1. Srila Prabhupada’s “impossible” success in America

    God, by His different energy He does something which is impossible to be done. Take for example myself. I went to United States, unknown country, without any friend, without any hope, simply on theory [chuckles] that “I shall go and preach there,” and with this expectation also, that “As soon as I shall ask them to give up all these habits, they will ask me to go away.” [laughs] So in the face of so many odds and uncertainty, I went there, simply depending on my spiritual master and Krsna, with this hope only, that “If there is desire, everything can be done. But otherwise there is no hope. I am going there, hopeless, just to make an experiment. My other Godbrothers, they failed. All right, Guru Maharaja asked me. In the beginning I did not do. Let me do it in this old age.” So it became surprisingly success. Business started with forty rupees, and now we have got four crores. Where is that business in the material world, that a man started business with forty rupees and he has got four crores within ten years? Not only money but also fame, respect.

    Srila Prabhupada; Room Conversation — October 17, 1975, Johannesburg