Govindaji is the landlord and Ranganathaji is tenant
At 11 a.m. Atreya Rishi prabhu returned from work to take Srila Prabhupada to see the house he is purchasing in the central part of Teheran. Before we journeyed there Srila Prabhupada discussed with Atreya Rishi some ideas he had for starting businesses that would help the householders earn their incomes independent from the karmis. He offered to give him his toothpaste formula, and complemented Harikesa Swami for remembering the formula - menthol, pine oil, camphor, oil of wintergreen, glycerin, ground yellow mustard seeds and powdered salt and he now suggested nim powder as a substitute for calcium carbonate. He also told Atreya how he had cured a cut received from the car crash in Mauritius last year simply by applying a paste of nim leaves cooked in ghee, and suggested that nim could be imported from India. "In our Society," he said, "it is not that we are simply sannyasis. We have got brahmacharis, we have got grihasthas. Grihasthas should be provided with some profession, business, so that they can earn very nicely. That is a good idea."
Prabhupada had me bring out some of the nim paste that Palika had made in America to show Atreya. Unfortunately it had gone off because, Prabhupada surmised, Palika had used water in the cooking. Harikesa Maharaja said that when he had made the first batch last November, it lasted a long time because it was simply nim leaves cooked in ghee for about three hours. Atreya Rishi asked if it must be cooked in ghee, or could some other oil be used. Prabhupada suggested Vaseline, rejecting Harikesa's idea of olive oil. And despite his previous comments about Pranava dasa's self-interest, he thought of a way of positively engaging him. "And you can, if you want to engage him, if he wants to do something, that Pranava, let him supply nim leaves, dry, from Vrindavana. 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 and dries, and then packs it and dispatch. 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."
Prabhupada decided to take his massage after his return from visiting the house, and before we left, Atreya Rishi informed him of a nice gift the devotees had for him. "So, Srila Prabhupada, we have, this temple has some dakshina 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?" "If you give me the interest, eighteen percent, I'll utilize it for Mayapur-Vrindavana," Prabhupada told him. "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. Is it all right? Simple?" Atreya Rishi was very happy with his new service. "No, I know. I shall do it. We will put in this bankbook, your account, $2,000 now, today. And you will get eighteen percent interest. You want it on a monthly, yearly, how do you like?" Telling Harikesa Swami to also give Atreya Rishi some cash he was holding, Prabhupada told Atreya Rishi he should pay him on a monthly basis, and deposit the funds in America with Ramesvara Swami.
As we prepared to go Srila Prabhupada went over some of the details of how to make his toothpaste with Harikesa, who had been the first to make it for him. Harikesa laughed at the suggestion that they use the bitter nim powder instead of calcium carbonate. He didn't think anyone would be able to tolerate the taste. I reminded Srila Prabhupada of what he had said in London about his toothpaste. "You said your teeth were so rotten they want to fall out, but the toothpaste won't allow them."
As we prepared to go Srila Prabhupada went over some of the details of how to make his toothpaste with Harikesa, who had been the first to make it for him. Harikesa laughed at the suggestion that they use the bitter nim powder instead of calcium carbonate. He didn't think anyone would be able to tolerate the taste. I reminded Srila Prabhupada of what he had said in London about his toothpaste. "You said your teeth were so rotten they want to fall out, but the toothpaste won't allow them."
Srila Prabhupada grinned. "Yes, actually my teeth have gone all bad. It is useless. But on account of this toothpaste it is still working." He gave a laugh. "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 rotten, then your eating is gone. You cannot digest, you cannot eat. If the foodstuff is not properly chewed, it causes digestive disturbance. Digestive disturbance means so many diseases. This coughing is due to digestive disturbance. I know that." "That's because liver's not working?" I asked, remembering the doctor's opinion in New York. Srila Prabhupada agreed. "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 Dinanatha came? I think you know. He's living. He's seventy-five, seventy-six. Little younger than me." He was referring to his old friend Dinanatha Misra in Calcutta. "That very thin man? Oh, I know. Yes. He was very sick actually when we were there." "Yes, he was sick," Srila Prabhupada said. "He was half dead."
I asked who the people were who had gathered to see him when we visited his childhood Deities, Sri Sri Radha-Govinda, in Calcutta at the beginning of this year. "They are just like my younger brothers," Prabhupada said. "Their elder brothers were contemporary, they are all dead. 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-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. I organized this Ratha-yatra. I was performing Radhashtami and Janmashtami, and I was learning how to dress the Radha-Govinda. Yes." "You used to go in and dress Them?" I asked. "It is, actually, it was our house," Prabhupada affirmed. "Just three, four house after." "Radha-Govinda were the only Deities in the neighborhood?" "Only Deity, yes. And Radha-Govinda has big property. In front of the Deity house there is a very big building. Just opposite. That is His building. Very good income. Besides that, He has many other lands. They have got very good income." I observed that They had appeared well looked after. Srila Prabhupada agreed and said the Mulliks were one of the oldest aristocratic families of Calcutta. "The whole, from Howrah Bridge up to that street, all belongs to their property. Very rich men." He explained that the Deity gets so much income from the properties and the various Mullik families have a certain term each for worshipping the Deities. Whosever term it is, they get the income. "Practically that is now their income. The more one gets the worshiping term longer, he gets more income," Prabhupada laughed. "The Deity has got very, very good income. All the temples in India ... Just like I am trying to make some fund for Vrindavana and Mayapur.
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 Vrindavana Akshayananda 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 5-10,000 rupees so that the Deity worship will not be stopped. "That is the system in all Indian temples. It must go on, nitya-seva. These big, big temple in Vrindavana, they have got such arrangement. Otherwise how it is going on for 500, 600 years? They have very good income. Govindaji has got 18,000 rupees monthly income. He's the richest Deity in Vrindavana. 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." He laughed. "Ranganathaji is Ramanuja-sampradaya, Govindaji is Gaudiya-sampradaya. So Ramanuja-sampradaya is the tenant of Gaudiya-sampradaya."
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 Vrindavana Akshayananda 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 5-10,000 rupees so that the Deity worship will not be stopped. "That is the system in all Indian temples. It must go on, nitya-seva. These big, big temple in Vrindavana, they have got such arrangement. Otherwise how it is going on for 500, 600 years? They have very good income. Govindaji has got 18,000 rupees monthly income. He's the richest Deity in Vrindavana. 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." He laughed. "Ranganathaji is Ramanuja-sampradaya, Govindaji is Gaudiya-sampradaya. So Ramanuja-sampradaya is the tenant of Gaudiya-sampradaya."
The purchase price of the new house here is $160,000. The location is good, being mid-way between the westernized north and the more traditional enclaves of the south, and just near the university. The address, on Avenue Kakh, is a small side street just off the main thoroughfares of Takht-e-Jamshid and Palavi Avenue. Avenue Kakh has only three or four houses on one side of it and the house is fairly typical for the area in that it has a high wall and big gate, no backyard, and a modest front yard with small red mulberry tree as its only feature. It took about forty minutes by car to get there. When we arrived, Srila Prabhupada was politely and respectfully received by the old Iranian couple that own the place. Taking their permission Atreya Rishi led Prabhupada through the premises, pointing out the salient features as he went along. The building has approximately 1,000 sq. ft. on each floor, the downstairs consisting of a kitchen in the back, and a couple of large rooms, the front one of which having a bay window which juts out into the yard. There is also a partial basement. The upstairs has two large and one small room off a landing at the top of the stairs. Atreya Rishi explained he plans to convert it into a restaurant and preaching center, with the brahmacaris living upstairs. The present villa will be occupied by the householders and Deities will be installed there. Srila Prabhupada gave his approval. After our short tour our hosts, who spoke French as a second language, graciously offered a large plate full of fruits. Srila Prabhupada happily accepted an orange which he had me cut into pieces before consuming. As we left he commented that there was still a semblance of Vedic culture left in Iran. We returned around 12:30 p.m. Part of the route took us past a desert area in the midst of which, by careful irrigation and cultivation, were very fertile patches of grass and flowers. Srila Prabhupada observed that even in the middle of dry and barren land many things may be grown if provision for water is made. There was also a little discussion in the car about the preaching here. Atreya Rishi said that some devotees think that he is too cautious, but Srila Prabhupada reassured him with his comment "No, slow but sure, that is wanted."
Reference: Transcendental Diary Volume 4 by Hari Sauri Dasa
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