Asteya

Discussion

Asteya in practice implies to "not steal", "not cheat", nor unethically manipulate other's property or others for one's own gain. Asteya as virtue demands not only that one "not steal", but that one should not encourage cheating through speech or writing, or want to cheat even in one's thinking. To steal or want to steal expresses lack of faith in oneself: one's ability to learn and create property. To steal another's property is also stealing from one's own potential ability to develop. The Sutras reason that misappropriation, conspiring to misappropriate, or wanting to misappropriate, at its root reflects the sin of lobha (bad greed), moha (material delusion), or krodha (bad anger). Commentators on the Yoga Sutras state that asteya is rooted in the virtue of ahimsa. One commentator notes that the virtue of ahimsa would be 'defiled' if virtues such as asteya were not cultivated.