Audio
Prabhupada: ...at a time. Simply the sense must be there. Jnanavan. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyante [Bg 7.19]. To surrender to Krsna is not easy, but if one is jnanavan, he can do it. So make your country jnanavan, not these rascals, unnecessarily wasting time by opposing us. They are rascals. So you have to turn these rascals into sense. Then it will take. Give them prasadam; let them chant Hare Krsna. Time will come, ours. Do it. I'll die, but you shall remain. You are all young men. [break]
Prabhupada: That he'll do... If we get free, you send.
Prabhupada: No, the free, that is consideration. Let them give freely. You take advantage.
Prabhupada: So where is Jagadisa?
Prabhupada: I called him. Where is that... I made the...
Prabhupada: Advertisement, yes. So just exactly to that...
Prabhupada: Simply I have not added the name.
Prabhupada: List of... Yes.
Prabhupada: Yes. Here are the spaces.
Prabhupada: Addresses. You can write. What is the address of the Vrinda Book Company?
Prabhupada: So write it there.
Ramesvara: This paper circulates more than the Times.
Ramesvara: But it's very close. Just in this city, Bombay, only twenty thousand papers' difference. In Delhi, bigger circulation than Times.
Prabhupada: Competition.
Ramesvara: Very competitive. And it's overall much more.
Prabhupada: Please see that there is no printing mistake.
Prabhupada: That is...
Prabhupada: No.
Prabhupada: Why Delhi temple? They are not executing?
Prabhupada: No, that is another thing. But they have no department for executing. They will be embarrassed when they receive order.
Prabhupada: Give the full address.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Prabhupada: Telephone number, I think, Vrinda has also.
Ramesvara: This man invited us to have the books reviewed.
Prabhupada: Telephone number?
Prabhupada: I think I have got. Yes, 617796.
Prabhupada: Postbox? Why?
Prabhupada: What is the address?
Prabhupada: Or Calcutta 9 is...
Prabhupada: Phone number.
Gopala Krsna: Yes, I have that. Telephone 617796. Now one question on pricing. Srimad-Bhagavatam, we are selling it to the libraries for forty-five rupees.
Prabhupada: No, no. It is not the question of library. What is the general price?
Ramesvara: Lower.
Prabhupada: Don't make duplicity pricing.
Prabhupada: Why forty-five? We can reduce more even, do you think.[?]
Jagadisa: [indistinct]
Ramesvara: He's already charging the libraries forty-five rupees.
Prabhupada: That's all right.
Prabhupada: No.
Prabhupada: That's nice.
[break] What do you think?
Ramesvara: Lower the better.
Ramesvara: We are selling so many Gitas in America because we lowered the price.
Prabhupada: Yes. So you consult and do it.
Prabhupada: So now you have received nine lakhs' worth books. So how you'll pay it?
Prabhupada: From America.
Prabhupada: First you'll have to inform them. He'll send less.
Prabhupada: So you should do that.
Prabhupada: Everything should be done businesslike.
Prabhupada: All first class.
Prabhupada: He will help you, and then you can, you also, big business. You...
Prabhupada: Or you can exchange. Whatever money you have received, you supply books.
Ramesvara: The government will insist on.
Prabhupada: Anyway, if credit builds, you send less money.
Prabhupada: This is Indian printed?
Prabhupada: Very good.
Prabhupada: So you can return that twenty thousand rupees I have given you for advertising. [laughter] Yes.
Prabhupada: Then you should also take it as loan.
Prabhupada: Yes. Certainly. It is business.
Ramesvara: From one pocket to another.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Prabhupada: I had one... When I was doing medical business I had one very nice customer. He was my patron also, one Muhammadan doctor, Sirajauddina. He was very kind to me. He was just like a father to me. So his system was that in his pharmacy, patent medicine, drugs, medicine, surgical instruments, like that, different headings. So suppose, at the sales time, sells some patent medicine. So he has got a box. So he puts the price in the patent medicine. And if he sells some surgical, he puts the price in the surgical pot. In this way, when they want to purchase again, so he would consult his pot, whether there is money. Then he'll allow to purchase. Otherwise not. So he told me, "This is my account. This is my account. When they want to purchase, they consign us something. I shall allow them to purchase so much as I have got in the box." This is... I have seen that gentleman. And in Calcutta there was a... In our young time there was a cinema, Mr. Maddar, J. F. Maddar. He's a Parsee. So for some..., business, he was tenant of mine. One of my tenants. So in his room there were boxes. So I asked Mr. Maddar, "What is this box at home?" And "This is the counter..., containing counter part of ticket in my cinema house. So these are sent to me. I count the counter part. Then I can calculate, 'This is the calculation.' I don't keep an account. Now let them do whatever they like. I understand that so many counter parts, so much money."
Prabhupada: No, one thing is that if you export, you will come to the light of the government. They want. And then you will get a good supply of paper.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Prabhupada: Yes. He can send paper?
Gopala Krsna: Yes. What I had earlier written to him was we can import paper and I can give the money into construction. And because I have... I know the Joint Chief Control of Imports and Exports in Delhi, and he told me he would give me a license to import paper duty free. So we can import paper which you can pay for in Singapore, you follow? I'll give you the dealer, everything. And the paper will come. We'll print...
Prabhupada: You supplied paper to Japan, I think.
Ramesvara: Yes.
Prabhupada: So you can supply the paper.
Ramesvara: And now, whenever we print books in America, we supply paper. It's much cheaper if we buy it.
Prabhupada: Oh.
Ramesvara: The printer will mark it up if he has to spend his money for paper.
Prabhupada: That is good. Supply paper.
Ramesvara: You take good savings that way.
Ramesvara: Printer loves it. The printer doesn't have to spend his money on paper.
Prabhupada: Not only that, if he makes bill for the paper, then he has to pay sales tax.
Gopala Krsna: Yes. Also the income tax will say, "Your sales were so high," so he doesn't want the paper account to come under that. So what I'm saying, Srila Prabhupada... The demand for our books is there. And like BBT Los Angeles sells a Bhagavatam to the temples for $3.50, and we are selling it for $1.45. And that includes our profit already. Our real cost is 90 cents, 95 cents. So we can expand our printing capacity here. As I discussed with you last week, there's one machine from England that Usha Printers wants to import. And if we give him a loan... It will be his machine. He'll give us documents, and he'll pay back interest every month. In two years he'll pay back the whole money plus interest, which will be higher than what the bank gives us.
Prabhupada: Is that all right?
Ramesvara: What is the bank rate?
Prabhupada: No, no, no.
Prabhupada: Bank rate is not less than 16%.
Ramesvara: He is only offering 12% a year.
Prabhupada: He may mean "More than bank rate" means bank allows to their customer not more than 10%. But if you take loan from bank...
Prabhupada: Take loan, the interest is more.
Prabhupada: The borrowing loan is not less than 16%.
Ramesvara: I think this is a good idea, because the printer will be indebted to us.
Prabhupada: So do it immediately.
Ramesvara: This is a good opportunity for us to have a very solid relationship with the printer.
Prabhupada: Hmm. That's nice.
Prabhupada: If it is cheaper, why not?
Prabhupada: Yes.
Ramesvara: He has to approve the quality.
Prabhupada: I don't think India can make such quality.
Prabhupada: It may come to close, but not to... Then that's all right. If it is possible, we can.
Ramesvara: Because it is... Yes, because of the price.
Prabhupada: Now Jayatirtha is going first in selling, more than anyone.
Ramesvara: During the... During one week of Christmas he defeated Los Angeles. [Prabhupada chuckles]
Jagadisa: He's taking [indistinct].
Ramesvara: Oh, yes, he did.
Ramesvara: His one temple defeated any other temple. His one temple was the number one temple, but as a whole zone...
Prabhupada: Jayatirtha is also good business. [chuckles] He has got good business brain. So do it nicely, and Krsna...
Prabhupada: ...with life, with money, with intelligence, with words to serve Krsna. etavaj janma-saphalyam dehinam iha dehisu. This is the perfection of life. How? etavaj janma-saphalyam dehinam iha dehisu. This is the perfection of life. How? etavaj janma-saphalyam dehinam iha dehisu [SB 10.22.35]. Iha dehi... This, in human body... Those who have got body as dog, cats, they have got body. But iha dehisu, this human form is for perfection. And how that perfection is achieved? Pranair arthair dhiya vaca sreya acaranam sada: "With your life, with your money, with your intelligence, with your words, serve." That is successful life.
Trivikrama: Today we had an engagement at the Gujarati... What was that?
Prabhupada: Here?
Trivikrama: In Bombay. In the city we had a...
Prabhupada: So books are selling?
Prabhupada: Which ones selling?
Trivikrama: Well, they wanted mostly in Gujarati. They didn't read Hindi. There is magazines and Isopanisad.
Prabhupada: This magazine you have got?
Prabhupada: No, this magazine.
Trivikrama: This is a rupee and a half.
Prabhupada: You make expert, on quality expert.
Prabhupada: In India, Bombay is best.
Prabhupada: There are many offset printing houses.
Prabhupada: Typeset is Delhi good, but offset-Bombay.
Gopala Krsna: So what I've told them, Srila Prabhupada, is they can get the composing done in Bengal, Calcutta, then send it to me, like I get the Hindi composing done in Vrndavana and mail it to Bombay for printing. So it is cheaper and good quality, plus we have the whole department set up. One boy, Pippalai, he just takes care of technical aspects. And we have a shipping department all set up now. Two boys work just on the shipping.
Prabhupada: So supply department keep in one place.
Prabhupada: In other places it is...
Prabhupada: No. They supply all supplies. The orders should be supplied from one place.
Prabhupada: But keep your credit.
Prabhupada: What is that? You want to ask me something?
Ramesvara: From India, forty thousand.
Prabhupada: His wife is good businesswoman.
Ramesvara: Yes.
Prabhupada: She can do very good business. Is it not?
Gopala Krsna: Yeah. First they were hesitating, Srila Prabhupada. So what I did is I told Jayatirtha that Australia has already ordered, so he said, "Okay, I'll order sixty thousand." I told Australia that "England's already ordered," so he said, "I'll order forty thousand." [chuckling] We had to get the thing started at once.
Prabhupada: No, Australia, from India it is nearer, half distance.
Prabhupada: Now, export and exchange with paper, good paper.
Prabhupada: So why not import paper? It will be very nice.
Prabhupada: Then America can order from you also.
Gopala Krsna: On the Bhagavatam the prices are better here.
Prabhupada: It is a quantity. They are giving nice price for large quantity.
Ramesvara: But he is... Even though the price is better in America, he is getting the market because he is selling it for less.
Ramesvara: Has Prabhupada told you how much profit you should make? Because in America you have always said it should be marked up one hundred percent. If a book costs us one dollar, we should sell to the temple at two dollars. So your book is costing over one dollar, and you are only selling it for $1.45.
Ramesvara: Oh.
Prabhupada: There is no consideration of big profit. Simply we want big number, distribution. That's all.
Prabhupada: Big number-as big as possible. My Guru Maharaja, he had magazines in six languages: English, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, and one Bengali daily. So if our men complained that "Such and such men are not giving their subscription, so what we can do? Stop the supply?" Oh, he would become very angry. He asked them, "Are you commercial-hired fools? No! Supply free!" He used to say like that. He was asking, "Whether we shall stop supply? The subscription is not coming." So immediately he became angry: "Are you commercialized? If he's not giving price, supply him free." That was his policy. So less profit or..., try to see how many numbers of books.
Gopala Krsna: Yes. Because once BBT India starts making profit, then the burden on BBT America will also be lessened. BBT India can start giving money for construction and other things. I foresee that if BBT India goes on, next, in 1977 we should make a profit of at least twenty-five lakhs rupees, twenty-five to thirty lakhs.
Prabhupada: Not shabby thing. No. Just like our Godbrothers, they printed... They have no printing; still, whatever they print, all shabby.
Prabhupada: Full of mistakes. Full of mistakes, the get-up is not good, what they will sell. And they print only in Bengali.
Prabhupada: That's all.
Prabhupada: Hare Krsna. [end]
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