760812 - Conversation A - Tehran

Conversations by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

760812R1-TEHRAN - August 12, 1976 - 28:49 Minutes

Prabhupāda: I can give you formula. That toothpaste formula, that is my invention. It's working very nicely.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Can we have it? What if we can't find neem leaves here?

Prabhupāda: No, we can supply neem leaves from India, any amount, from Vṛndāvana.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Neem leaves from Vṛndāvana is unique. Nobody can imitate us.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Neem leaves we can export from India. In the United Provinces there is ample neem trees. That I shall give you instruction also.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: We will start, Śrīla Prabhupāda. This is better than . . . this is easier than restaurant.

Prabhupāda: Now you consider amongst yourselves. I have no difficulty. I have given direction, "Do like that." Now what you'll do, that is up to you. So far giving help and directions, that you will get perfect, there is no doubt about it.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Jaya, jaya. It is perfect.

Prabhupāda: That you will get. Yes. How to manage, how to get ingredients, everything you'll get. Because I have to say only; you have to do. That's all. So that will be all right. Now decide. That will be very nice or very effective. Whatever we shall prepare, it will be very effective. So if there is market, why not introduce? I think there will be market, because this country is undeveloped.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: We will manage it, Śrīla Prabhupāda. There will be plenty of market.

Prabhupāda: It is undeveloped.We require all these things. The more they become civilized, the more they require medicine and all these things. So you decide. I am so far giving instruction and help, and that will be available.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: We have been, Śrīla Prabhupāda, talking and thinking about it amongst ourselves, that now that we have this propensity to be in business, instead of working for karmīs we should have our own business.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: So it's much better . . . if devotees are in charge, then the karmīs can work for us, and they can become devotees. But if the karmīs are in charge . . .

Prabhupāda: We are. Our Society, it is not that we are simply sannyāsīs. We have got brahmacārīs, we have got gṛhasthas.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. We want to set example.

Prabhupāda: So gṛhasthas should be provided with some profession, business, so that they can earn very nicely. That is good idea.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: He has so much propensity to become engaged in these things. I have the propensity, all the devotees have the propensity. We can . . .

Prabhupāda: So you make your formula, I mean to say, plan and scheme. So far how to do it, that instruction I give.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Now in this house you will see, this house, the plan is that the house, the first floor will be kitchen, restaurant and a store, a little section for store. Store will have Your Divine Grace's books, records, tapes, japa-mālā and some sweets, prasādam that is made to go, to sell.

Prabhupāda: Who made sandeśa? It was very nice.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Who made the sandeśa?

Hari-śauri: Nava-yauvana's wife.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Mañjarī. Yes, she can make sandeśa.

Prabhupāda: Very nice preparation.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: And some of these products also can be stocked there. Once we start and it is successful, then we can grow.

Prabhupāda: (referring to Harikeśa) He knows how to make kachorī.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: You like him to stay here, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No, I don't say, but he can give you instruction.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: So if you will give us the formulas, we can learn from him the formulas for toothpaste?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: For toothpaste and what else?

Prabhupāda: You remember it?

Harikeśa: Hmm . . .

Ātreya Ṛṣi: No, exactly?

Prabhupāda: But toothpaste, you require collapsible tube.

Harikeśa: Got to be in tubes? It was better in the bottles. In a tube it just doesn't come out.

Prabhupāda: No, that will come out. The powder must be made very fine. Otherwise, it will not come out.

Hari-śauri: If it's pulverized with a machine it comes out.

Harikeśa: Yes, if there's a machine it would be nice.

Prabhupāda: Very fine powder.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: What about if we served it in a different shape. Tube is common. If we make it a little different it would be more attractive.

Prabhupāda: That you have to think, how it will be attractive here. Otherwise paste, put into the collapsible tube, then it becomes complete. The formula is there with everything. Simply it has to be made very fine pulverized.

Harikeśa: And it lasts for a long time, because the toothpaste Prabhupāda is using now I made in last December. Last December.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Are you happy with it, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Is it good? He made it good?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. No, it was not made good because . . . it is not his fault. The powder was not very fine. But it will be better, nice, when the powders are very, very finely pulverized.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: What other products do you recommend?

Prabhupāda: That you want me, I shall give you.

Harikeśa: The one on leg that you put that neem oil. That cleared up that cut in two days.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Where is that neem ointment?

Harikeśa: He was in a car accident in Mauritius, and he got a big cut on his leg, big cut, and then Prabhupāda invented this medicine, cured it in two days.

Prabhupāda: Any cut, any ulcer, it is very . . . (indistinct)

Ātreya Ṛṣi: You can use for ulcer?

Prabhupāda: No, any . . .

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Oh, cut, ulceration, cut. How much royalty do we pay you, Śrīla Prabhupāda? (laughs)

Hari-śauri: It's gone a bit moldy on the top again.

Prabhupāda: Fifty percent.

Hari-śauri: It's gone a little moldy on the top again, Underneath it's all right, though.

Prabhupāda: No, we shall do it nicely.

Harikeśa: This looks different.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: What is this, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Salt?

Prabhupāda: No, it is simply neem leaf.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Just neem leaf.

Hari-śauri: Neem leaf boiled in ghee.

Harikeśa: This is not the same.

Prabhupāda: It was not properly done.

Harikeśa: No.

Prabhupāda: I asked Pālikā.

Harikeśa: It was very good that other time. It was completely merged in the ghee, and it was very nice. I cooked it for three hours.

Prabhupāda: The water portion should be abolished. Then it will not go, not bad.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: If the water portion is . . .?

Hari-śauri: Abolished.

Harikeśa: The secret is cooking it for a long time.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, yes, of course, it should be dry. Then it won't go bad.

Harikeśa: Three hours.

Prabhupāda: If the water portion remains, it will decompose.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Do you have to use ghee? Can't we use some oil?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, you can use vaseline. Ghee is better, but vaseline you can use. Vaseline is available. I think you are not manufacturing vaseline?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, Iran.

Prabhupāda: Because vaseline is one of the by-product of petrol.

Harikeśa: They have olive oil and that here.

Prabhupāda: No olive oil. Vaseline will be very cheap here. And you can, if you want to engage him, if he wants to do something, that Praṇava, let him supply neem leaves, dry, from Vṛndāvana. If he actually wants some money, let him do some business. Let him collect all neem leaves and give him twenty percent profit. Suppose he collects neem, collects and dry it, and then packs it and dispatch. The cost of . . .

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Shipping and dipatching. The cost of dispatching, we give him twenty percent for him.

Prabhupāda: Some arrangement he may make some profit. Honest business. Not that by cheating get something. That is not good. If he wants money, let him take.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Have you had your massage, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No, I'll come back and do.

Hari-śauri: We have to leave soon.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: We have to leave soon, in fifteen minutes.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I can go. I can . . . give me ten minutes. I am prepared.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Ten minutes. So we can get ready to go.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: And we can get these formulas from you later.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Many things toilet and medicines and . . . we can give.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: We will like that very much.

Prabhupāda: Let them be engaged in different ways and earn some money. This incense I taught Gargamuni first.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. This is better than incense. You teach us the incense also, everything. We will do it.

Prabhupāda: Incense, I first of all taught Gargamuni. The starting was there in New York. Do you know that? And now it has developed very nice.

Pradyumna: The largest in the world.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, would you like us to . . . we have . . . this temple has some dakṣiṇā for you. How would you like me to do it? Give you . . . I mean today is Thursday. Would you like it in what form? Would you like us to invest it for you here, or give you the cash?

Prabhupāda: If you give me interest, eighteen percent, I'll utilize it for Māyāpur-Vṛndāvana.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: I shall . . . yes, that's fine. So we can . . .

Prabhupāda: No, purchase one small book, like passbook. So you become my banker; I deposit with you. You receive it and send the interest, that's all.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: I will be glad to . . . fine.

Prabhupāda: I make you banker. That's all. There is no botheration. You become banker, you send the interest. Now how you are utilizing, you know; I don't bother. But if I get the interest, then I think it is all right.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Jaya. Eighteen percent you'll have.

Prabhupāda: What is it? Is it all right? Simple?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So just purchase one small passbook. And . . . you have got that passbook? Or you . . .?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: No, I know. I shall do it. I will do it. We will put in this bank book, your account, two thousand dollars now, today.

Prabhupāda: And I'll give you some foreign exchange. Give him.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Whatever you give, I will put in that account.

Prabhupāda: Give that cash money.

Hari-śauri: Yes.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: And you will get eighteen percent interest. You want it on a monthly? Yearly? How do you like?

Prabhupāda: Monthly, no yearly.

Harikeśa: Those Travelers Cheques there?

Prabhupāda: Travelers Cheques I'll keep now. It may be required.

(indistinct background conversation between devotees about packing and money throughout)

Ātreya Ṛṣi: And monthly to India or to America?

Prabhupāda: India, or America.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Because America is cheaper. Because if I send it to India, if small amounts go . . .

Prabhupāda: So you send to America.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: To America is all right? I send it every month to Rāmeśvara.

Prabhupāda: Los Angeles, yes. For deposited in account number I will give you.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: We will go and we will take care of all this this afternoon.

Prabhupāda: All right. Keep it now. We are going. We shall come back, and then later on. After coming back we shall give him. (noise of packing) Yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi yat dadāsi tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam (BG 9.27). (break)

Harikeśa: It took two weeks to make.

Prabhupāda: Two weeks? Why? Because the ingredients were not . . .?

Harikeśa: No, because your mustard oil, no one liked to taste it. And then you changed it to mustard seeds.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: And then glycerin.

Prabhupāda: Mustard seed also can be exported from India. In the Mathurā district there is sufficient mustard seed.

Hari-śauri: Hmm. Those yellow mustard seeds.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mustard seeds and instead of chalk powder we mix neem powder. Mustard seed, neem powder.

Harikeśa: Calcium carbonate.

Prabhupāda: And salt. Calcium carbonate means . . .? Oh, calcium . . . instead of calcium carbonate, let it be neem. It will be very effective.

Harikeśa: I think the taste will be horrible.

Prabhupāda: Yes, taste will be . . . (laughter)

Harikeśa: No one will use it.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is also . . .

Harikeśa: I saw they make this other toothpaste with sucrose. The second biggest ingredient is sucrose on the karmī toothpaste.

Prabhupāda: Sucrose? What is that sucrose?

Harikeśa: Sucrose, you know, sucrose and glucose and lactose, those sugars. They use sugar powder, sucrose.

Prabhupāda: Oh, sacrose. Sacrose, yes. Saccharin and sacrose. Saccharin is sugar product.

Hari-śauri: It's like a sweetener but not . . .

Harikeśa: We tried that, too, the first time, with those saccharin.

Prabhupāda: No, that is no good.

Harikeśa: That was not good.

Prabhupāda: Salt is available very easily.

Harikeśa: And they use hard soap powder in these powdered ones. We tried that first with the hard soap powder? They use that also.

Prabhupāda: No, in this latest we shouldn't do it. Latest only simple three things, that's all. That is good. That has come out nice.

Harikeśa: Menthol, pine oil, camphor, oil of wintergreen, glycerin, mustard powder, powdered salt and calcium carbonate.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Good memory, yes. These are the things.

Hari-śauri: You put all that in the last batch?

Harikeśa: Yep.

Prabhupāda: In Durban, I think.

Hari-śauri: In Bombay we made this last one.

Harikeśa: No, that big batch last I made in Sanand. When you went to that Sanand, above Ahmedabad, where that king had his palace, we stayed in that palace. That's when I made that big batch. But first it was developed in Durban.

Prabhupāda: Durban, yes. Because there was no possibility of using datur(?). My teeth broken, and it became painful, it was not working. Therefore I invented. But it is effective.

Harikeśa: You said on account of this toothpaste . . . your teeth were so rotten they want to fall out, but the toothpaste won't allow 'em.

Prabhupāda: Yes, actually my teeth have gone all bad. It is useless. But on account of this toothpaste it is still working. (laughs) Otherwise, according to dental science, it has to be extracted. It is no other remedy. If you go to a dentist, immediately he will say: "Extract all this and have a new set, artificial." That is, I know that. But I don't want to extract. As far as possible, use them and let them fall down automatically, as they have already fallen down so many. Fifty percent already fallen down, and twenty-five percent are shaking, and still I am eating. Otherwise, according to the dental science, I should not eat any solid food. In Bengal there is a word that when the teeth is gone, then your eating is gone. You cannot digest, you cannot eat. It is not . . . if the foodstuff is not properly chewed, it causes digestive disturbance.

Hari-śauri: Indigestion.

Prabhupāda: Indigestion. And digestive disturbance means so many diseases. And this coughing is due to digestive disturbance. I know that.

Hari-śauri: That's because liver's not working, or . . .?

Prabhupāda: No. Yes. It is old man's disease. Liver does not work nicely, teeth does not work nicely, there is susceptibility to cold. Old age. All my young friends, they have all died. Nobody's living. One or two still. You know that Dinanath came? I think you know. He's living. He's seventy-five, seventy-six. Little younger than me.

Hari-śauri: Who's that?

Harikeśa: Dinanath Mishra in Calcutta.

Prabhupāda: One man, a case pleader.

Hari-śauri: That very thin man? Oh, I know. Yes. He was very sick, actually, when we were there.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he was sick. He was half dead.

Hari-śauri: What about those people when we went back to where you used to live? When we came back from Māyāpur and we went out that night to . . . what do you call? Your old friend's house?

Prabhupāda: Oh, Mulliks.

Hari-śauri: Mulliks.

Prabhupāda: They are just like my younger brothers. Their elder brothers were contemporaries. They are all died.

Hari-śauri: Finished.

Prabhupāda: They are younger. They are all my childhood playmates. Their older brothers, the eldest one was my very, very intimate friend, Siddhesvar Mullik. We used to ride on the same perambulator when we were three, four years old. And Ratha-yātrā ceremony was performed with all these guests. They were about, in our neighborhood, there were four, five houses. So all the children of the same age, I was the leader. (laughs) Yes. I organized this Ratha-yātrā. I was performing Rādhāṣṭamī, Janmāṣṭamī, and I was learning how to dress the Rādhā-Govinda. Yes.

Hari-śauri: You used to go in and dress Them?

Prabhupāda: It is, actually, it was our house. Just three, four house after.

Hari-śauri: Rādhā-Govinda were the only Deities in the neighborhood, or . . .?

Prabhupāda: No, only Deity, yes. And Rādhā-Govinda has big property. In front of the Deity house there is a very big building.

Hari-śauri: Just across the road? That one?

Prabhupāda: Yes, just opposite. That is His building. Very good income. Besides that, He has many other lands. They have got very good income.

Hari-śauri: They're very well looked after.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Hari-śauri: They're very nicely looked after.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are one of the oldest aristocratic families of Calcutta, Mulliks. The whole, from Howrah Bridge up to that street, all belongs to their property. Very rich men.

Hari-śauri: Now they don't own so much.

Prabhupāda: No, the Deity has got income. So they have got terms for worshiping the Deity. So one who gets the term for worshiping, he takes the income.

Hari-śauri: Oh, in the family members.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But practically that is now their income. The more one gets the worshiping term longer, he gets more income. (laughs) The Deity has got very, very good income. All the temples in India . . . just like I am trying to make some fund for Vṛndāvana and Māyāpur. Even no contribution comes, it will go on. The sevā-pūjā will not stop for want of money. So there will be no want of money. Still, I must make some provision, by the income the sevā-pūjā will go on. Contribution may come or not. That provision should be made. Now in Vṛndāvana Akṣayānanda is collecting and so many ways. Suppose nobody collects. That does not mean this temple will be closed. It must go on. So I am trying to make some provision from that bank interest, at least five to ten thousand rupees so that the Deity worship will not be stopped. That is the system in all Indian temples. It must go on. Nitya-sevā. It must go on. These big, big temple in Vṛndāvana, they have got such arrangement. Otherwise how it is going on for five hundred, six hundred years? They have very good income. Govindajī has got eighteen thousand rupees monthly income. That is . . . He's the richest Deity in Vṛndāvana. And Raṅganātha is tenant of Govindajī. Land is taken from Govindajī, and Raṅganātha's temple is constructed. The Raṅganātha's temple management pays the rent. So Govindajī is the landlord and Raṅganāthajī is tenant. (laughter) Raṅganāthajī is Rāmānuja-sampradāya, Govindajī is Gauḍīya-sampradāya. (laughter) So Rāmānuja-sampradāya is the tenant of Gauḍīya-sampradāya. (break) . . . government is looting?

Hari-śauri: You want to come . . . (indistinct) . . .?

Harikeśa: Everybody's coming?

Hari-śauri: I guess so.

Prabhupāda: No, as many as we want. Why? (end)