Question: Babaji, can you explain kundalini?
Babaji:
Kundalini; I have tried to talk about several times. First you need to understand that both mind and kundalini are made up of the same substance called pure consciousness. One portion that has gone into this universe, with imaginations of the world, you call it as mind. "My mind wants to think, my mind wants go there," all these things. Another small portion has gone into the body, which is coiled into the body. Because of this, you have obtained yourself as this body consciousness. Meaning, you have misidentified yourself with the body. Its potency is so strong about yourself - if anybody calls your name, what comes to your consciousness about yourself is the physical body that you are, whereas you are much beyond this.
Now, the sadhana is taught because mind is more powerful than the kundalini, because it is widely spread in the universe into billions and billions of layers. Since time immemorial so many lives have passed that your consciousness has spread. Every time it imagines it spreads, it gets puffed up and puffed up. That is why Saint Kabir, in one of his poetic songs, he tells, "Look at this mind, puffed up into layers of layers, keeps wandering in this world. What a great magician you are, what magic you have done to this my Lord." He talks about what is this secret of the mind. That is how the mind and kundalini are.
So you concentrate and you try to withdraw the mind. Mind comes back best when you have detachment to this world, when you have a firm conviction that this world is impermanent, it is illusion, it is transitory, it cannot give me a permanent happiness. Because including my own physical body everything is impermanent, it is not going to stay like that one. So when you have this detachment, vairagya, then the mind comes back easily. So when it comes back easily, it can lift the kundalini also. They both become one piece, and it gets delinked from the brain's reflections, and then it goes towards Samadhi.
That is why probably this place they tried to call as agna chakra, amongst all the chakras - the muladhara, svadhistana, manipura, anahata chakra like that. They tried to explain in a symbolic way, they tried to use so many terminologies of those days. Presently I try to avoid, because I myself always depended on my own experience. I did not go into deep study of scriptures. I try to use present-day terminology so that it can be simple and very understandable for people, so that I do not try to make it more complicated.
So, you should not bother about kundalini, you need not think about kundalini. If you control the mind it will automatically lift the kundalini and they become one piece and then Samadhi would occur. If you can bring your mind here, 100 percent here, concentrated, then you become commander of your mind. Until then, the mind keeps making you dance to its tune. Whatever it runs and it wants to think, it will give you tension, unhappiness, happiness, all the dualities, everything will be happening. Once you control the mind here, then if you want you can keep it quiet, if you want to think you can think. So that's what happens. Those are a few points about kundalini.
Nothing is ever conclusive, because the Divine is boundless. Ananta is the beautiful word those sages used when they Realized this truth. You can never give any conclusive answer, "It is it, this is all." If you think that it is a little bit, like a fenugreek seed, it might be still a big mountain that we have to know.
Question: You said for a long time we've been controlled by the mind, for so many years and years that's what's been happening. Why is it that from the birth of humanity we've chosen to be controlled by the mind, why haven't we gone into the body and actually have that kundalini?
Babaji:
Ignorance is one such basic reason. You see, like my Master used to tell, having been born as a human being you have triple responsibilities. One is to take care of the physical body as much as possible, so that we use it in a proper way, trying to keep it healthy, so that it can give us happiness. Very often human beings understand a little bit about the physical body. Even if there is a little bit of pain we run to the doctor, we need some medicine and we want it to be alright, perfectly.
But it is the second, mind, which gets totally neglected. Since childhood, we never bother that there is a need to look after the mind, to give some exercises, to give some proper feeding. So whatever we come across, we simply believe it. Whatever the brain reflects, the mind takes it in good faith. That's why sometimes I say, your brain can be your best friend, your brain can be your worst enemy, you never know. This is what happens.
Somewhere, something definitely occurs to every soul, and starts thinking in the right direction. Like in our childhood it happened. I used to think like this: if there is happiness it must be there at all times, 24 hours, 12 months. Why this duality? Sometimes there seems to be some anxious moments, some agonizing moments, some happy moments. Why is it like that? Is there some problem within me, my mind, or some problem within this world? So thus started our spiritual journey to know the truth, what it is. So many people in this world also, great Saints like Ramana Maharishi, He wanted to know about death; it appeared to be a big problem for Him. What will happen to me when I die? So when He was studying in His room as a young boy, He laid down quietly and He controlled all His senses, His breath also He controlled, then He started thinking, "Now I am dead. My relatives will take this body and they are going to cremate it. Finished. Then what will happen to me?" Then suddenly He realized, "Oh, I am still there. I have not vanished. There is some secret in this. That means I am not going to die." So that induced Him to go to spirituality, towards Tapas. He went to Tiruvannamalai and became a great Realized teacher. Like that Buddha, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa have tried to look into this factor. Somewhere, something is the problem. So that is what we try to do. Whoever comes in front of us, we try to brainwash them. Somewhere, some problem is there in your mind. Take care of that one. If you can control it, you can get rid of all problems.
The third thing is the moral health. Consideration of others, our responsibility to the fellow beings of this world.
Question
Is that what is called Nij dharma?
Nij dharma is one's own dharma. All the three are dharma. Dharma means your duty, perfect duty. You are duty bound to look after the body, and if you look after the mind, then the mind gains the ability to consider about others also.
