"You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all"
About this Quote
The line is a quiet demolition of the modern self-improvement industry: no upgrade, no spiritual “leveling up,” no glamorous next version of you. Ramana Maharshi frames liberation as subtraction, not acquisition. That’s a pointed reversal in a culture that treats the mind like a résumé, where even inner life gets managed as a project with milestones.
The intent is surgical. By refusing the language of “new states,” he undercuts the seeker’s most flattering assumption: that the problem is a lack of attainment rather than a surplus of mental noise. “Aspire” and “get” sound like consumer verbs, the grammar of desire. He’s saying the impulse to reach for an altered state is itself the trap, because it keeps attention fused to thought, craving, and narrative.
The subtext is also a critique of spiritual tourism. If awakening becomes another experience to collect, the ego stays in charge, just wearing better clothes. “Get rid of your present thoughts” isn’t a call for repression so much as disidentification: stop taking each thought as a command, a confession, or an identity. The all is the provocation. He makes the prescription almost insultingly simple, daring you to notice how hard simplicity is when the mind keeps auditioning for control.
Context matters. Maharshi taught in a non-dualist (Advaita) tradition, emphasizing self-inquiry and direct recognition over ritual or doctrine. Postcolonial India was also a crossroads of Western spiritual hunger and Indian reform movements; his minimalism reads like a refusal to market enlightenment. The power of the quote is its austerity: it denies the seeker their favorite consolation, that the next mental state will save them.
The intent is surgical. By refusing the language of “new states,” he undercuts the seeker’s most flattering assumption: that the problem is a lack of attainment rather than a surplus of mental noise. “Aspire” and “get” sound like consumer verbs, the grammar of desire. He’s saying the impulse to reach for an altered state is itself the trap, because it keeps attention fused to thought, craving, and narrative.
The subtext is also a critique of spiritual tourism. If awakening becomes another experience to collect, the ego stays in charge, just wearing better clothes. “Get rid of your present thoughts” isn’t a call for repression so much as disidentification: stop taking each thought as a command, a confession, or an identity. The all is the provocation. He makes the prescription almost insultingly simple, daring you to notice how hard simplicity is when the mind keeps auditioning for control.
Context matters. Maharshi taught in a non-dualist (Advaita) tradition, emphasizing self-inquiry and direct recognition over ritual or doctrine. Postcolonial India was also a crossroads of Western spiritual hunger and Indian reform movements; his minimalism reads like a refusal to market enlightenment. The power of the quote is its austerity: it denies the seeker their favorite consolation, that the next mental state will save them.
Quote Details
| Topic | Meditation |
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