https://www.scribd.com/document/378011865/Madhav-Deshpande-Changing-Conceptions-of-the-Veda-From-Speech-Acts-to-Magical-Sounds ''Changing Conceptions of the Veda: From Speech-Acts to Magical Sounds''], p.4.}} In the Brahmanical perspective, the sounds have their own meaning, mantras are considered "primordial rhythms of creation", preceding the forms to which they refer.{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=347}} By reciting them the cosmos is regenerated, "by enlivening and nourishing the forms of creation at their base. As long as the purity of the sounds is preserved, the recitation of the ''mantras'' will be efficacious, irrespective of whether their discursive meaning is understood by human beings."{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=347}}<ref name="Coward2008p114" />