The point is that we have no firm conviction of Krishna's existence until Krishna reveals Himself. That’s called realization, and there are different levels of realization and there are different levels of devotees. The neophyte devotee has no firm conviction because he has no realization, but he may have enough realization at least to understand that he has to follow some higher authority. If that realization is there, then that is the first step.
September 28, 1992, Almaty