Questions and answers by HG Sankarshan das Adhikari
I have one question, where I am little bit confused. One devotee was telling me that everything is predestined. Krsna knows everything. He knows what we will choose, what we will do, how and when we will come back to him. So according to this philosophy, we are only observers and nothing more. According to the viewpoint, which seems logical, because Krsna knows everything, everything already is predestined and our existence is only like watching movie. I can think that I have chosen Krsna, but Krsna knew when or whether or not I would choose him.
So according to this philosophy everything is stage-managed. This topic is very important to me please enlighten me.
Answer: Krsna gives us free will
This is not the correct understanding. Free will always exists for every living being because without it love cannot exist. And since Krsna wants our love He always endows us with free will love. This is why He is manifesting us from Himself, to enjoy a loving relationship with us.
Krsna is so inconceivably omnipotent that He simultaneously gives us the full choice of deciding when we will come back to Him while at the same time knowing exactly when we will do that. This is not at all difficult for Him for He exists in a realm that is beyond time and space.
Krsna gives us the full power to choose and at the same time knows exactly when we will choose Him. His knowledge of when we will choose Him does take our freedom of if and when we wll choose Him. This is the inconceivable omnipotency of the Lord.