The Devil Who Wanted Work

One day a devil confronted a man and said to him, "Give me something to do. If you don't, I will kill you". The man asked the devil, "Is that all, give you something to do"? The devil replied, "Yes, the moment you stop giving me something to do, I'll kill you". The man knowing that there are over a thousand things in this world for anyone to do, asked the devil to do each of the tasks, rest assured in the knowledge that the devil would never be able to kill him. "Swim across the Atlantic Ocean", said the man. In a matter of seconds the devil swam the length and breadth of the ocean, and came back saying, "I swam across the Atlantic Ocean. Now give me something else to do, or else I'll kill you". So the man asked him to do everything he could possibly think of - clean the garbage, fly around the world, plough the fields, carry stones, touch the sky, touch the bottom of the ocean, and so on. However, after some time, the devil woke up the man who was fast asleep and said, "Well my dear man, I have finished everything you asked me to do. Now give me something else to do, or I'll kill you". The man thought hard and realised that the devil had indeed finished all the tasks assigned to him. And he could not think of anything else!! He was going to die!!! The devil bared his fangs, drew his claws and reached for the man's throat saying, "Since you have failed to give me something new to do, I have no option but to kill you".

The man was about to close his eyes and accept his fate when he suddenly noticed a ladder behind the devil against which the devil was leaning. He blurted out loudly, "Stop!!" The devil was puzzled, "Now what?", said he. "Well, you see that ladder. Go and climb it". So the devil went to the ladder and climbed it. On reaching the top of the ladder, he said, "Now what?". The man said, "Well....now climb down". The devil did. On reaching the bottom of the ladder, he thundered, "Now what?". "Well, climb up", said the man and when the devil reached the top he said, "Now, climb down". After ensuring that the devil kept going up and down the ladder, the man went back to rest.

Our mind is like the devil in the above anecdote. It constantly seeks new things. It is for us to listen to our mind and keep it engaged. Because if we don't, our mind also has the capacity to destroy us. It keeps playing tricks on us all the time. So keep your mind busy. Give it something new to do. Even if it is something simple, the mind never tires. You sure have heard of the saying "An idle mind is the devil's workshop", haven't you?

Ivan Rodrigues