so near, so familiar..

सन्निकर्षो हि मर्त्यानामनादरणकारणम्।
गाङ्गं हित्वा यथान्याम्भस्तत्रत्यो याति शुद्दये॥
श्रीमद्भागवते १०-८४-३१
sannikarṣo hi martyānāmanādaraṇakāraṇam|
gāṅgaṁ hitvā yathānyāmbhastatratyo yāti śuddaye||
śrīmadbhāgavate 10-84-31


A quote from the great Puranam srimad Bhagavatham

The proximity to even a very rare and noble object tend to cause a sort of lack of respect and reverence towards it.
People who lives near the banks of the Sacred Ganga often have their wash in other waterfronts, though the great river is the most sacred purifier ever..

We tend to understand the greatness of what is easily available with us.. For the car driver of the Prime Minister, the PM would look very familiar in the long run..
Ganga is considered as the most sacred river for all .. But people living around Ganga would get so familiar with Ganga and even get bored by repeated dips in her and would go to other wells or ponds to have their bath and wash..
Familiarity seems to breed contempt

(A snippet.. the phrase Familiarity breeds contempt comes from
from the 1386 in the work titled “Tale of Melibee” by Chaucer.)

The context of the slokam is like this
Vasudeva the father of Krishna, is asking Sage Narada as to how he could get relief from all the worldly woes and reach bliss
Narada is puzzled.. The Lord Krishna is living with Vasudeva as his darling son.. And Vasudeva does not realize that his own son is the cause of all happiness for every being in the universe. The son is so near and familiar and hence his importance is lost on the father.