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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 2 - The Steps to Union
37. When abstention from theft is perfected, the yogi can have whatever he desires. In this is to be found the clue to the great law of supply and demand. When the aspirant has learned to "desire nothing for the separated self" he can then be trusted with the riches of the universe; when he makes no demand for the lower nature and claims nothing for the three old physical man, then all that he desires comes to him unasked and unclaimed. In some translations the words are found "all jewels are his." It must be remembered with care that the theft referred to has reference not only to the taking of things tangible and physical, but has reference also to abstention from theft on the emotional or mental planes. The aspirant takes nothing; [198] emotional benefits, such as love and favor, dislike or hatred are not claimed by him and absorbed when they do not belong to him; intellectual benefits, the claiming of a reputation not warranted, the assumption of some one else's duty, favor or popularity are all equally repudiated by him and he adheres with strictness to that which is his own. "Let every man attend to his own dharma" and fulfil his own role, is the Eastern injunction. "Mind your own business" is the Western attempt to teach the same truth and convey the injunction that we each of us must not steal from another the opportunity to do right, to measure up to responsibility and to do his duty. This is the true abstention from theft. It will lead a man perfectly to meet his own obligations, to shoulder his own responsibility and to fulfil his own duty. It will lead him to refrain from appropriating anything that belongs to his brother in the three worlds of human endeavor.
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