Real association is not physical

Sureshvar : 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.