The Demon at the Door

“Fundamentally, every human being first needs to work on himself. The first and foremost responsibility of any human being should be to take charge of his interiority and become a joyous person.”

—Sadhguru

In this musing, Sadhguru tells the story of a clash of good vs. evil – which turned out to be something else entirely.

Sadhguru: In a small town, there was an old house which was reputed to be the residence of a demon. Nobody even dared to enter the house.

One day, a brave man announced that he was going to spend a whole night in this house. In the evening, he went into the house to stay there for the night.

Another man, who thought he was braver than the first, also decided that he was going to spend the night in the house of the demon that day. The first man was already inside when the other man came and tried to open the door. When he pushed opened the door, the man inside thought the demon had come and put his shoulder to the door to close it.

The man outside also gave his shoulder to the door and did everything possible to open it. This struggle went on, both of them thinking the demon was on the other side. The whole night went by in this exercise, and when light dawned upon them in the morning, they realized they were two men, just like each other, very similar.

There are too many situations like this in the world. People think they are the good guys and that they are fighting the bad guys. Essentially, both sides think the other side is the bad guy. People always believe that they are good and somebody else is bad. That is the only way they can carry on their missions in the world. The man who is labeled as a terrorist in the world, thinks he is very good. The more good he thinks he is, the more horrible he becomes for us. But who is good and who is bad essentially depends on what you have identified yourself with – whether religion, nationality or some other factor.

Fundamentally, every human being first needs to work on himself. The first and foremost responsibility of any human being should be to take charge of his interiority and become a joyous person. When you are happy, you are a very generous human being, aren’t you? When you are unhappy, you are a dangerous person. So, the first and foremost responsibility is to establish yourself as a joyous human being.

If this does not happen, with good intentions, we will cause great suffering on this planet – which is what is happening today. If you do not know how to manage your body, mind or emotions, how will you manage the world? If you do not know how to take care of yourself, you will definitely not know how to take care of the world. So, the first and foremost responsibility of every human being is to inner engineer yourself. The world deserves a well-engineered human being with a fantastic sense of life.

Editor’s Note: “Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy” by Sadhguru is now available for purchase in US, UK and in India. Order your copy now!