A young man named Kaminimohan lived in Nabadwip. He was very introverted, and didn’t like to leave the confines of his own home. When a friend invited him to come with him to Mayapura Dhama and hear a lecture by a great personality on Krsna-bhakti, Kaminimohan was very reluctant to go. So the friend, eager to do Kaminimohan some spiritual good, devised a stratagem. He asked him to come with him to Kuliya, just across the Ganges river from Mayapura. At Kuliya a travelling amusment park had set up for a few days.

Kaminimohan, after a bit of persuading, went with his friend to the park where they had an afternoon of fun. Then the friend said, “We are just across the river from the sadhu’s place, and he’s lecturing soon. So let’s just cross the river and see him and then return home.

Seeing his friend’s determination, Kaminimohan decided not to directly refuse. But he said, “Oh dear, I am so afraid of rivers. I never cross them. If I get near one, I have attacks of nausea, dizziness, and heart palpitations. Let’s wait til winter (the dry season). Then that river will become so shallow we can walk across. But I cannot go now.”

His friend said, “You say you’ll cross when the river is dry, but this is the Ganges–it never gets dry. You are just being insincere. You don’t want to go at all.”

The purport is obvious.