“Three Ways to Fly”

By Suresvara Prabhu; from Srila Prabhupada Tributes 2012
Like sage Narada, Srila Prabhupada was continually flying everywhere to
rescue fallen souls. That’s why, for most of us diksa disciples, many of our
encounters with His Divine Grace were at airports. My first darsana had
happened at Detroit’s Metro Airport, my second at Dallas’s Love Field.
It was September 1972. After Prabhupada’s American Airlines jet touched down
on the tarmac, we ushered him into the airport’s VIP room for a press
conference. Quickly Prabhupada mounted a makeshift vyasasana and, without
any preliminaries, announced: “So, there are three ways to fly”
A well-dressed reporter from the Dallas Morning News stood next to me
holding a notepad, her pen poised to catch Prabhupada’s next words: “Mantra,
pigeon, and machine. ”
To Prabhupada’s serious disciples, this kind of pronouncement, however
exotic, sounded simply wonderful. And absolutely true. But to a snappy
reporter like the lady standing next to me, it was grist for the evening
paper. Sensing a story, she carefully spelled Prabhupada’s words on her pad:
m-a-n-t-r-a, p-i-g-e-o-n, m-a-c-h-i-n-e.
“Formerly, ” Prabhupada continued, “certain kinds of pigeons were trained to
carry people from one place to another. And mantra, simply by vibrating a
certain mantra, yogi could dip into the Ganges and travel thousands of miles
in a moment. ”
Suddenly the reporter interrupted with a question: “Were these ways of
flying more efficient than today’s jumbo jets?”
“Oh yes,” Prabhupada replied, “for one thing, there were no,” Prabhupada
leaned off-mike and asked, “How you say – jackhighs?”
“Highjacks, Prabhupada, highjacks. ”
As Prabhupada was aware from the news, a Palestinian terrorist group had
just murdered all of Israel’s Olympic athletes at the Games in Munich and
highjacked a passenger plane to get away, the first “skyjacking” ever.
Prabhupada leaned back into the microphone and declared: “Yes, there were no
highjacks. ”
Not to be dismissed, the reporter took her best shot: “Well, Swami, if you
know all these ways to fly, then why did you fly American Airlines today to
Dallas?”
Without missing a beat, Prabhupada smiled with charming eyes: “To be one
with you. ”
Disarmed, the lady turned to me and loudly whispered, “I like that man!”
Pointed questions, perfect answers.
Fly us home, Srila Prabhupada, on the wings of your blessed mission to bring
everyone back to wonderful Krsna.
Praying for a pointed smack from your cane, I remain
Your aspiring servant,
Suresvara Dasa