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The third vṛtti is vikalpa vṛtti. The definition is: śabdhyānānupatī vastu śūnyo vikalpaḥ. It means you realize something through words, through sound, but that thing is śūnya—empty. The vāk, speech, is the body of the word and belongs to the ākāśa element. It is empty; it has no form. Form is created afterward in your mind. When someone speaks, saying, "You are beautiful," you cannot see that beauty in the words themselves. But immediately your mind catches this, and your mind is educated about what is beautiful for you, and you immediately become happy. Or, someone tells you, "You are a stupid one." Immediately, from the deep part of your memory, that knowledge of stupidity emerges. You become angry and say, "I am not stupid." But your inner self repeats again, "Maybe I am stupid. That stupid person told me that I am stupid." That is a vikalpa. You cannot find a concrete subject for it. There are no concrete things. Only based on the words, the sound, you begin to think. That kind of vṛtti is vikalpa vṛtti. There is a far distance, a sound happens. Now you begin to think, "But 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 could be. Then someone comes and tells you what happened. You thought it was the sound of a gun, and someone comes and tells you it was an explosion. So, vikalpa. Vikalpa vṛtti, if it is a supportive vṛtti, then it's good. Then it's an akliṣṭa vṛtti. And if it is a disturbing vṛtti, then it's a kliṣṭa vṛtti. What we are trying to do to gain the good things, I have told you many times in one 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." He asked him to bring a plant, any kind of plant from anywhere in the world, that kind of plant which has no sense, is good for nothing. He said, "OK, Master," and he went. He began to study the plants. He went to the farmers and asked them, "What kind of plant is this? What is the use of this plant?" Or he went to someone who has knowledge of herbs. And so on. He traveled from continent to continent, country to country, shore to shore, islands. Nowhere could he find a plant which is completely useless. What he did was draw the picture of the plant, write the name of the plant, 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 doing this work, but I failed. I couldn't find any kind of plant which is good for nothing." So the Master said, "Well, you passed your examination. And 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. And then other medicine came after. First was Āyurveda. There is nothing older than Āyurveda. And that's why the name is beautiful. Veda means wisdom or knowledge, and Āyur is life—the knowledge of life, this physical life. They knew everything, an unbelievable thing what they have done without any instruments, and they discovered this through meditations and through long research work. So there is astral traveling in yoga through the entire universe. These are two kinds of astral travelings. One is within your body, because it is said, Yathā brahmāṇḍe tathā piṇḍe: what exists 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 don't know this. We know only some parts of the body from the outside. How does this look? Inside we don't 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 a 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 parts of the body or send some instrument inside, those fine streams of energy stop, and something of 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 proves 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 don't see it. Or your remote controller—you don't 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 doesn't see. This intellect is not aware of that, and that is called ignorance. Some vṛttis could be explained through the mind. But to reach that highest knowledge, the parāvidyā, you have to develop your other senses inside. These are the higher senses, and they are so tender, so gentle, they are damaged; with one negative thought, they are damaged. You can press and press your remote controller, you know. The program is disrupted. One negative action, one negative word immediately damages our fine functions in the body. So it's 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's why I'm telling you it's harder than you could think. It is possible through certain things: tapa, tapasyā, austerity. It means the capacity to endure. Wait, wait, wait, and wait. Many people become mentally ill, crazy, because they are not able to wait. That's the problem. Yes, wait, wait. "How long should I wait? God, how long should I wait?" He said, "It's very easy. Wait till I come." "So when will you come?" "Very easy to know. When I am there, then you know that I came. Wait." "How long?" "Till 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: enduring pleasant and unpleasant situations. Svādhyāya, about which we spoke yesterday: tapa, svādhyāya, manana, and sādhanā. Then sevā, helping. Help, help. Anyone, help. 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 don't know—of course, we should also help 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.