Aarti is a devotional prayer that has devotees standing before the image of a deity or consecrated saint accompanied with singing of devotional songs in unison. This singing is often accompanied by other musical instruments such as bells, gongs and cymbals. In Hindu rituals aarti is a rich and vibrant event, when the deity is adorned with garlands and showered with flowers along with aromatic incense sticks and waving of panchmukhi diya or five-wicks oil lamp around His figure in clockwise.

After offering the aarti before the deity, it is brought before all the devotees, who then pass their hands by turns over the sacred flame of the aarti lamp and quickly bring them closer to their faces and heads as a gesture of receiving the auspicious energy from the holy flame.