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Some people have a certain saṅkalpa, a resolve; that too is a kind of anuṣṭhāna, a disciplined observance. For instance, a vow to not cut one's hair for many years. It is not easy to be without cutting hair. Many take their hair, roll it like this and like that, bind it with cloth, and sleep the whole night like that. In the morning, they take it out, and by evening it is tangled again. Then again, you are rolling it up. God gave us beautiful hair, but we are not satisfied. This is the problem. It is not easy to have a beard; it is a hard job. Yet every morning a man stands there, cutting and trimming. God, looking on, said, "I made a mistake. I should not have given man a mustache and beard." I gave such a beautiful face with a nice beard and mustache so everyone could say, "Yes, this is a man." But no, it is a hard job. Now you need only lipstick, a little blue color on the eyes, and some makeup here—that is it. Once, long ago, a young man of about twenty-five, completely shaved but with hair a little long, wearing a red shirt, was on a bus. A sādhu was with me, and he said to that man, "Madam, excuse me, can I pass?" The man was looking on like that. So God was thinking very cleverly; to make a clear difference between male and female. But the problem nowadays is another big problem: every male would like to be a female, and every female would like to be a male. So God is sitting there, and Viṣṇu said, "Brahmājī, what have you done?" Brahmā said, "I did good." But Śiva and Śakti—what have you done, Śiva? Śiva said, "Well, I want to purify everything. But Viṣṇu, you said no." So there is also a big discussion in the heavenly parliament: what to do? That is it. So, there is anuṣṭhāna. In India, we have a group of people you call Sikh. They should not cut their hair. It is called Pañchakeśī, the five different kinds of hair: the armpits, the head, the mustache, the beard, and also the hair below. They should not shave them. Many follow this lifelong anuṣṭhāna, this tapasyā. But who is really following Gurū Vākya? Gurū Granth Sāhib. There is also an anuṣṭhāna where for nine days you will fast, have one meal a day, and meditate and pray to Holy Mother, Kālī, Durgā, Śakti. And there is also an anuṣṭhāna where you vow lifelong not to do something. A human understands, and when you take a vow that "I will not do this"—an anuṣṭhāna—then we call what lies beyond it a Lakṣmaṇa Rekhā. When the god Rāma went to search for the golden deer, Rāvaṇa had told his uncle Mārīchī to become a golden deer. When Sītā would see the beautiful deer, she would be tempted and want it. Rāma knew it was only māyā, but when Sītā told him, it was her husband's duty, his dharma, to fulfill her strong desire. So Rāma knew what was going on. He told Lakṣmaṇa, "Please do not go away from here. Protect Sītā. It does not matter what happens or what sound you hear. I will never be in trouble. Do not go away." Rāmjī ran to catch the golden deer, but the deer was only an illusion. The māyā disappeared. Rāma was looking and running. Again the deer appeared a kilometer away. Again Rāma ran in that direction; the deer disappeared. The duty of the deer was to take Rāma far away, to trace him very far. Then Rāvaṇa created another māyā, calling out, "Lakṣmaṇ, please come, save me, help me, Lakṣmaṇ come, I am in trouble, come quickly." Sītā heard this. Sītā said to Lakṣmaṇ, who was her guard and bodyguard, "Go and help your brother." He said, "My brother is never in danger. I will not go." She said, "I tell you, go." He said, "But he gave me the duty to serve you, to take care of you." She said, "But I tell you, go." There was a hot discussion. Finally, she said some words to Lakṣmaṇa that were like an arrow in his heart. She said, "I understand now. You think that when Rāma will die, you can have me." He said, "Mother, ever since I saw you, I have thought of you as my mother. But now I will go. I have one request: do not go out of the circle which I make." So, around her hut, Lakṣmaṇa made a big circle with some mantra. This meant no one could enter the circle. Anyone who entered would die; it was like an electric shock. He told her, "Please do not go out of the circle. That is all." Lakṣmaṇa went in the direction the voice was coming from. That was only an allusion, māyā. Rāvaṇa, the king from Śrī Laṅkā, wanted to kidnap Sītā. It was all his pre-planned scheme—what is called a master brain. He came disguised as an old ṛṣi, an old saint. He came to Sītā to ask for some food. She was standing near the door of her hut and said, "Yes, come." As Rāvaṇa approached the circle—bang!—it was like electricity. He knew what was happening. He tried to put only one hand in, and it was like putting a hand into an electric current. He told her, "Come out of this circle, then I will accept your food. Otherwise, I will not. I will go hungry. I will curse you." She said, "Please do not do this; you are holy. I will put the food outside the circle, and you can take it." He said, "I am not a beggar. If you want to give to me, then give it here. I am sitting here under the tree." She thought, "Okay, he is a ṛṣi." So she went out of the circle, and Rāvaṇa took Sītā. His Puṣpavāhana aeroplane was waiting for him. He took Sītā and flew away with his aeroplane. The Rāmāyaṇa time is nearly 10,000 years ago. At that time, they had aeroplanes, and then the whole story begins. So, anything we do, when we make a saṅkalpa, we used to say this: beyond this is a Lakṣmaṇa Rekhā, a Lakṣmaṇa circle, and that circle is a principle. If you make a vow, if you give your word to someone, and then you break that word, it is like that vow you made, that saṅkalpa, will kill you. It will attack you. It will cause you negative karma. Therefore, do not make any promise. Therefore, do not make any promise. And if you do make a promise, then think it over very long and very clearly, with all kinds of thoughts, considering options and possibilities, and then give your word. So many people begin with a fruit diet, for example. Then after half a year, they begin with spaghetti again. Or the pirohy, or what they call the halušky. My God, it is very hard for Slovaks to keep away from halušky, for Italians from spaghetti, and for Mexicans from pizza—because pizza originated from Mexico, that is it. So, anuṣṭhāna. Or you make a one-week anuṣṭhāna, as you are doing here: how many mālās will you do? That is your saṅkalpa. And it is you who will liberate you. It is you who will have this discipline and power developed within you. Not some techniques; your willpower, your love, your connection, your relation to that particular subject or particular aim—that will make you happy. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar