Ahimsa 7 - Asteya Or Non-Stealing Poem by Geeta Radhakrishna Menon

‘Asteya' is never to steal
Be it a thing of small value,
Be it a substance of high price,
Be it a property or a house,
Be it a name or a credit,
Be it a work of high merit,
Be it anything under the sun,
Blessed and content!

‘Steya' is covetousness
A sly thought,
A dishonest action,
A mind that stoops very low,
A thought that manipulates,
A hand that stretches
And picks up unashamedly
Another's belongings!

Whether small or petty,
Whether careless or a mistake,
To steal means
To harm a person!
Many dismiss or forget
Minor thefts but,
Even a minor act of thieving
Echoes a definite vice!

Various kinds of thefts,
Some subtle and indirect,
Some bold and direct,
Some planned manoeuvres,
Some shady transactions,
Some daylight robbery,
Each one of them, without exception,
Verily, is ‘Himsa' or injurious act!

A person who practises ‘Ahimsa'
Never grasps,
Never misappropriates,
Never deprives
Another of the rightful ownership!
A constant vigil is on,
An awareness programming
Never to offend anyone, anytime, anywhere!

Much of the happenings
In the civilized society,
Like subtle shades of grey,
Is taken for granted as guiltless!
But conscious and deliberate acts
Is a cause for mental trauma -
A scar that cannot be erased,
A deep depression!

More than any material grabbing
Is the deprivation of the fruits of labour!
A work that was never attempted,
The brows that did not sweat,
The hands that did not toil,
The pen that never wrote the thesis,
Earns a name and
Enjoys the recognition!

But the one that burnt
The midnight candle,
To think and write,
To create and discover,
Is pushed aside,
Cleverly camouflaged
By an intellectual bandit,
A game plan of the conniving class!

The scriptures and the sutras have
Clarified and discriminated,
The act of ‘Steya' and
The concept of ‘Asteya',
Steya as the doer who misappropriates
Asteya as the non-doer who abstains
The doer adds to the list of ‘karmas' and
Pays the price for his crimes!

Governed by the laws of nature,
Enforced by the scriptures,
Upheld by all the religions,
The Yoga philosophy validates
That all effects are preceded
By a cause
While the facts of science
Confirm that every action has a reaction!