A departure from my normal blog posts … but it resonates! Ten years ago, my time at Parmarth Niketan Ashram was an intensely heart opening, life affirming experience and the teachings continue to reverberate in my life to this day. With all the strife and uncertainty circling our beautiful planet (perhaps it has always been this way … the evolution of the human species is seemingly a very slow process) … and as we pass the halfway mark of 2022, this message in my email box today arrives at an appropriately auspicious time. Hari Om Shanti🙏

“Asteya – non-stealing – is not as simple as refraining from stealing a possession that belongs to someone else. We steal much from others without realizing it. We steal people’s time by wasting it engaged in idle gossip or complaints. We steal people’s credit by claiming to have done something that actually was accomplished by someone else.

We steal from Mother Earth by using more than we need – by driving cars that are too big and use too much fuel, by building homes larger than our requirements, by purchasing more and more unnecessary possessions which are made using natural resources and whose production pollutes the atmosphere. We steal the dignity, the safety and the health of the poor when we purchase things that were made by indigent people in deplorable conditions.

Further, if God has blessed us with prosperity and we have enough to help others, it is stealing if we do not share our wealth.

We must realize the joy that comes from sharing with others. Life is for sharing and caring. Life is for giving.”

– H.H. Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji