Ladies and Gentlemen, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is known also as bhagavat-dharma. Bhagavat-dharma means the religious principles by which the lost relationship between God and the living entities are reestablished. At the present moment we are forgetful of our relationship with God, or Kṛṣṇa. When I speak "Kṛṣṇa," Kṛṣṇa means God, and when I speak "God," God means Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1).
People are searching after God, "Where is God?" But they do not see that here is God: Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa appeared Himself five thousand years ago in India, and He exhibited His godly qualities, established Himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by His various activities, and still people are dying to see God. That is very regrettable.
At least in India one should not be speaking to know what is God, what is God's qualities, what is God's pastimes, what is God's name, what is God's form. This is due to forgetfulness. Kṛṣṇa is God. That is accepted by all the ācāryas. We are guided. Our Indian civilization, our religious life, our culture, our Vedic knowledge, they are all directed by the ācāryas. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the chapter, the Thirteenth Chapter, it is . . . there are different states for God realization, or self-realization, and one of the item is ācārya-upāsanam: to follow the footsteps of the ācāryas.