Worship and rituals largely belong to the Tantra.
Worship is a means through which the body too can participate in the movement of inner adoration. When we thus adore and surrender to the Divine or the Deity or the Guru, the Guru leans down to uplift the worshipper and draws the devotee closer to his heart. Thus the adorer and the adored grow one through the dasya bhav. Of course this is if the worship and adoration spring from the core of the heart and not simply as a mechanical ritual.
Rituals are of three kinds. Those that spring spontaneously from the heart and become natural outer expression of an inner adoration. The second type of rituals are a symbolic mental representation of inner worship. For example the Puja performed by a devotee for his aradhya. The third type of rituals are occult in nature and are performed to enter into contact with and act upon and through the beings and forces of the occult world. These are the Tantric rituals and anusthana to invoke certain deities with specific purposes or to install a deity in a temple and keep the Presence there. Of course a majority of rituals may be simply mechanical and done without the inner movement or occult knowledge. These have hardly any value from the spiritual point of view.
It may be noted that outer worship and rituals largely belong to the religious world and generally keep us tied to the Ignorance and to the lower nature. True spiritual life is primarily an inner movement and does not depend upon rituals. So too a real Divine being is not pleased by these outer acts and mechanical rituals. They are rather moved by true and genuine aspiration and actions that are high and noble, movements of thought and feelings that are true and beautiful.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
