The Master's suffering

One day King Shivaji left his palace to visit his Master. As usual, his Master was not available. Somebody informed Shivaji that his Master was in a nearby village and Shivaji immediately went there. When Shivaji approached his Master, he saw that Ramdas was in tremendous pain. He was suffering from all kinds of ailments and it seemed that he could not live much longer.

Shivaji was very distressed to see his Master in this condition. He said to him, “Please, please tell me what I can do for you. I can bring any doctor in my kingdom to cure you.”

Ramdas replied, “No doctor can cure me.”

The King asked, “Is there nothing that can be done? Is there nobody who can cure your suffering? I am the King and I am your disciple. There must be something that I can do for you.”

“Nobody can do anything,” repeated Ramdas.

“I feel that I can do something,” insisted Shivaji.

“All right,” said Ramdas at last, “if you can bring me the milk of a tigress, then only will I be cured.”

Shivaji exclaimed at once, “That is nothing!”

“If it is nothing, then you try to do it,” said Ramdas.