Virtues
Asteya (Non-Theft)
Yama Virtues
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The third of the five yamas in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras: abstention from taking what has not been freely given, extended by classical commentary beyond physical theft to covetous thought toward another's possessions.
Facts
Disputed
Origin PeriodDated by scholars anywhere from the second century BCE, on older assumptions of a single ancient author, to as late as the fourth or fifth century CE, on newer philological readings that treat the text as a later compilation. There is no scholarly consensus on a single date for the Yoga Sutras. 1 Attributed Author / CompilerTraditionally attributed to Patanjali, the compiler of the Yoga Sutras. Scholarship debates whether this is the same Patanjali credited with the Sanskrit grammatical treatise of that name, and whether the text as it stands is the work of a single author or an edited compilation of older material. 1 Status
Status Within the TraditionStandard teaching, not formally defined 1 Doctrinal Status DetailThe third of Patanjali's five yamas, ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha, named as a set at Yoga Sutra 2.30. Yoga Sutra 2.31 further names them a mahavrata, a great vow, when held universally, unconditioned by birth, place, time or circumstance, the same term Jain ethics uses for its own parallel five vows, without either scheme deriving from the other. 1 Origins
Place of OriginIndia; nothing internal to the Yoga Sutras or its early commentarial tradition fixes a specific region of composition within the subcontinent. 1 Origin of the NameSanskrit asteya, non-stealing, from a-, not, and steya, theft. 2 Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting SourceThe third of the five yamas: abstention from taking what has not been freely given, extended by classical commentary to covetous thought. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
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