Once there lived a king named Bhoj in an ancient city of India. He was puzzled by the repetition of the same dream every night. He felt like knowing the answers about some reality. He asked the royal priest to summon in his court. The priest was a knowledgeable being; the reservoir of all Vedas.
The king asked the priest to convey the answer to a specific question, and if found incapable to find the answer, the priest would be banished from the court and left like a beggar. The priest trembled out of fear and asked about the question. The king asked about the well from which no one could emerge out. The priest felt hopeless; his Vedas couldn’t yield any answer. The king offered him a week to find the answer.
The priest left. He spent five days, but could not find a well deep enough to be inescapable. He began wandering in the forest. Then, he encountered a shepherd with a herd of sheep and a few goats. The shepherd was a curious being and asked the priest about the cause behind the distress. The priest didn’t reply. The shepherd said that though he dwelled in forests, he was a Satsangi. The priest continued ignoring him. The shepherd warned the priest to ask the question as he would leave without sharing the philosopher’s stone. The priest felt curious and told his state of distress. The shepherd denied answering his question. The priest pleaded rigorously. The shepherd posed a deal that the priest had to drink the goat’s milk after the shepherd drank a few sips from the same cup. The priest felt hesitant as he had to sacrifice his customs of being a pandit (Brahmins never consumed soiled or worthless food). But, the priest agreed.
The shepherd posed another deal as the priest didn’t agree to his lighter deal. He said that the priest had to drink the goat’s milk in the cup made of the skull of a dead dog after the shepherd drank a few sips. The priest was hesitant, but he agreed. The shepherd smiled and said he didn’t own a philosopher’s stone. He continued and said that greed was the well deep enough which cannot be escaped if one is trapped in it.