Asteya: Non-Stealing

Non-stealing (Asteya) Basically means not taking what does not belong to you, but also extends beyond physical objects to the psychological sphere—taking undeserved credit for example.

General Practice: Take nothing from anyone that would subtract from your existence, whether it is a penny or a million dollars. 

Asteya/Abundance

According to yogic text the practice of Asteya (not taking what does not belong to you) opens of the space in your life for what would most serve your soul – Love.

Asteya/Yoga Sutra of Abundance

The Yoga Sutra (2:37):  Asteya pratisthayam sarva ratnopasthana

“Those who are established in Asteya, the principle of not stealing and not coveting another’s property, will receive a lot without expecting it.”

Asteya Practices:

1.            Fairness: Never take more than you need or than is your fair share. Never hoard.  As a practice fairness and Asteya, don’t waste our precious natural resources (water, electricity, etc.) or pollute the environment.

2.            Generosity: Give without expectation of receiving in the amount that you can willingly and joyfully.  Continue to expand the your comfortable limits of generosity.

3.            Trust: Trust in the Divinity of life. Rather than clinging to the temporal and changing, and longing for things to be a certain way, robbing yourself of joy, trust in the divinity of your life exactly as it is, and find the hidden pearl.

4.            Rejoice: Rejoice in the abundance and success of others without taking what does not belong to you in the form of jealousy or envy. 

5.            Ground yourself in the Eternal (love): Root yourself in Eternal and unchanging (Love- Absolute Presence).

Asteya / Suffering of theft

The third yama is“Asteya” and is translated as non-stealing. While commonly understood as not taking what is not yours, it can also mean not taking more than you need. The latter is an interesting definition. When we take more of the world’s resources, we are in a way stealing them from someone else. When we take more that we need we can contribute to the suffering of others, thus we are ignoring Ahimsa, the greatest of all teachings of yoga.

 

We fail to practice Asteya when we take credit that is not ours or take more food than we can eat. 

Patanjali does not just teach us about the effects of stealing in the world around us; he also teaches us about the effect stealing has on us, even if we are not caught. While most of us would never knowingly steal from others, we actually steal from ourselves when we rob ourselves of our own potential by neglecting a talent, or thru the lack commitment to our yoga practice or other life enhancing activities.

 

Anger / Fear and Asteya

 

In a sense, we steal the present from ourselves whenever we make the choice to become angry or fearful, thus living in the past or the future.

 

Avidya / Asteya

 

In order to steal, one has to be mired in “Avidya,” or ignorance about the nature of reality, a term introduced by Patanjali in his Chapter 2. Being stuck in the state of avidya is the opposite of the state of yoga in which one is in a state of connection with all that is. In order to steal, one has to devalue and dehumanize self and/or person who will suffer from the theft. If you live a life in which you are able to devalue and dehumanize others so that you can steal from them, you will suffer. 

 

Move beyond Avidya (ignorance) thru Asteya

This suffering occurs because one is stuck in avidya. The entire discipline of yoga is about freeing oneself from the fog of Avidya in the movement towards self-realization.

 

Love is all that matters ~  Chrystal Rae