Sureshvar: I was initiated in Detroit in 1971. Being initiated by Srila Prabhupada was such an awesome experience that I was completely stunned at the initiation. The system was that strands of beads were draped on the microphone. Prabhupada chanted one round on each of those beads, and then the initiate would be called to come forward. So, Prabhupada chanted on the beads that were to become mine, and my name was called, “Richard Hall.” I staggered up and knelt in front of him. Now, when you looked at Srila Prabhupada you were looking at a person who was unfathomable. It was like looking at the ocean, the ocean of truth. At the same time he was looking right through you. It was an incredible experience. He asked me the four rules. I answered. He said, “Your name is Sureshvar das. It is a name for Lord Brahma. It means controller of the demigods. You are a servant of the controller.” As he said this, I got more and more stupefied, and he saw that I was stunned. He had the beads in his hand, so he just held out the beads and said, “Come on, take your beads,” and started rattling them in front of my nose.
It was in Miami Beach in 1975 that I got a chance to go on a morning walk with Prabhupada. There were about a dozen of us. As we walked along the shore, with Prabhupada leading the pack, I noticed how his cane put holes in the sand. When someone asked a question, he would stop and turn to answer. At one point in the walk I was right behind Prabhupada. Somebody asked a question. I don’t know what the question was or how Prabhupada answered, because all I could think was “Wow! I am right in back of Prabhupada’s head.” I studied his head. It was golden with silver hairs and furrows in the back of his neck. Then Krishna gave me a wonderful realization. I was close to Prabhupada physically, but spiritually I was millions of miles away. That was too bad but true, and it was also enlivening because I realized that what the devotees had told me all these years was also true, that “real association is not physical, it’s vibration, vani.” I became happy that I had the opportunity to become intimate with Prabhupada through his vibration, through vani.
In September of 1972, Srila Prabhupada flew to Dallas to install Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji. He arrived at Love Field via American Airlines. We ushered him into the VIP room, where he sat on a makeshift dais and immediately started talking about the three ways to fly. He said, “There are three ways to fly.” Reporters were jotting down, “Three ways to fly.” Prabhupada continued, “Pigeon.” (He didn’t say “Swan,” he said “Pigeon.”) “Pigeon, mantra and carpet. Formerly, people knew the art of training pigeons and could get on the pigeons and fly.” I was standing next to a woman reporter and looking at her pad as she wrote, “Pigeon.” Then he said, “Mantra. Simply by vibrating mantras, the yogi knew how to ride on the sound.” She and the other reporters wrote down, “Mantra, machine.” Then a lady asked, “Swami, if you know all these different ways to fly, why did you choose to fly American Airlines today?” Prabhupada said, “To be one with you.” The lady turned to me and said, “I like that man!”
