You probably have heard of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa – the Guru of Swami Vivekananda. This interesting story that I am going to narrate is related to him.
Those were the days when probably people were not aware of the harmful effects of tobacco. Chewing tobacco was not considered to be a bad habit those days. So, Ramakrishna, like many other Indians in those days, used to chew tobacco.
One day, Ramakrishna wanted some tobacco. So, he sent one of his disciples to go and fetch tobacco from a nearby shop.
But when the disciple reached the shop, the shopkeeper was away, but he had left his shop open as was the usual practice in those days. Nobody suspected that someone would steal anything in the shopkeeper’s absence.
The disciple waited for some time, but as it was getting late, he helped himself with some tobacco thinking that he would pay the shopkeeper later. He returned to Ramakrishna with the tobacco.
But strangely, when Ramakrishna started chewing the tobacco, he at once felt a vomiting sensation and he could not chew it any more. He asked the disciple whether something unusual had happened while returning from the shop. Ramakrishna was suspecting that somehow the tobacco could have got contaminated.
The disciple honestly narrated to Ramakrishna whatever had happened and how he fetched the tobacco. The moment Ramakrishna came to know that the disciple had not payed the shopkeeper, he scolded the disciple and asked him to go back to the shop and pay the shop keeper.
Ramakrishna considered that since no payment was made, it was as good as stealing the tobacco. He felt that that was the reason why his body was refusing the tobacco!
Neither the disciple had any intention to steal, nor Ramakrishna was even aware that the payment was not made. But Ramakrishna considered that to be a theft!
That is the kind of purity Ramakrishna used to maintain in his life.
Stealing does not necessarily mean taking somebody’s procession without his knowledge. Even mentally craving for some one else’s procession amounts to stealing. Patanjali even broadens its scope by saying that accepting anything that is lawfully not yours, amounts to stealing!
Let me narrate an interesting story from the Indian Upanishads to illustrate this point.
Once there was severe famine. A poor brahmin and his wife were travelling great distances in search of a habitable place where they can find a living. They had starved for days. They had not even some water.
Finally, they came across a poor man who was eating something in his hands. The Brahmin requested the poor man to share some of what he had. The poor man gladly agreed and parted with a fistful of grains he had in his procession.
The Brahmin ate those grains, and drank some water to quench his thirst. He rested for a while and once again started moving forward in search of a better place.
The poor man offered more grain to the Brahmin for his onward journey. But the Brahmin refused to accept it saying that the grain that he had already eaten gave him enough strength to walk for some more time. He was no longer desperate to eat something and so he did not want to accept whatever little the poor man had. That would amount to snatching his only procession!
So, the act of stealing has wide connotation. Literally, the Sanskrit word Stheya means stealing. Opposite of that is Astheya – not stealing.
But when Patanjali recommends Astheya as the third ‘do’ in his first step of Yoga namely, Yama, he implies wide range of ideas. It is not just about stealing.
Snatching something from someone with or without that person’s knowledge also amounts to stealing. Basically, processing anything that does not lawfully belong to you is stealing; even if the owner of that willingly gives you but you don’t deserve it for some reason.
Expanding the scope of Astheya further, even craving or desiring what belongs to someone else, also amounts to stealing. It is a kind of mental stealing. You may not indulge in the physical act, but your mind does. So, it is not just the action, but even the intention counts.
It may be extremely difficult to be so strict in practice. But pausing and thinking before we acquire things, is something we all can surely do. That can minimize lot of our problems. Just getting what we want is not that important, how we get also matters.
Astheya minimizes distrust, fear, ill feeling, jealousy, animosity, disappointment and so on. It will also rein in the greed and allow us to lead a contented life. Not to mention that it calms down the mind and aides in Yoga practice.
That was Astheya – third ‘do’ in the first step Yama of Patanjali’s 8 step Yoga.
We will continue our discussion in the next episode.
A series revolving around Mind – Science of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Notions of reality, Mind modulation, Domains beyond Mind, and so on. © Dr. King 2019
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