In India, our culture, Vedic culture: depending on ācāryas. Even we differ, we Vaiṣṇavas . . . there are Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, and there is Māyāvādī ācārya. So Śaṅkarācārya, he is Māyāvādī, impersonalist; still, he accepts Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ devakī-nandanaḥ. He has written in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā. He accepts. Nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt, sa bhagavān nārāyaṇaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. He has accepted and what to speak of Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya and other ācāryas? Latest ācārya Kṛṣṇa . . . er, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, five hundred years . . .
These ācāryas are thousands of years ago, they appeared. Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared near about five hundred years ago. He accepted Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And we are followers of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.14.2): "One who is ācāryavān, one who is following ācārya, he knows things as they are." Ācāryavān puruṣo veda.
So unless we become ācāryavān . . . that is the Vedic instruction. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). We cannot understand God, what is God. We cannot make research because we do not know what are the symptoms of God, although everything is described in the śāstras. Here also, in the Bhagavad-gītā, the indications are there. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7): "There is nobody superior than Me." So this is the shortcut definition of God. Just try to find out a person . . . God is also a person, but He is the most superior person. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13).
He is the chief amongst the living beings. Nityo nityānām. He is the wisest of all wise men. Cetanaś cetanānām. What is the difference between God and us? The difference is that He is the maintainer and we are maintained. This is the difference. We are not maintainer. Nobody can say . . . one can say that, "I am God," but nobody can say that, "I am maintaining everyone." No, that is not possible. These are the simple definition of God given in the Vedic literature. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). We have necessities of life, but who is supplying the necessities of life? That eka, that one person, eka.