But if you preach, why not one hundred percent?
Nara-Narayana : In the early days of the movement I heard Srila Prabhupada say to us that Lord Chaitanya has created this movement. It is Lord Chaitanya's movement. "You may think you are conducting this movement, and though what you are doing is important for conducting it", he said, "but actually even if you did nothing and do not choose to take part in this movement, this movement will go on, because this movement is being conducted by Lord Chaitanya." He said with a smile, "But, if you take part in it, then you can take the credit." Thinking along those lines, I'd been listening to Prabhupada in Bombay in 1972 when coming back from a walk on Juhu beach, Prabhupada had been talking about how ten percent of the population would become Krishna conscious in the age of Kali. I asked, "Well Srila Prabhupada, you've just said that ten percent of the population will take part in this Krishna consciousness movement. It will make it probably the greatest religion this world has ever seen since Vedic times. Certainly in Kali Yuga, billions of people." I said, "Since you are saying that, why are we preaching if ten percent are going to become Krishna conscious anyhow?" All of a sudden he whirled towards me and he pointed his finger at me, and he cried out, "Automatically ten percent will become Krishna conscious." Then he looked more intensely and said, "But if you preach, why not one hundred percent?" That's where I began to understand the difference between manifest destiny and free will. By manifest destiny, meaning Krishna's will, ten percent will automatically become Krishna conscious. But if we choose as Vasudeva says, "I will not go back to Godhead until every being has gone back to Godhead, then why not one hundred percent?" .
I understood that was actually the mood of Thakur Bhaktivinode. Prabhupada at one time said, "He could of made everyone Krishna conscious, but he wanted us to have something to do." In the Kalyana Kalpataru poem he says, "I've ripped up this tree and I brought it from Krishnaloka and I planted it, but by my rough embrace, by rough handling it is now doing poorly because I jammed it in the ground." He said, "So I want everyone to come and water this tree and it will come back to it's former glory even though I haven't handled it so nicely myself." In other words, if three people come and water the tree that's nice, but if everyone comes, why not? Why not everyone? Why not one hundred percent?
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 4 by Siddhanta Dasa
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