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From the five vṛttis, there are two qualities: kliṣṭa and akliṣṭa. These vṛttis can have one of these qualities. The first is called pratyakṣa-pramāṇa-vṛtti. Pratyakṣa means direct perception. You have witnessed it through your buddhi (intellect), through your mana (mind), and through your indriyas (the senses). Whatever you can prove, that you practically know and have seen, this is called pratyakṣa pramāṇa. Pramāṇa means proof or evidence. Through these vṛttis, if you gain some happiness or knowledge that supports your vairāgya (dispassion), then it is a kliṣṭa vṛtti, a good vṛtti. If you get troubles, sorrows, and obstacles on your spiritual path, then these vṛttis are known as akliṣṭa vṛttis, or troublesome vṛttis. We shall try to purify such thinking and remove such thoughts from our mind, while supporting the good vṛttis. The second vṛtti is called anumāna-pramāṇa-vṛtti. Anumāna means inference or guessing. You don't know exactly, but you think that's how it is or could be. Such thoughts can also be good or bad. This kind of vṛtti should be checked very carefully. If these vṛttis support your spiritual path, then they are good. If they do not support it and create obstacles, then they are not good. Therefore, we must be very careful to know exactly whether our guess is correct or wrong. For example, if you see smoke in the far distance, you infer there is a fire, because smoke comes from fire, even though you don't see the fire itself. The third is called āgama-pramāṇa-vṛtti. Āgama refers to the ancient literatures and scriptures, like the Vedas and Upaniṣads. You come to know through these, or someone tells you stories or facts which do not yet exist in your antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) or in your memory, and where your guessing cannot reach—you cannot imagine something about it. For example, we don't know what exists on a particular star. We have no pratyakṣa pramāṇa (direct proof) and we have no anumāna pramāṇa (inferential proof). We don't know practically and also we can't imagine how it could be. If someone tells us about those things, then we create the vṛttis. And these vṛttis can also be positive or negative. So often we hear something we don't know about, and then we try to gain knowledge from it. The fourth vṛtti is called viparyaya-vṛtti. This vṛtti tells us that what we know is not right. Through some vṛttis, what you get is not what you think. When we don't know the real form of certain things, we can get into trouble. For example, we see a rope and think it is a snake; we are mistaken and get fear from that rope because we think it is a snake. But when we put the light of knowledge on it, we see it is only a piece of rope or wood. We are mistaken. Often we are mistaken. And those thoughts which we create out of our mistake can bring pleasure or displeasure. If the vṛtti creates happiness, then it is good. If the vṛtti creates unhappiness, that's not good. We shall try to know what is the reality. Sometimes you see something sparkling and think it's silver or gold, but it is just plastic. So often we are mistaken. The fifth vṛtti is called vikalpa. Śabdajñānānupātī vastuśūnyo vikalpaḥ. Vikalpa, you know, is contrasted with saṅkalpa. These are the vṛttis we get through sound, concerning something which doesn't exist in form; it is just from hearing something. When you hear something from someone, a vṛtti is created about something that doesn't exist. For example, you hear someone saying an elephant is flying in the sky. "I was lying in yoga nidrā and I opened my eyes and I went and I saw many elephants flying." With such a vṛtti you cannot begin. But such vṛttis, if they can support your vairāgya, then they are good. If this vṛtti doesn't support your vairāgya and creates obstacles, then it is bad. The sixth vṛtti is called nidrā. Abhāvapratyayālambanā vṛttir nidrā. There is no knowledge being received. In sleep, for a time, you do not get information through the senses because you are in deep sleep. We think our mind is very calm then. We think our mind has no vṛttis, but Patañjali says sleeping is also a vṛtti; our mind is also active there. For example, when we get up and someone asks us, "Did you dream?" you might say, "No, I didn't dream, I slept so well." If you didn't dream and you slept so well, how do you know that you slept well and didn't dream? You can say something only if you know. So it means even in deep sleep, the mind is active. The mind is observing everything. So if the sleep is something like a yoga nidrā sleep which can give you deep relaxation and is good for removing laziness and tiredness, then this vṛtti is very good. If this vṛtti disturbs us, creates more laziness, causes you not to practice, not to get up at the right time, and to miss your timings, then these vṛttis are obstacles for your spiritual development. So all these five vṛttis have their positive and negative influences. These are the five vṛttis: pramāṇa, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidrā, and the fifth one, smṛti. Anubhūtaviṣayāsampramoṣaḥ smṛtiḥ. Whatever you have experienced, whatever you have been thinking, whatever you have seen, smelled, heard, tasted, touched—all this goes into our subconsciousness. It is all recorded in our subconsciousness. And when those experiences come again to the conscious mind, this we call smṛti, and smṛti means memory. How many chapters do you have in your life? In your life, you have many, many chapters. And what are these chapters speaking? What kind of memories do you have? Sometimes, when you remember something, it makes you very happy. And sometimes, when you remember something, it makes you very unhappy. Therefore, smṛti-vṛtti also has two aspects: a good one and a bad one. The good vṛtti which supports our spirituality and our path is good. The bad vṛtti which disrupts our spiritual path and disrupts others also is not good. Therefore, it is said: purify your antaḥkaraṇa—mana, buddhi, citta, and ahaṅkāra. Mana is mind, buddhi is intellect, citta is consciousness, ahaṅkāra is ego; purify them. That is very, very important. We know many things are hidden in our subconsciousness. We have many, many vṛttis. Do not act immediately; wait. Analyze your thoughts and think again, over and over. One vṛtti creates another vṛtti, and that vṛtti creates another one. Think over what is the reason for this thought. Why do you think like this? Why have you been thinking like that? Why should you think like that? And if you put your thinking into actions, then you must think more over it. What will it give you? Will it give some kind of satisfaction to your ego? Will it help you, or will it help others, or will it disturb others? Because with one vṛtti, when you begin to think, you are already acting. And when you are already acting mentally, very soon you will act verbally, and when you act verbally or physically, then it will influence the whole society. That will create more karma for you. The main thing is that while reducing or purifying the vṛttis, we protect ourselves from certain karmas. There is one seed, the seed of some very bad thorny bush which can destroy other plants. There is only one seed; if you don't put it in the earth, it won't grow. But if you do plant it, then it will create so many seeds, and very soon it will spread throughout the whole forest. Then you will not be able to remove these plants. So from one thought, from one feeling, from one experience, if you do not think over wisely, you can destroy many, many things. Before, there was only one thought, one karma, and now this karma has multiplied into millions. It's very hard to get rid of it. I heard a story once. Siddhānanda told it, and he told this story again recently; it happened about 35-40 years ago. There is one island in Yugoslavia, and on that island there were many snakes. So one man, a tourist who went to India, brought back one pair of mongooses. They said this animal, the mongoose, kills snakes; it eats especially snakes. So he brought this one pair of mongooses, and they were very active in destroying the snakes. But at the same time, they were very active in creating children. And the result is that on that island, there are no more snakes left. But the mongooses multiplied so much that now they have more problems with mongooses than they had with the snakes. These mongooses are attacking the chickens, farmers' chickens, all birds' eggs; the birds die out. They attack fruits, vegetables, corns, and so now they don't know how to fight against the mongooses. So you try to get rid of one thing, and you get more. So, in the consciousness of the human, there are so many experiences and impressions, and when they come out again, we shall use viveka (discernment). We say: if you cannot do good, then at least you should not do bad. If you cannot speak good, at least you should not speak bad. If you can't write good, then at least don't write bad. So if you can't get rid of that one seed, then at least you should not plant that seed. The smṛti-vṛtti can be very dangerous for oneself and for others. So our smṛti, our memory, we should think over very carefully. Try to awaken those memories which make you happy and others happy. So when you are checking your chapters, you should check very carefully. And when some unpleasant thoughts appear or a memory appears, then with your wisdom, with your knowledge, purify that. There are some people who often ask questions; they had in their childhood some bad experiences and still they can't get rid of them. It happened, yes, it happened, but it was; now it is gone. You are grown, you are independent now; such a thing will never happen to you again, so why do you carry this burden as thoughts? Think wisely: thanks to God it's gone, thanks to God I survived, and thanks to God that it will not happen to me again. And I pray to God: "Lord, these things should not happen to me again. Remove my fear and my sufferings." You should think like this. Wisely, while talking you cannot get rid of it, or you speak to someone who can help you solve it. But anyone who will advise you what to do will say, "Forget it, it was, and it will not happen anymore. Don't be scared." We have many, many kinds of memories in us. There is a small child, six, seven, or eight years old, going to school one day. On the way, a dog came and bit him very badly, leaving a deep wound on the thigh. The dog ran away. The child had pain, bleeding. He came home. They took him to the doctor, gave him medicine and treatment. Everything is gone. Now the person is about 20 to 40 years old; the dog is not living anymore. But whenever he sees any dog, that memory comes out and he is scared of the dog. So there are some things we cannot get rid of. But we can only say: the dog which is coming is a friendly dog, but still I should be careful and change my way. Try to avoid the situation so that the dog will not bite you again. So our experiences tell us that such a thing happened, and that memory, smṛti, comes out. Some smṛtis are good smṛtis we have in our mind, and some smṛtis are not good. So we should support the good vṛttis, and the others we should remove. So these are the five vṛttis which I explained to you now. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar