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The third vṛtti is vikalpa vṛtti. The sūtra is śabdajñānānupātī vastuśūnyo vikalpaḥ: that which is realized through words and sound, that thing is śūnya, empty. The vāk, the word, belongs to the ākāśa element. It is empty; it has no form. Form is created afterward in your mind. When someone says, "You are beautiful," you cannot see beauty in those words, but immediately your mind catches this, and you are—or your mind is educated in—what is beautiful for you. Immediately you become happy. Or someone tells you that you are stupid. Immediately, from your memory, from the deep part of your memory, that knowledge of stupidity comes out. You become angry and say, "I am not stupid." But your inner self is repeating again, "Maybe I am stupid. That stupid person told me that I am stupid." That is a vikalpa. You cannot find any concrete subject to it, only the words, the sound, upon which you begin to think. That kind of vṛtti is vikalpa vṛtti. There is a sound from a far distance. Now you begin to think: what could it be? The sound of a gun, an earthquake, thunder in the clouds, an accident, an explosion—what could it be? It is our trained mind that immediately begins to find what kind of sound it can be. That is vikalpa. Vikalpa vṛtti, if it is a supportive vṛtti, then it is good. If it is a disturbing vṛtti, then it is a kliṣṭa vṛtti. So, what we are trying to do is to gain the good things. I told you many times a story: one person comes to a master and asks to become a disciple. The master told him, "I give you one duty. If you finish this successfully, then you will get the mantra." The master asked him to bring a plant, any kind of plant from anywhere in the world, that kind of plant which has no use, which is good for nothing. He said, "Okay, Master," and went. He began to study the plants. He went to farmers and asked them, "What kind of plant is this? What is the use of this plant?" He went to someone who has knowledge of herbs, and so on. He traveled from continent to continent, country to country, shore to shore, island to island. Nowhere could he find a plant which is completely useless. What he did was draw the picture of the plant, write its name, and note what it is good for. It took him a few years to study this. Then he came with so many papers and presented them to the master. He said, "Master, this is evidence that I have been making this effort, but I failed. I could not find any kind of plant that is good for nothing." So the master said, "Well, you passed your examination. Now you will be the master of medicine, the father of medicine." And he was the father of medicine, as an Āyurvedic doctor, a naturopath. Other medicine came after. First was Āyurveda. There is nothing older than Āyurveda, and that is why its name is beautiful. Veda means wisdom or knowledge, and Āyur is life: the knowledge of life, this physical life. They knew everything, unbelievable things, what they have done without any instruments. They discovered this through meditations and through long research work. There is astral traveling in yoga through the entire universe. There are two kinds of astral traveling. One is within your body, because it is said, yathā brahmāṇḍe tathā piṇḍe: what is in the cosmos exists in this body. What in this body is not existing is nothing existing in the universe. This is another universe, and this is a micro-universe. So the Self is traveling through this body. We do not know this. We know only some parts of the body from the outside—how does this look? Inside, we do not know. Through medical research work and through studying physiology and anatomy, they cut the body and try to see inside what is there. But things which are in life to see are different than in the dead body. In the living body, what is happening, what kind of process is there, what God’s miracle is in our body, that you cannot see through instruments. As soon as you cut the parts of the body or you send some instrument inside, those fine streams of energy stop. And sometimes life is destroyed. There are some creatures, or some corals, in the sea. If you try to touch them, they close. They do not open completely. Similarly, our chakras and energy centers, what we call where the fine energy is flowing, the channeling process, the system between the universe and this universe, are constantly connected with God. These eyes cannot see, but there is a continual connection. For example, now in technology we have something that has proved it. When you have a handset, a telephone, you are talking to someone at a far distance or a near distance. You have a connection, but you do not see it. Or your remote controller—you do not see it. But there is some connection with some kind of light connection, and that light is not visible to these physical eyes. Similarly, there is a connection with God, in union with the cosmic union with everything. But this mind does not see. This intellect is not aware of that, and that is called ignorance. Some vṛttis could be explained through the mind. But for that highest knowledge, for the parāvidyā, you have to develop your other senses inside. These are the higher senses, and they are so tender, gentle. They are damaged with one negative thought. You can press and press your remote controller, you know, and the program is disrupted. One negative action, one negative word immediately damages our fine functions in the body. So it is a long work, and it is not easy. It is more difficult than you think, but it is possible. Try. The wise ones say it is much easier than you could think, but I am not that one. That is why I am telling you it is harder than you could think. It is possible through certain things: tapas, tapasyā, austerity. It means the capacity to endure. Wait, wait, and wait. Many people become mentally ill, crazy, because they are not able to wait. That is the problem. Yes, wait, wait. How long should I wait? God, how long should I wait? He said, "It is very easy. Wait till I come." So, when will you come? It is very easy to know. When I am there, then you know that I came. Wait. How long? Until I come. This life, next life, ten lives, twenty lives, a thousand lives—but I will come. So we have to strengthen our belief. I do believe he will come sooner or later, and he is here. Tapasyā is enduring pleasant and unpleasant situations. Svādhyāya, about which we spoke yesterday: tapa, svādhyāya, manana, and sādhanā. Then sevā, helping. Help, help anyone. To help someone whom we love is very easy. To help someone whom we know is very easy. And that is selfish. But to help where we have no relations and we do not know—of course, we should also help those whom we love and whom we know. Helping, serving, karma yoga is one of the best ways to God. Where there is no bhakti, you cannot do karma. When there is love, there is mercy; then you can serve someone or help someone. So, all that I am teaching you, what I am trying to teach you, explain to you—this is the way.