Room Conversation
with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
August 12, 1976, Tehran

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

Atreya Rsi: Can we have it? What if we can’t find nim leaves here?

Prabhupada: No, we can supply nim leaves from India, any amount, from Vrndavana.

Atreya Rsi: Nim leaves from Vrndavana is unique, nobody can imitate us.

Prabhupada: Yes. Nim leaves we can export from India. In the United Provinces there is ample nim trees. That time I shall give you instruction also.

Atreya Rsi: We will start, Srila Prabhupada. This is better than…, this is easier than restaurant.

Prabhupada: 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. That you will get. 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.

Atreya Rsi: We will manage it, Srila Prabhupada. There will be plenty of market.

Prabhupada: 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.

Atreya Rsi: We have been, Srila Prabhupada, talking and thinking about it amongst ourselves, that now that we have this propensity to be in business, instead of working for karmis we should have our own business.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Atreya Rsi: So it’s much better… If devotees are in charge, then the karmis can work for us and they can become devotees. But if the karmis are in charge…

Prabhupada: We are. Our society, it is not that we are simply sannyasis. We have got brahmacaris, we have got grhasthas. So grhasthas should be provided with some profession, business, so that they can earn very nicely. That is good idea.

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

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

Atreya Rsi: 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-mala and some sweets, prasadam that is made to go, to sell.

Prabhupada: Who made sandesa? It was very nice.

Hari-sauri: Nava-yauvana’s wife, Manjari.

Atreya Rsi: Yes, she can make sandesa. And some of these products also can be stocked there. Once we start and it is successful, then we can grow.

Prabhupada: He knows how to make kacuri.

Atreya Rsi: You like him to stay here, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: No, I don’t say, but he can give you instruction.

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

Prabhupada: Oh, yes.

Atreya Rsi: For toothpaste and what else?

Prabhupada: You remember it?

Harikesa: Hm…

Atreya Rsi: No, exactly?

Prabhupada: But toothpaste, you require collapsible tube.

Harikesa: It was better in the bottles. In a tube it just doesn’t come out.

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

Hari-sauri: If it’s pulverized with a machine it comes out.

Harikesa: Yes, if there’s a machine it would be nice.

Prabhupada: Very fine powder.

Atreya Rsi: 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.

Prabhupada: 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 and everything. You don’t take… Simply it has to be made very fine pulverized.

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

Atreya Rsi: Are you happy with it, Srila Prabhupada? Is it good? He made it good?

Prabhupada: 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.

Atreya Rsi: What other products do you recommend?

Prabhupada: That you want me I shall give you.

Hari-sauri: The one on leg that you put that nim oil. That cleared up that cut in two days.

Prabhupada: Yes. Where is that nim ointment?

Harikesa: He was in a car accident in Mauritius, and he had a big cut on his leg, and when Prabhupada invented this medicine, cured it in two days.

Prabhupada: Any cut, any ulcer, it is very…

Atreya Rsi: Even for ulcer?

Prabhupada: No, any…

Atreya Rsi: Oh, cut, ulceration, cut. How much royalty do we pay you, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: Fifty percent.

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

Prabhupada: No, we shall do it nicely.

Harikesa: This looks different.

Atreya Rsi: What is this, Srila Prabhupada? Salt?

Prabhupada: No, it is simply nim leaf.

Hari-sauri: Nim leaf boiled in ghee.

Harikesa: This is not the same.

Prabhupada: It was not properly done. I asked Palika.

Harikesa: 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.

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

Atreya Rsi: If the water portion is?

Hari-sauri: Abolished.

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

Atreya Rsi: Yes, yes, of course, it should be dry. Then it won’t go bad.

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

Atreya Rsi: Do you have to use ghee? Can’t we use some oil?

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

Atreya Rsi: Yes, Iran.

Prabhupada: Because vaseline is one of the by-products of petrol.

Harikesa: They have olive oil here.

Prabhupada: 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 Pranava, let him supply nim leaves, dry, from Vrndavana. If he actually wants some money, let him do some business. Let him collect all nim leaves and give him twenty percent profit. Suppose he collects nim, collects and dry, and then packs it and dispatch. The cost of…

Atreya Rsi: The cost of dispatching, we give him twenty percent for him.

Prabhupada: 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.

Atreya Rsi: Have you had your massage, Srila Prabhupada?

Prabhupada: No, I’ll come back and do.

Hari-sauri: We have to leave soon.

Atreya Rsi: We have to leave soon, in fifteen minutes.

Prabhupada: Yes, you can go. Or you can leave ten minutes.

Atreya Rsi: So we can get ready to go. And we can get these formulas from you later.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Atreya Rsi: Jaya.

Prabhupada: Many things toilet and medicines and… We can give.

Atreya Rsi: We will like that very much.

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

Atreya Rsi: Yes, this is better than incense. You teach us the incense also, everything. We will do it.

Prabhupada: 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.

Atreya Rsi: So, Srila Prabhupada, would you like us to… We have, this temple has some daksina for you. How would you like me to do it? 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?

Prabhupada: If you give me the interest, eighteen percent, I’ll utilize it for Mayapura-Vrndavana.

Atreya Rsi: I shall… Yes, that’s fine.

Prabhupada: 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. 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. What is it? Is it all right? Simple? So just purchase one small passbook. And… You have got that passbook? Or you…?

Atreya Rsi: No, I know. I shall do it. I will do it. We will put in this bankbook, your account, two thousand dollars now, today.

Prabhupada: And I’ll give you some foreign exchange, give him.

Atreya Rsi: Whatever you give, I will put in that account.

Prabhupada: Give that cash money.

Hari-sauri: Yes.

Atreya Rsi: And you will get eighteen percent interest. You want it on a monthly, yearly, how do you like?

Prabhupada: Monthly, no year.

Harikesa: Those traveler’s checks there?

Prabhupada: Traveler’s check I’ll keep now. It may be required.

Atreya Rsi: And monthly to India or to America?

Prabhupada: India or America.

Atreya Rsi: Because America is cheaper, because if I send it to India, if small amounts go…

Prabhupada: So you send to America.

Atreya Rsi: To America is all right? I send it every month to Ramesvara.

Prabhupada: Los Angeles, yes. For deposit in account number I will give you.

Atreya Rsi: We will go and we will take care of all this this afternoon.

Prabhupada: All right, keep it now, we are going. We shall come back and then later on. After coming back we shall give him. Yat karosi yaj juhosi yat dadasi tat kurusva mad-arpanam. [break]

Harikesa: It took two weeks to make.

Prabhupada: Two weeks? Why? Because the ingredients were not…?

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

Prabhupada: Yes. Mustard seed also can be exported from India. In the Mathura district there is sufficient mustard seed.

Hari-sauri: Yellow mustard seeds.

Prabhupada: Yes. Mustard seeds and instead of chalk powder we mix nim powder. Mustard seed, nim powder.

Harikesa: Calcium carbonate.

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

Harikesa: I think the taste will be horrible.

Prabhupada: Yes, taste will be… (laughter)

Harikesa: No one will use it.

Prabhupada: Yes, that is…

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

Prabhupada: Sucrose? What is that sucrose?

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

Prabhupada: Oh, sucrose, yes. Saccharin and sucrose. Saccharin is sugar product.

Harikesa: We tried that too the first time, with those…

Prabhupada: No, that is no good.

Harikesa: That was not good.

Prabhupada: Salt is available very easily.

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

Prabhupada: No, it is it (indistinct), we shouldn’t do it. Only simple three things, that’s all. That is good. That has come out.

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

Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Good memory, yes, these are the things.

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

Harikesa: Yes.

Prabhupada: In Durban, I think.

Hari-sauri: In Bombay we made the last one.

Harikesa: 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.

Prabhupada: Durban, yes. Because there was no possibility of using (indistinct—word for stick toothbrush). My teeth broken, and it became painful, it was not working. Therefore I invented. But it is effective.

Harikesa: You said on account of this toothpaste… Your teeth were so rotten they want to fall out, but the toothpaste won’t allow them.

Prabhupada: 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 out automatically, as they have already fallen out so many. Fifty percent already fallen out, and twenty-five percent are shaking, and still I am eating. Otherwise, according to the dental science, I should not eat any salt. In Bengal there is a word that when teeth is rot, 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. And digestive disturbance means so many diseases. This coughing is due to digestive disturbance. I know that.

Hari-sauri: That’s because liver’s not working?

Prabhupada: No. Yes. It is old man’s disease. Liver doesn’t 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-sauri: Who’s that?

Harikesa: Dinanath Mishra in Calcutta.

Prabhupada: One man, a case pleader.

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

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

Hari-sauri: What about those people when we went back to where you used to live? When we came back from Mayapura and we went out that night to, what they called? Your old friend’s house?

Prabhupada: Oh, Mulliks.

Hari-sauri: Mulliks.

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

Hari-sauri: Finished.

Prabhupada: They are younger. They are all my childhood playmates. Their older brothers, the eldest one was my very, very intimate friend, Siddheshvar Mullik. We used to ride on the same perambulator when we were three, four years old. And Ratha-yatra 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-yatra. I was performing Radhastami and Janmastami, and I was learning how to dress the Radha-Govinda. Yes.

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

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

Hari-sauri: Radha-Govinda were the only Deities in the neighborhood?

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

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

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

Hari-sauri: They’re very well looked after.

Prabhupada: Yes. They’re 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-sauri: Now they don’t own so much.

Prabhupada: 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-sauri: Oh, in the family members.

Prabhupada: 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 Vrndavana and Mayapura. Even no contribution comes, it will go on. The seva-puja 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 seva-puja will go on. Contribution may come or not. That provision should be made. Now in Vrndavana Aksayananda is collecting in 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-seva. It must go on. These big, big temple in Vrndavana, they have got such arrangement. Otherwise how it is going on for five hundred, six hundred years? They have very good income. Govindaji has got eighteen thousand rupees monthly income. That is… He’s the richest Deity in Vrndavana. And Ranganatha is tenant of Govindaji. Land is taken from Govindaji, and Ranganatha’s temple is constructed. The Ranganatha’s temple management pays the rent. So Govindaji is the landlord and Ranganathaji is tenant. Ranganathaji is Ramanuja- sampradaya, Govindaji is Gaudiya-sampradaya. (laughter) So Ramanuja-sampradaya is the tenant of Gaudiya-sampradaya. [break] No, as many as we want. Why? (end)