Out of sight, out of mind

Expressions researched:
"out of sight, out of mind"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

To make these things out of sight, out of mind, one is recommended that after fiftieth year one must retire from this family life, and when he is still more advanced, he should take sannyāsa and completely, cent percent, devote his life for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 7.6.9-17 -- San Francisco, March 31, 1969:

What we call māyā... Māyā means Mā means "not," and yā means "this." What you are accepting as fact, it is not a fact. This is called māyā. Ma-ya. Māyā means "Don't accept it as truth." It is simply flickering flash only. Just like in the dream we see so many things, and in the morning we forget everything. This is subtle dream. And this existence, this bodily existence and relationship to this body, society, friendship, and love and so many things, they are also gross dream. It will finish. It will stay Just like dream stays for a few minutes or few hours when you are asleep, similarly, this gross dream also will remain, say, for few years. That's all. It is also dream. But actually we are concerned with the person who is dreaming or who is acting. So we have to take him out from this dream, gross and subtle. That is the proposition. So that can be done very easily by this process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that is being explained by Prahlāda Mahārāja.

putrān smaraṁs tā duhitṟr hṛdayyā

bhrātṟn svasṟr vā pitarau ca dīnau

gṛhān manojñoru paricchadāṁś ca

vṛttīś ca kulyāḥ paśu-bhṛtya-vargān

We, about our home, we think, nice decorated home, and the furnitures, the dress, and the animals, the servants, and the brother, the sister, the old father, and so many, I think. So we always think. These are all our bondage. "Out of sight, out of mind." So long we are attached, we are, I mean to say, within the association of these things, we have got very good attachment, but if we go out of this sight, or this association, then "Out of sight, out of mind." To make these things out of sight, out of mind, one is recommended that after fiftieth year one must retire from this family life, and when he is still more advanced, he should take sannyāsa and completely, cent percent, devote his life for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So he's giving very nice example.

tyajeta kośas-kṛd ivehamānaḥ

karmāṇi lobhād avitṛpta-kāmaḥ

aupasthya-jaihvaṁ bahu-manyamānaḥ

kathaṁ virajyeta duranta-mohaḥ

Now, you know the silkworm, the silkworm entangles itself in cobweb, and it cannot get out. Perhaps most of you know. And those who are industrialists in silk industry, they collect those cobwebs of silkworms and boil in the water, and the worm dies, and then silk comes out. So similarly, we are manufacturing the cobweb of silk in this so-called society, family, and being attracted in it. It is very good example. And the attraction is aupasthya-jaihvaṁ bahu-manyamānaḥ. Aupasthya means sex, sex, the organ for progenating. That is called aupasthya. And the other important sense is this tongue. So we are attached to this paraphernalia on account of this tongue and on account of that sex genital. That's all.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Just like I have got my wife, children, my grandchildren, everything. But out of sight, out of mind. That's all. Therefore vānaprastha, sannyāsa. Everything is nicely arranged by the Vedic system.

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Bob: Now I still have my connections in home. Marriage is... I'm engaged and all this...

Prabhupāda: No, no. There are so many marriages. He is married. Marriage is no barrier. I told you, there are four different orders of social life: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. So after brahmacārī, one can marry. But that is not obligatory. He may remain naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī for whole life. But a brahmacārī can marry. So after marriage there is vānaprastha life. Means little aloof from family. Live—husband and wife—separately. That time there is no sex life. And then, when he's fully renounced, detached from the family life, he takes sannyāsa.

Bob: Does somebody forget his wife completely then?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Forgetting is not very difficult if you try to forget. That's all. Out of sight, out of mind. (laughter) Just like I have got my wife, children, my grandchildren, everything. But out of sight, out of mind. That's all. Therefore vānaprastha, sannyāsa. Everything is nicely arranged by the Vedic system.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

When I am in tour in Europe and India, I completely forget about Los Angeles. I act according to the circumstances there. And again when I come to Los Angeles, I immediately remember. This is natural. Out of sight, out of mind.

Garden Conversation -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: But then there is an argument, if we were originally in the spiritual world, why don't we remember that and try to go back to the spiritual world?

Prabhupāda: That I have already said, that when I am in tour in Europe and India, I completely forget about Los Angeles. I act according to the circumstances there. And again when I come to Los Angeles, I immediately remember. This is natural. Out of sight, out of mind.

Bharadvāja: Śrīla Prabhupāda, we don't have to learn the activities of our spiritual body?

Prabhupāda: Yes, when you are revived. Therefore the Vedic injunction is that now you have got this human form of body, you get up to your original position. Uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpta varan nibodhata. This is the Vedic injunction. Jīva jāgo jīva jāgo, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says. Jīva jāgo jīva jāgo gauracanda bole kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra kole. How long you'll sleep? Here is the opportunity. Try to understand yourself. That is self-realization. And go back to home, back to Godhead. Why you are struggling here? Kṛṣṇa is coming. He is also saying the same, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Why you are rotting in this material world? So for spiritual awakening there are so many attempts by God Himself, by His devotees, by books, so many ways. But we are not inclined. That is our fault.