Asteya means to not steal. Wanderingyogilee looks at more subtle impacts steya (stealing) has on ourselves and others…

As a child, I did occasionally steal.  That last piece of Xmas cake, money from my mother’s wallet. You might still have this habit now. Maybe when there are free offerings, like those shampoos in motel rooms.  I didn’t really need the cake nor the money (although I thought I did at the time).  It’s all steya – stealing.

In some countries, steya (taking what is not offered nor needed) is acceptable, and becomes systematised corruption.  From police forcing payments from a local market dealer, to the idea that cheating and lying to others is just the way you do business. These are probably way more serious than me taking that $5 note from my mum’s purse. The karmic impact is still there though, I don’t get to choose the impact of taking $5. And neither do countries or cultures when police take bribes because that is how they need to live.

Leaving what happens to countries and cultures go to the great karmic rebound committee for final decision, let’s focus on me, you, and us. There is a more subtle form of steya that many of us practice daily. We steal time from ourselves.

I teach yoga and meditation 4 – 5 days a week.  I guide retreats and workshops. I am a mother and a daughter, I have friends scattered all around the world who I love to chat with and visit regularly. And then there is the daily list of tasks every week – washing, ironing, cooking, shopping.

I got too busy.  It was not long, my head was full of ‘stuff’, before I become a little grumpy and ‘off’. As the karmic rebound hit, I sensed I needed to do something about this never ending list and its impact on me.  I realised I was stealing time from myself. Being so busy I didn’t have the space to check in on how I truly was.

Then there is an even more subtle form of time stealing, laziness.  Ennui. Where did those days go?  I have a friend who seems to take the longest time ever to do what appears to be the most simple task.  She might not be depressed, but if this continues, I am sure she will be.

The karmic rebound: we steal energy and vitality from ourselves. Often others around us, too.

The subtle Steya 

Gossiping – when we gossip, we steal a person’s reputation. The karmic rebound lowers your self-worth, and the worth of others.  We see a lot of gossip on ‘news’ – half baked facts, hearsay and judgements of others. We yogis have a saying  – comparison is the thief of joy.

Addictions – too much food, too much wine, too many cigarettes – we steal our health from ourselves, and reduce the amount of time we can be with our loved ones.   We steal our emotions in our addictions too. These hungry ghosts make us flee from ourselves, becoming at best emotional amnesiacs, at worse, moral vacuums.

Environmental protection – sticking our heads in the sand and pretending there is no serious environmental damage. And when faced with glaring evidence, pretending we cannot do a thing about it. It’s too difficult. We steal our children’s future, and the karmic rebound here is we leave our planet in a worse condition than when we came into it.

Gandhi also had this to say about the practice of stealing: “mankind’s greed and craving for artificial needs are stealing”.

Daily Asteya Practice

Post it notes, one thought one post it note. I put it all down on post it notes.  What was in my head.  From the mundane, to the self-limiting beliefs.  Feed your fur kids everyday, do the food shopping, pay the bills. How much of it was truly needed?  I wondered how myself and others could live our lives at a grander scale of the day to day if I gave myself some time back.

Here are some of my tips for taking only what is offered, and using only what is needed.

Reduce the size of your daily meals – by half  We know we eat too much in modern economies. Smaller meals also create awareness of the amount of effort other people gave to us, making this meal possible.  From the people in the supermarket who stock the shelves to the people who grow the plants to the companies that make the crockery and cutlery with which we eat.

10 minutes everyday by yourself – take yourself out to coffee, go for a walk  Give yourself some time back, to do nothing, to simply be you.  The karmic rebound here is you might start offering this to other people around you. Like being more patient the next time you are standing in line

Learn the judicious use of the word ‘no’  Learn to say no to yourself on that last glass of wine, that last piece of cake, or to that one more request from your boss, friend, lover or child. If you are not experiencing reciprocity, that is, they do things for you without any expectation of return, then it might be time for a ‘no’ or two. The karmic rebound: you get less demanding to other people – pick up those socks, keep the toilet seat down/up. And less demanding of yourself.