Vedic Worldview

It’s another Q&A episode with Thom, answering questions with a common thread of consciousness running through them. He starts off by tackling the question of consciousness and AI, before exploring the consciousness of cows, and bulls for that matter, and what it is about their consciousness that makes them sacred (Hint:evolution is the only thing that’s ever happening). And he also helps a mot...

The desire to help others is baked into human DNA, and the sight of someone suffering often triggers a need to take action. This is one of the reasons our species has been able to thrive. Often, however, our attempts to alleviate the suffering of others don’t succeed, not necessarily because of lack of effort or misguided intentions. It’s because there’s another dynamic at play that can thwart our...

Desire is one of the most misunderstood facets across all Wisdom traditions. Teachers often teach, and readers often misinterpret, some of the writings of the texts, both from Veda as well as other ancient wisdom cultures, as meaning that desire is bad, or that the key to enlightenment is to eliminate our desires. One such example of this misunderstanding is the Vedic epic Bhagavad Gita, specifica...

While most of us think of hair in terms of current fashion trends and style ourselves accordingly, (or not!), most long-lasting schools of thought still have customs related to hair based on traditions that have lasted millenia. The Vedic worldview is no different, and in fact, many of the traditions related to the hair can be traced back to Vedic origins. In this episode, Thom explains that hair...

Spiritual leaders are often perceived as being stern and serious, in some cases even humorless. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, while he could be serious when needed, was famous for his smile, his laugh, and his sense of humor in general. In this episode, Thom shares some anecdotes from his 26-plus years of being with Maharishi, where Maharishi put his sense of humor on display. Some of these were public d...

Silent retreats and cave retreats are nothing new and have been around for millenia, giving seekers an escape from the demands of daily life and a chance to simply let the mind be with itself. A modern twist on this is the use of Dark Room Retreats, a growing business model where the cave might be swapped for a cabin, and food and other needs are provided for you, leaving you alone to experience t...

Ayurveda is often defined as “the science of life, but this definition is somewhat simplistic, and doesn’t fully describe the origin and intent of the word. In this episode, in answer to a listener’s question, Thom gives a deeper explanation of the subject, including its origins and a fuller description of its meaning. This question and answer sets the stage nicely for the follow up contribution f...

A quick scan of the internet tells us that divorce and separation rank highly for most people as far as stressful events go, often coming second only after the death of a loved one. This is not surprising, given how much weight is put into the idea of committed relationships being permanent in most cultures around the world.  Thom reminds us in this episode that, given that change is always occurr...

Discussions about the separation of artists and their art are not new. The subject has been discussed for centuries, usually in the context of legacy, but in recent times, and especially with the rise of cancel culture, the question more often comes up in relation to the behavior of an artist. Does the conduct of an artist negate the appreciability of their art? In this episode, Thom invites us to...

People who are neurodivergent, sometimes referred to as being “on the spectrum,” can often be viewed as being “gifted.” Their style of thinking, outside of the norm, often blesses them with insights and creativity that would be beyond the reach of those of us who are not so divergent. What most of us don’t realize though, is that neurodivergence has played a critical function in the evolution of t...

In October 2023, Thom Knoles participated in a panel discussion at a fundraiser event for The Light Inside , an organization providing Vedic Meditation courses for inmates in prisons in the United States, with plans to operate internationally. Other panelists included: Joh Jarvis, a Vedic Meditation Initiator and the founder of The Light Inside ; Rev. Dr. Michelle Anne Simmons, founder of Why Not...

“Knowledge is structured in consciousness.” This is one of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s most famous quotes.  Five simple words that don’t just convey a meaning, they also embody that meaning.  You might hear this quote and think you “get it,” but when you revisit it later on, when your consciousness has broadened even further, then you realize that there’s actually an even deeper level of meaning to it...

The holiday season can be an emotional roller coaster for many.  December celebrations can bring highs and lows, even for those who aren’t part of the Judeo-Christian community, but then New Year comes around, marking a line in the sand where we can start afresh.  At least in theory, anyway.  The reality is that most folks set themselves heightened expectations for the year, inevitably leading to...

It’s another Q&A episode, this time with a common thread of perception running through each of the questions and answers. Thom tackles the question of time; specifically, how we can control our perception of time and how we can slow it down like it used to feel as children. He explores the mystery of dark matter from the Vedic perspective, and how it relates to how we live our daily lives. He...

Manifestation has become somewhat of a buzzword in the past 20 years or so. The promise of having your desires met easily and effortlessly is a compelling proposition.  So much so that often a disproportionate effort is put into a supposed “process” of manifestation, affirmations, visualizations, and so on, than is put into doing the thing that might be required for the manifestation to occur. Tho...

What makes you happy? Most people could come up with a long list of answers to this question.  Ironically, it’s all the things that make us happy that make us unhappy as well; either because we have them but the happiness wears off, or we find out there’s something/someone else that we might like better, or we have them but lose them, or we find that they don’t make us as happy as we thought they...

There’s no end of affirmations, guided meditations, and other positive thinking tools that we can use to master our mindset. But are these necessary? And do they even work? As is often the case, Thom bucks the trend in this episode, giving us cause to think twice about using mind games to keep us on the path to success. He proposes a more elegant approach, one that’s aligned with the Vedic worldvi...

There’s no shortage of options for people “researching” chemical shortcuts to spiritual experiences.  While psychedelic drugs such as LSD, or hallucinogens such as ayahuasca, frequently have enough of an impact to arouse curiosity and experimentation, they don’t offer reliable, repeatable experiences, let alone still allow one to function reliably in day-to-day life. This is because they are mista...

One of the traps for the human intellect is to take much of life for granted.  Though we have special occasions peppered throughout the year, the days, weeks and months in between often don’t have the same shine as the special occasions.  Given that ‘normal’ days are greater in number, it makes sense for us to consider ways in which we can make gratitude an everyday occurrence.    In this episode,...

One of the biggest struggles people have is in coming to terms with apparent problems, whether they be current problems, or problems from the past. While we might be able to grasp the concept of evolution or progressive change intellectually, when the experience becomes uncomfortable it becomes more difficult to rationalize. In this episode, Thom answers questions from listeners seeking resolution...

Desire is one of the most demonized characteristics of human behavior. Some schools of thought argue that desire is the cause of all our suffering, and that the path to enlightenment is to become detached from them.  Thom sets the record straight in this episode, using the concept of Sankalpa to clarify both the function and importance of desire, and giving us a primer on how to ensure our desires...

In June 2023, Thom was the guest of honor at a talk in Nowra, South of Sydney in Australia, on the subject, The Simple Science of Happiness. The host of the talk was Barron Hanson, a Nowra local and a Vedic Meditation Initiator (teacher) who has created Be Here Nowra, a community happiness project committed to increasing the number of meditators in the town and researching the benefits arising. Th...

This special episode of The Vedic Worldview is a preview episode of Thom’s newly released course, Awakening Abundance. Though the wisdom has been around for millenia, the Vedic perspective on abundance will be fresh to most listeners.  It bucks the trendy solutions of “wealth mindset,” “law of attraction,” “accumulation” and “leverage” and offers up a simpler, more fundamental approach to the subj...

Anyone who has attended hatha yoga classes outside of India at some time has probably been invited by the teacher to begin or end the class with a group chant of the sound of Om. Or maybe they’ve experimented with the use of Om in a meditation practice. It can sound and feel beautiful, and when we hear it chanted by a group of monks it can have a deeply resonant effect on the body and the mind. Bu...

Spiritual seekers can often be found experimenting with different techniques to “open their third eye” in the hope that it will give them insights they might not otherwise have, or at least to tick a box on their evolutionary progress score sheet. In fact the reference to it as a third eye can often lead people down the path of mood making , where they think they are literally seeing things with t...