Asteya = Non Stealing
Asteya is one of the yogic "laws" of behaviour. It means non-stealing and trying to live your life with an awareness of not taking what is not yours to take. It is more subtle than just the notion of stealing someone else's property -- it encompasses the psychological source of that desire to steal -- in essence, a feeling of entitlement and selfishness -- and invites you to be aware of this within your self as you go through your day.

At the most base level, stealing someone's wallet, means you feel more self -entitled to that wallet than the owner and so you are willing to take it for yourself . The secondary effect of stealing the wallet is the inconvenience and worry that you cause the person who lost the wallet -- introducing the notion of selfish disregard for the harm you caused by the act of stealing.

Non-stealing does not apply to just material things. If you keep people waiting, you are stealing their time -- demonstrating your devaluation of other people's time. If you date someone for a long time that you are not that interested in, if you lead a person on, if you stay in the relationship because it is convenient to you, you are stealing and wasting months or years of the other persons life and are inconsiderate of the pain you will cause them.

There are smaller and more subtle ways to think about non-stealing -- in yoga class, a student who is not prepared and who is ego driven, may think they are better at yoga than they really are and they try to "steal" a pose. How can you steal a pose? You steal a pose if you have not done the work to own that pose. Again, the source of this is the sense of entitlement -- that the pose should be easy without having put in the effort. (Sadly, this can result in real injury).

Some students want more attention from both the teacher and the other students -- they disrupt the class, they come in late, they act out to attract attention -- stealing away peace of mind and concentration from the other students -- in effect, stealing the class away from others.

Everywhere, there are students who think they know more than their teachers. A teacher has a PhD and has been immersed in a field for 20 years and a student thinks the knowledge is all his... "stealing" a sense of importance versus the deep knowledge and experience of a university teacher.

Being a non- vegetarian is stealing. That fish or chicken or cow had a life to which it was entitled to live without interference. If you kill the animal to eat it, you are stealing it's life. If you force a chicken to live in a factory cage so it can produce eggs for you, then you are stealing it's quality of life. If you use an animal for testing cosmetics or laundry detergent, you are stealing it's life. These animals are sentient beings and their lives are not yours to take and it is selfish arrogance to think otherwise.

Non- stealing is like non-action. It does not mean not stealing. It means being aware of not taking what is not yours to take and choosing not to do it. It means being awake to self-importance, selfishness, and the sense of entitlement that manifests as stealing behavior.