Non-stealing, Got It, Right?
Posted by terrepruitt on February 19, 2016
The Eight Limbs of Yoga, two of which are yamas and niyamas, restraints and observances. Yamas as ethical principles and niyams as spiritual practices. The first yama being ahimsa – non-violence, the second being satay – truthfulness. The third is asteya – non-stealing. This one kinda lands like the non-violence one. Seems pretty easy. But then just like the non-violence yama, it has its in-between-the-lines and fine print. Non-stealing can mean a lot of things.
In The Heart of Yoga T.K.V. Desikachar’s notes asteya as:
“Noncovetousness or the ability to resist a desire for that which does not belong to us.”
Oh. A little different that just “non-stealing”. It is going so far as to say we should not covet things that do not belong to us. Uh, I think that adds a whole different spin to this yama. I mean, I will go out on a limb and say most of us are not going to go out and STEAL our neighbor’s whatshehaveit, but we might WANT it. We might even think about if we had one our self. We might even imagine us having one and him not. Or us all having one and using them together. But we are coveting when we do that. We are wanting that which is not ours.
He also notes:
“One who is trustworthy, because he does not covet what belongs to others, naturally has everyone’s confidence and everything is shared with him, however precious it might be.”
We can also be stealing other things. If we are focusing our attention on wanting what is not ours we are “stealing” attention from what we do have. Possibly from people and things that are deserving of our attention.
One of my teachers mentioned jealous as a cause for stealing. Dominating someone’s time if we are jealous of attention they are giving to someone else. She also compares greed to stealing because we are taking more than we need. So sometimes asteya has a hint of non-hoarding, since some consider taking more than one needs a form of stealing. It is being taken away from someone else that might need it and then kept and not used. Some of this might be the more difficult stuff to work on.
But if we work on it we might feel more at peace. I know that when I am not spending my time thinking about what I don’t have I have more time to enjoy what I do have. And, as I said, that time is not “stolen” from what is present.
As I said when I started posting about the eight limbs and especially the yamas and the niyamas, they can get pretty deep. They can be explored and examined at great length. I am just barely introducing them. Hopefully giving you something to think about. I know they have me thinking.
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
Sceenu said
Why so much confusion
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terrepruitt said
Confusion?
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Louiza said
Hi Terre!
Great interconnections! One Yama leads into the other. One being a result of another.
When our consciousness makes us aware that we are lacking we can catch ourselves wanting to change things so that we are not lacking. As a matter of fact we want to be ahead of the game. This will certainly take us out of the present moment. We are thinking of how the future will be a better place if we act on the changes now. We are expecting, depending on these changes to improve our future. But how about now? Are we living a quality life at this moment? Or is the better life always in the future?
It’s like wanting to secure our future security, because we have been told that our lives will not be secure until we do A, B, and C. Keeping our selves busy with the illusive A,B, and C, creates anxiety and stress. What if A, B and C are not the security of tomorrow? We won’t know the truth until tomorrow. We have wasted the precious present moment of now for an unpredictable tomorrow.
This is the stealing of time.
Thank you Terre for keeping us in thought,
Louiza
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terrepruitt said
Yes, one yama leads to another because they operate in connection. Kind of like body parts! 🙂
I think that DWELLING in the future causes anxiety. I don’t mean thinking of the future and making plans because that is prudent, but the DWELLING. The living more in the “what will be” as opposed to the now/present. Ahhh . . . . “stealing of time”.
Thank you, Louiza, for adding to our thoughts. XO
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Louiza said
Dwelling…great word!
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terrepruitt said
Yeah, huh? Because we HAVE to think about the future, I mean, ya gotta have some thought of it, but the
(as per the dictionary) living/staying as a permanent resident is missing the NOW. And for many of us, causing anxiety. Just like the past, I am not one that believes in the “don’t look back” . . . because we can learn from the past, but when we DWELL on it . . . no bueno.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
It was great to see you Friday even if it was for just a second. I didn’t want to spread my cold to you!
XOXOXOXO
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Louiza said
I’m always glad to see you.
I wish you well.
Louiza
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terrepruitt said
Wow. I am just now seeing this. A week later!
I was just thinking about you. We need to set a coffee date since we don’t seem to be running into each other so we can just be spontaneous! Let me know what might work for you!
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