The demon Bhasmasura was hungry for power, and he was not a patient creature. He performed harsh penances until the great god Shiva appeared before him, pleased.

"Ask for a boon," said Shiva.

Now, a wiser being might have paused. He might have thought about what he truly needed, or what such a gift might cost, or whether he could be trusted with it. But Bhasmasura's mind was a fog of greed and confusion. He blurted out the first enormous thing that came to him.

"Grant me this," he said. "Let any head I place my hand upon instantly burn to ashes!"

He never once considered the consequence. He never thought of the harm such a power would unleash, or the ruin it would bring, or whether his own clouded mind could handle it. He saw only the shiny prize and grabbed it.

Shiva, bound by his word, granted the terrible boon.

And then Bhasmasura did the most foolish thing of all. The very moment he had the power, a wild thought seized his fogged brain: "Why not test it on Shiva himself? Then I shall be the mightiest of all!" Without a second of thought for who had just helped him, he lunged, hand outstretched, to burn the very god who had given him the gift.

Shiva fled, and the deluded demon chased him across the world, never stopping to ask where this mad race could possibly end.

It ended the only way blind action can. Lord Vishnu appeared in the form of the beautiful Mohini and challenged the demon to copy her graceful dance. Lost in his own foolishness, Bhasmasura imitated every move — and when Mohini placed her hand upon her own head, the demon, mindlessly copying, placed his hand upon his.

He turned, in an instant, to a small heap of ash.

He had been given the power to destroy anyone, and the only one he had failed to consider — the consequence, the harm, his own foolishness — destroyed him. That is what happens, the sages say, when action begins in darkness, with the eyes of the mind shut tight.