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ASTEYA or ADATTÄDÄN Non-stealing
Dantasohanamäissa Adattassa Vivajjanam Anavajjesanijjassa Ginhanä Avi Dukkaram Uttaradhyayan Sutra
The trivial objects like tooth picks also cannot be picked up, until they are offered, even though it is hard to get the required objects faultlessly.
etc.
In the last two chapters, we have dealt with Ahinsä and Satya, the first two major restraints. In Jain tradition, these restraints are expressed as evils or faults that need to be avoided. They are therefore laid down in terms of refraining from deprival of life and from telling lies. Now, we take up the third one that is popularly known as Asteya. Steya means stealing and Asteya means nonstealing. Another word for stealing in Sanskrit language is Chaurya. This restraint is therefore also known as Achaurya. Stealing means to get something stealthily or without the appropriate authorization. As such, the term covers burglary, theft, robbing, smuggling etc. By implication, it also covers cheating, counterfeiting, adulteration, use of inaccurate weights and measures
This restraint differs from the earlier two restraints in one respect. Observance of non-violence and truth is in the interest of social well being, but they have not gained the legal sanctity. If one kills or otherwise hurts another person, that can surely be a legal offense. But if one kills a fly or any other bug, it is not considered an offense. Killing of animals too may or may not be treated as an offense. In fact, most of the societies permit slaying of animals in slaughter houses. Similarly, telling a lie, unless it amounts to deception, is not punishable by law. Thus, breaching of these restraints may not attract punishment. Non-stealing has, however, been accorded legal sanctity by all the organized societies and its breach has been made punishable by law.
Let us now examine this aspect in another perspective. Take the case of a person picking up something that he finds on his way. Can he be said to have taken it stealthily? Human societies do not consider it an offense to pick up something unclaimed. But the question may arise whether every case of taking something, that one incidentally comes across, can be justifiable. Suppose, for instance, that a person notices a watch lying on his way. Obviously it must have been dropped by the owner, who might be looking for the same. The said person is therefore not supposed to pocket it. If he picks it up, the social norm requires that he should make it known and invite its owner to get it from him. Alternately, he
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should leave the watch there assuming that the legitimate owner would come in search of it. Instead of that, if he pockets it, that would amount to stealing, because he takes it without authorization. Pocketing it means appropriating something that does not belong to him. Such action therefore amounts to misappropriation.
That is the case of picking up something, which is valuable to the owner. But what about picking up something that the owner thinks of no value and has therefore been discarded? A person may come across something which is discarded by the owner as garbage but which is of use to him. If he therefore picks it up, it is not stealing and the society does not consider it an offense. Jain norm, however, goes ahead of the social norm and lays down that such cases be governed by the restraint of Adattädän. It is a composite term of Adatta and Ädän. Adatta means not-offered and Ädän means taking. Adattädän therefore denotes taking or picking up anything without being offered by the legitimate owner.
As such, if a person picks up something that is discarded by the owner, that amounts to Adattädän and is therefore forbidden. A spiritual aspirant is supposed to stay away from possessions to the utmost possible extent. The purpose of this restraint is to discourage the temptation of acquiring anything even incidentally. The spiritual aspirant should stay without possession or should have the utmost minimum possessions. He is therefore not supposed to accept even a straw of grass, unless the owner specifically offers it. It would thus be seen that Adattädän has a wide connotation and non-stealing is only a part thereof.
Staying without possession or with bare minimum possession is not possible for every one. Jainism therefore lays down the observance of this restraint at two different levels. Monks and nuns, who have renounced the worldly life, need only food, clothing and temporary shelter for survival. They can get food by going for alms, get bare minimum clothes from those, who spontaneously offer the same and stay for the time being in an Upashraya or at other resting place. Total observance of Adattädän is meant for them. For laymen, it is stipulated that they should not gain anything illegitimately. As such, they are not supposed to indulge in burglary,
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