Fwd: Asteya: Nonstealing

[Guest guest]

Hare Krsna. Asteya: NonstealingThe third yama is asteya, neither stealing, nor coveting nor enteringintodebt. We all know what stealing is. But now let's define covetousness.Itcould well be defined as owning something mentally and emotionally butnot actually owning it physically. This is not good. It puts a hiddenpsychological strain on all parties concerned and brings up the loweremotions from the tala chakras. It must be avoided at all cost. Covetingis desiring things that are not your own. Coveting leads to jealousy,and it leads to stealing. The first impulse toward stealing is coveting,wanting. If you can control the impulse to covet, then you will notsteal. Coveting is mental stealing.Of course, stealing must never ever happen. Even a penny, a peso, arupee,a lira or a yen should not be misappropriated or stolen. Defaultingon debts is also a form of stealing. But

avoiding debt in principledoes not mean that one cannot buy things on credit or through othercontractual arrangements. It does mean that payments must be made at theexpected time, that credit be given in trust and be eliminated when thetime has expired, that contracts be honored to the satisfaction of allparties concerned. Running one's affairs on other peoples' money must berestrained. To control this is the sadhana of asteya. Brahmacharis andsannyasins, of course, must scrupulously obey these restraints relatingto debt, stealing and covetousness. These are certainly not in theircode of living.To perfect asteya, we must practice dana, charity, the third niyama; wemust take the dashama bhaga vrata, promising to tithe, pay dashamamsha,to our favorite religious organization and, on top of that, givecreatively, without thought of reward. Stealing is selfishness. Givingis unselfishness. Any lapse of asteya is

corrected by dana.It is important to realize that one cannot simply obey the yamas withoutactively practicing the niyamas. To restrain one's current tendenciessuccessfully, each must be replaced by a positive observance. For eachofthe yamas, there is a positive replacement of doing something else. Theniyamas must totally overshadow the qualities controlled by the yamasfor the perfect person to emerge. It is also important to remember thatdoing what should not be done--and not doing what should be done--doeshave its consequences. These can be many, depending upon the evolutionofthe soul of each individual; but all such acts bring about the loweringofconsciousness into the instinctive nature, and inevitable suffering istheresult. Each Hindu guru has his own ways of mitigating the negativekarmasthat result as a consequence of not living up to the high ideals oftheseprecepts. But the world is also

a guru, in a sense, and its devoteeslearnby their own mistakes, often repeating the same lessons many, manytimes.

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new cars at Autos.

[Guest guest]

Hare Krsna. Asteya: NonstealingThe third yama is asteya, neither stealing, nor coveting nor enteringintodebt. We all know what stealing is. But now let's define covetousness.Itcould well be defined as owning something mentally and emotionally butnot actually owning it physically. This is not good. It puts a hiddenpsychological strain on all parties concerned and brings up the loweremotions from the tala chakras. It must be avoided at all cost. Covetingis desiring things that are not your own. Coveting leads to jealousy,and it leads to stealing. The first impulse toward stealing is coveting,wanting. If you can control the impulse to covet, then you will notsteal. Coveting is mental stealing.Of course, stealing must never ever happen. Even a penny, a peso, arupee,a lira or a yen should not be misappropriated or stolen. Defaultingon debts is also a form of stealing. But

avoiding debt in principledoes not mean that one cannot buy things on credit or through othercontractual arrangements. It does mean that payments must be made at theexpected time, that credit be given in trust and be eliminated when thetime has expired, that contracts be honored to the satisfaction of allparties concerned. Running one's affairs on other peoples' money must berestrained. To control this is the sadhana of asteya. Brahmacharis andsannyasins, of course, must scrupulously obey these restraints relatingto debt, stealing and covetousness. These are certainly not in theircode of living.To perfect asteya, we must practice dana, charity, the third niyama; wemust take the dashama bhaga vrata, promising to tithe, pay dashamamsha,to our favorite religious organization and, on top of that, givecreatively, without thought of reward. Stealing is selfishness. Givingis unselfishness. Any lapse of asteya is

corrected by dana.It is important to realize that one cannot simply obey the yamas withoutactively practicing the niyamas. To restrain one's current tendenciessuccessfully, each must be replaced by a positive observance. For eachofthe yamas, there is a positive replacement of doing something else. Theniyamas must totally overshadow the qualities controlled by the yamasfor the perfect person to emerge. It is also important to remember thatdoing what should not be done--and not doing what should be done--doeshave its consequences. These can be many, depending upon the evolutionofthe soul of each individual; but all such acts bring about the loweringofconsciousness into the instinctive nature, and inevitable suffering istheresult. Each Hindu guru has his own ways of mitigating the negativekarmasthat result as a consequence of not living up to the high ideals oftheseprecepts. But the world is also

a guru, in a sense, and its devoteeslearnby their own mistakes, often repeating the same lessons many, manytimes.

Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check out

new cars at Autos.