Prabhupāda: Tathā paramahaṁsānām (SB 1.8.20). Kṛṣṇa is realized by qualification, and the qualifications are described here. The first qualification is paramahaṁsa. Paramahaṁsa . . . parama means the best, and haṁsa means the swans. So there are different types of swans. We have seen. Out of them, the white big swan is accepted the best of them. So this haṁsa, or this swan, has got a qualification special, that you offer them milk mixed with water, so the haṁsa, it will take the milk portion and leave aside the water portion. Every animal has got a special qualification. Just like you'll find the lizard, a very plain wall, polished wall, but they'll go very swiftly. You have no science to do that. You cannot do it. The vulture, it goes very high. They have got very small eyes, but they can see from miles away where is some dead body. That is their business.
So everyone has got some special qualification. That is God's gift. The . . . similarly, this is also an animal. It has got the special qualification: they can discriminate what is water and what is milk. So this world is mixed up, spiritual and material things. Just like your body, my body, this is also mixture. Anything is a mixture of spirit and matter. So one who can discern the spirit from the matter, he is called paramahaṁsa. So intelligent man . . . paramahaṁsa, what is the paramahaṁsa? Now, munīnām. Paramahaṁsa . . . muni means very thoughtful. So if you are thoughtful, then you'll be able to discern between matter and spirit. The body is moving, but those who are not muni, thoughtful, they think the body is moving automatically. But actually, that is not the fact. Because the spirit is there, therefore it is moving. So muni, those who are thoughtful, they can understand. Foolish men, they cannot understand. They cannot understand that beyond this body there is another force, which is helping the movement of the body. They cannot understand the Bhagavad-gītā statement, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). That moving force is perpetual, eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). It is not lost after the destruction of the body, but it is transferred to another body. They cannot understand, because they are not muni. The muni means very thoughtful. And how one can become perfect muni? That is also said here: amalātmanām. Amala. Mala means dirty things, and amala, amala means just the opposite, no. Amala, "a" means "no." His heart is cleansed of all dirty things. Such men. Amalātmanām. So these are the qualification. Paramahaṁsa, one must be only spiritually interested, like the swan. He is interested only to drink the milk, not the water. Similarly, one must become paramahaṁsa. One must be interested with spiritual advancement of life, not material. Reject. Reject it.
So these are the qualification to understand Kṛṣṇa. One who is spiritually interested, one who is very thoughtful and one who is cleansed of all dirty things from consciousness or from the mind, these are the qualification when one can understand Kṛṣṇa. These things . . . why these things, indiscrimination, dirty things, they are accumulated within the heart? It is due to our sinful activities. The more we become sinful, the more dirty things will cover our consciousness, and it will be difficult to understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpam (BG 7.28). One who is freed from the reaction of sinful life . . . yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām. Persons who are engaged in pious activities, they do not do anything which is vicious. Therefore they remain pure, without any contamination. Therefore pious activities are recommended. For common men it is recommended in the śāstra that, "You take your bathing in the Ganges." That will make him pious. If he simply takes his bathing daily, regularly, automatically he'll be pious. Or go and see the temple and offer your obeisances. Everything will be taken.
This small boy, he has nothing, no understanding what is Kṛṣṇa, but because he's dancing, because he's chanting, sometimes he's ringing the bell, these are pious activities. Automatically they'll do, so many people. Therefore temple is required. Temple is required. The innocent persons, those who are neophyte, for them, temple worship is essential. By seeing the Deity, by offering obeisances to the Deity, by taking caraṇāmṛta, by ringing the bell, by dancing, by taking little prasādam, by touching the feet of Vaiṣṇava or touching the body of Vaiṣ . . . in this way they're getting piety. This chance is given therefore to the ordinary . . . there is no question of becoming muni in the beginning. How it, one can be? It is not possible. Therefore Deity worship, temple worship, essential for the common, general people. Simply by their coming, visiting and doing something, they'll be pious.
So . . . and other pious activities—to hear about Kṛṣṇa. The sound vibration. Even one does not understand what is spoken here, but Kṛṣṇa . . . just like I am speaking in English. Those who cannot understand English, they do not understand what I am speaking. But in the middle I am talking of Kṛṣṇa. So that Kṛṣṇa hearing is sufficient, "Kṛṣṇa." My Guru Mahārāja, when some article was presented to see whether he approved for publication, he would simply say, or see, how many times he has uttered "Kṛṣṇa" and "Caitanya Mahāprabhu." That's all. If he has uttered in his writing "Kṛṣṇa," "Caitanya," like that, so if he hears that many times he has written, "That's all right. That's all right." It is so nice. And that's a fact.