Mar 16, 2017
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Asteya
by Jennifer Bowen, 500hr RYT BambooMoves Teacher
“When one is established in refrainment from stealing, all jewel manifest.” (The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translation by Edwin F. Bryant).
In Bryant’s translation of the Sutras, he explains ‘asteya’, or non-stealing, as “not taking things from others and not even harboring the desire to do so….Since action is initiated in the mind – the more one desires something, the more inclined one becomes to acquire it…. Thoughts of stealing cannot exist in those free of desire.”
A clear-minded, non-covetous person attracts the trust and generosity of others, both emotionally and materially. Such a person also has the benefit of contentment in being happy as he is, with what he has, and in the moment.
A very important aspect of non-stealing is also manifested in the element of non-hoarding. If we are hoarding anything, from unused belongings that may well benefit another to usurping more than our share of someone else’s time in a self-serving manner, then these actions may well be considered an act of stealing since that time or those belongings could have been well used by someone else.
In our non-human relationships, non-stealing is discussed within the context of our own life decisions. Sharon Gannon connects the non-consumption of animal products as a form of adhering to this sutra. She describes animal product consumption as being a form of stealing, both an animal’s life and its milk which is meant for its young.
By referencing these interpretations, we are able to see how the sutras allow for us to apply self-reflection and self-regulation in a way that benefits our own live as well as the lives of others. Studying asteya provides us with infinite possibilities to refine our own evolution in that it requires us to questions how we address our own flow of give and take within our relationship with other beings, our environment, and ourselves.
It also enables us to develop pragmatic day-to-day happiness. For example, do we provide so much information to another that we rob them of the chance to find their own resources? If so, we are stealing their opportunity for growth in order to feed own ego. Conversely, do we allow someone to take up so much of our time that we feel depleted afterward? This is enabling others to steal our time from us. Can we find this as an opportunity to finely tune our own sense of discernment in contemplating asteya.
I would like to leave you with a brief illustration of non-stealing that for me, beautifully describes its essence. Not long ago, my brother lost a very dear friend . During their many years of friendship, a running joke between the two was to sneak an object into each other’s homes until the other one found it at which point that person had to sneak it back into the opposite house. Quite the reverse of stealing, this joke was based upon giving. When this beloved friend passed, my brother made sure to sneak that very same object snuggled with his friend as he was being buried -- a little joke that he was sure would keep his long time, but now passed over, friend laughing into eternity as an infinite gift.
Continuing with the Yamas
I'm not trying to educate you or try to make myself look (on print) like more of a yogi than I am. I write stuff so I remember it, so I'm forced to think about it and really GET what things are about.
These written thoughts are just my experience with that we call YOGA, and the philosophy that goes with it.
Asteya would be the next one in my sequence of Yamas. Now that I have talked about Ahimsa, non-violence and Satya, truth, I'm going to speak of Asteya which means non-stealing.
Yes. Don't hit anyone, don't tell them lies and don't steal from them. As with the other two, the easiest to understand is the fact that we don't steal. We put them to prison who do a lot of that, so most of us don't shoplift, rob banks etc.
Here comes the BUT!
Asteya is a wildly broad term for not stealing, in my opinion of course.
It does not only ask us to not steal others belongings but also not stealing time and space.
As for our own practice, it asks us not to steal from our own body! That was interesting!!
Steal from my own body? Yes, in form of rushing into asanas and out of them and pushing the body beyond what it can actually do. We will miss the healing process that is integrated in to the asanas and the asana sequences . This is a journey, we can't just arrive without taking the trip.
Well, as for not stealing others thoughts, time and space.
For example a yoga teacher it is crucial to keep the time limits in the yoga class. It must start on time and finish on time. Same goes really for everything else, it is rude not to be on time.
For stealing space from others is to, in my opinion, for example come to close into the personal space of others and make a riot there. Not to respect others boundaries.
Also in relationships, now talking about people who live together, that one of the two of them don't go around deciding stuff for the other one and doesn't arrange their life without consulting them.
This was my two cents for Asteya. I have a more profound understanding for this, but find it hard to put in words.