"To exalt oneself with pious worship - is Jajan; To exalt others with pious worship - is Jaajan; the daily sacred oblation to your Lord before taking any food - is Ishtabhriti" (M.2.214)
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💡 Pillars of Existence**
0**. Initiation
1. Jajan
2. Jaajan
3. Ishtabhriti
4. Swastayani
5. Sadachar
🔥 Panchabarhi & Saptarchee ******
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Sree Sree Thakur has said about self-culture (Jajan)—“Be consecrated to the Ideal, dedicate yourself to the service of the Ideal with an ardent concentric urge, equip yourself with your everything in all respects spreading and all that concerns you thoroughly consistent—thus do achieve becoming yourself–verily this is the attuned secret of self-culture (Jajan)”.
"The psycho-physical adjustment through the apt culture of principles of being & becoming, equipped with adorant enthusiasm and active adherence towards the Master or Ideal is called Jajan ( or Self-Culture)."
So, Jajan or self-culture as the name suggests is the culture of self through our thoughts-words-&-deeds, i.e. anything and everything that we need to do in order to regulate ourselves in accordance with the law of the existence should be covered. Just as proficient fitness-trainers design or prescribe different sets of exercises for different targets like abs, biceps, triceps, etc. along with a specific kind of diet, similarly for the overall enhancement of our inner faculties certain kind of exercises are prescribed in our scriptures for ages. Master designed them in accordance with the age making them portable and much more efficient at the same time. Jajan is hence a comprehensive subject. It comprehends within its sweep -
These are the exercises and means through which we can completely anoint ourselves with the maxims of the Master or Ideal. The essence of self-culture lies in completely soaking ourselves in his ideas and identifying ourselves with him, and this is calculated to affect a thorough metamorphosis in our personality & awakening of our mastery within.
It is essential to remember the discussions we have already made. So we shall repeat some of the conclusions we have arrived at. We shall have to accept as Ideal the latest representative man of the age who is a nurturer of distinctive individual characteristics and a fulfiller of all. He is the embodied form of God and all the previous prophets. He has a full grip over the origin and end of creation. He is at once a living combination of the infinite and finite. He is the very essence of the basic cause from which everything sprung. And, he can also impart the technique is what is called initiation. It is called initiation because through the cultivation of this technique man attains all-round efficiency. The Holy Name is imparted at the time of initiation. The Holy Name is of different kinds-. (a) Dhunyatmak : that which represents resonance, (b) Dhanyatmak: that which represents sounds and (c) Bhavatmak: that which represents an idea. The resonant name or the Dhunyatmak Naam is the highest form of Holy Name. Because everything belonging to the world is the outcome of vibration and the vital essence and mechanism of vibration lies impregnated in the bosom of that resonant Holy Name. We can reach the very core of causal plane by practicing this name with adherence and devotion to the Ideal or the personified Holy Name.
So repetition of Name and Meditation are essential. We shall have to repeat the Holy Name inwardly and think about the Ideal along with that. The figure of the Ideal represents the very essence of the causal plane or in other words it is the conscious personified form of the Name. So along with thinking on the Ideal, we should continue to lovingly remember and meditate on his form. Through this we can easily realize the Supreme Truth. In this context it needs to be mentioned that fulfiller the best of the age is the object of our worship and meditation. If he is no more in flesh and blood, even then he should be worshipped and meditated upon. Because none other than the personified form of the Name can be the object of our worship and contemplation. Thereby we cannot reach the goal represented by the Name. We can at best reach the stage which has been realized by the object of our meditation. Further advancement becomes almost blocked. More-over, if we meditate on anyone except the unerring supreme advent, then we are likely to imbibe the errors and weaknesses that linger in his character. That serves to deteriorate us instead of elevating us. In a word till the next appearance of the Supreme Being in a human form, the latest incarnation should be worshipped and meditated on.