Thursday, March 24, 2016

SADHANA PAD - SUTRA 30 CONTINUED

     The next one is ASTEYA -same as thou shall not steal.So what is stealing? All of us know that we can not go to a store and take something without paying for it . But we do not recognize  certain things that we do which could be considered as stealing. We take pen or pencil or papaers from our work place . Some of us use office postage for our personal mail. These are all examples of stealing as we are doing this without the permission .  The Sutra 30 tells us about the 5 YAMAS or the rules of behavior that one must follow or live with to have the progress in the meditation . The goal of the meditation is to Achieve the GOD or oneness with the GOD. These rules for the daily activity are 5 in number and the fifth is ASTEYA or 'thou shall not steal.' In this world we human beings have invented things for the comfort . We also 'need' certain things to survive . So we need food and water and shelter. So we need food to eat , but when we start indulging in to it and eat more than we should, and we keep food in our storage for future use and we do this in spite  of knowing that others are not getting it , then it is stealing/ Does that sound like 'socialistic' attitude or point of view? It probably does . But if one looks at the whole picture , it is not . The person who is getting food from others without earning it and paying for it , is also doing the stealing . So it does not mean that we should not work hard or make more money. It means that we should have a better attitude towards the money or food or anything that we think is 'ours'. Once we don't get attached to it, we are fine . Once we share as to what we have with legitimate people , we are fine . This will get us less anxiety and will bring in calmness of the mind and help us concentrate without thoughts coming in mind and disturbing while we are trying to meditate .