Explanation on the Mode of Worship

Upamanyu said

I will briefly add an explanation of the mode of worship. In Shiva's sacred texts, Shiva spoke of this to Shivaa. The inner worship ends with the rite involving fire. The outer worship may be done once the inner is complete, but it may or may not be done. In his mind one must picture objects and purify them. The person meditates on the god Vinayaka and worships him by the rules. A learned person mentally pictures fitting seats for Nandisha and Suyasha, to the south and north. With the postures of yoga and other means they are worshipped, and with the three tattvas they are seated in a bright padmasana. Above them he meditates on Shiva with Amba, enchanting in every way, with all the auspicious marks, his whole body auspicious, having every prosperity and adorned with every ornament. His face, hands and feet are red, his smiling face is like the moon or a kunda flower, he is like pure crystal, and his three eyes are like opened lotuses. He has four arms and a handsome body, and wears the lovely crescent of the moon. Hara's hands are in the boon-giving and fearless gestures and he wears an animal's hide. His necklace and bangles are serpents and the handsome end of his throat is blue. Nothing can be compared to him, and his followers and companions are with him.

He then pictures Maheshvari on his left. Her colour is like the petals of an opened blue lotus. Her eyes are large and broad, her face like the full moon, her hair dark blue and curled. She is like a blue lotus petal, with the half-moon on her crest. Her breasts are round, full, peaked and soft, her waist slender, her hips broad, her fine garment yellow. She is adorned with every ornament and a shining mark on her forehead. Nets of many coloured flowers adorn her hair. In every way her qualities match his, and her face is slightly lowered from shyness. In her right hand she holds a dazzling golden lotus. She sits on an excellent seat with her other hand resting on a staff. She cuts the Pashas, and her form is being, consciousness and bliss. So he meditates on Deva and Devi seated on an excellent auspicious seat. Full of devout feeling, he worships them with flowers and every other upachara. He can also picture the lord's embodied form as the one known as Shiva, Sadashiva, supreme Maheshvara, as the ruler of the twenty-six principles, or as Shrikantha. He can also place mantras on his own body. This embodied form of Shiva is supreme and beyond ideas of being and non-being. Meditating on the outer form and having worshipped, he then withdraws his intelligence. He mentally offers oblations, kindling and ghee in his navel. Between his eyebrows he meditates on Shiva as the pure flame of a lamp. This kind of yoga, sunk in meditation, is auspicious whether it refers to the limbs or is independent of them. Until the fire rites are over, all the procedures are the same. Or, after completing all the steps of the mental worship in order, he can worship the divinity as a lingam, in the fire, or on the ground.