Vedic Worldview

Latest Episodes:

What Is Dharma? Feb 14, 2021

Show notes

Dharma, like many other Sanskrit words and phrases, is not well understood by many with an interest in Vedic wisdom. It is often simplified to such an extent that it loses its true meaning.

‘Purpose’ is perhaps the most common misinterpretation of the word dharma. Many try to narrow their dharma down to a specific mission or purpose that they hope becomes a legacy for which they will be remembered.

But dharma is much more interesting, more exciting even, than a singular mission or role in life. In a constantly-changing ever-evolving universe, our dharma changes year by year, day by day, minute by minute.

So rather than defining our life, our dharma defines our moments.

In this episode Thom explains, as elegantly as always, that our dharma is to be vigilant, to become attuned to the need of the times and be an agent for progressive change. It requires us to surrender to our role in the evolution of things.

And the key to living our dharma? Let’s just say our twice daily practice of daily Vedic Meditation gives us a distinct advantage.

Episode Highlights:

[00:43] Dharma – Your Role in the Evolution of Things

[02:00] Complex, Sophisticated and Elegant

[03:48] A Constantly-Evolving Bio-Friendly Universe

[06:12] What is Your Role in Evolution?

[06:49] The Bliss of Being

[07:52] Your Dharma—An Agent of Progressive Change

[09:28] Mistaken Identity

[10:14] Perfectly Available at Every Given Moment

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Creation, Maintenance and Destruction - The Qualities of the Evolutionary Process Jan 31, 2021

Show notes

Everything is always evolving thus, by definition, everything is always changing. Yet many of us resist change. We prefer the comfort of the status quo and get distressed when things meet their natural end.

The Vedic worldview however, recognizes all aspects of the evolutionary process, creation, maintenance and destruction, not reluctantly, but with reverence. So much so that each aspect is assigned its own deity, Brahma for creation, Vishnu for maintenance, and Shiva for destruction.

Understanding the role of all three, and the interdependence of all three, is essential to living a carefree, yet practical and evolutionary life.

In this episode Thom-ji ‘opens the discussion’ on creation, maintenance and destruction. He guides us to choose which one we might be an agent for, without prejudicing the work of the others.

This is fundamental Vedic wisdom that most modern schools of thought approach with resignation rather than embracing with the respect it deserves. Listen in or read the transcript below to get clues on how you can live a life well led.

Episode Highlights:

[00:42] The Qualities of the Evolutionary Process

[02:55] Brahma - The Creation Operator

[06:58] Vishnu - The Maintenance Operator

[10.00] Shiva - The Destruction Operator

[12:32] Change is Inevitable, Resistance is Futile

[15:42] Vedic Meditation - The Gateway to Adaptability

[21:30] Faulty Perception + Inaccurate Expectations = Suffering

[25:30] Becoming an Agent For the Creation Operator

[29:10] No Problem

[30:12] Unblocking the Brain

[32:22] Embrace the Unknown With Enthusiasm

[35:51] A Carefree Approach

[39:07] Choose Your Path

[41:45] Practicing Ignorance

[43:35] A Life Well Led
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What Is Freedom? Jan 17, 2021

Show notes

All of us aspire to attain freedom in one form or another, but for most of us, we craft our idea of freedom based on an expected set of circumstances - time, money, power, environment, relationships, and more.

The trouble with this approach is that circumstances are subject to change and inevitably lead to disappointment. Freedom through acquisition of circumstances can never truly deliver on its promise, at least not in any sustainable way.

In this episode, Thom sets you free from this paradigm and shows you that freedom is truly an "inside job." You already have everything you need to experience freedom in its purest form.

Beneath all our layers of unrealistic expectations is a sense of freedom that cannot be given to us, nor can it be taken away. It's our job to learn how to uncover the freedom that lies deep within all of us.
Episode Highlights:

[00:34] Freedom. Nirvana. Liberation.

[01:59] Nature's Way

[04:21] True Freedom

[07:41] Mistaken Identity

[10:11] Fear-Based Administration

[14:59] Self Realization Inspires True Freedom

[17:17] Spontaneous Right Action

[20:15] A Matter of Practice - Vedic Meditation

[23:07] Three Fields of Life

[26:39] The Mantra - A Mental Vehicle to Effortless Being

[31:55] Liberation From Outcome-Oriented Awareness

[34:35] Meeting the Need of the Time

[38:25] You Can’t Import Happiness

[42:01] Regular Experience Makes the Difference

[43:33] Established in Being, Perform Action

[45:29] Dye Hard - How to Stop Happiness From Fading Away

[53:16] Cosmic Consciousness - All-Inclusive Awareness

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The Crisis of Governance and Your Role in Its Resolution Jan 03, 2021

Show notes

We hear a lot about the problems of governance, whether it be government at the highest level, or the administrators of smaller bodies in society, schools, businesses, etc.

In this episode, Thom explains that the crisis of governance is not with ‘the government’ or whatever other body is ‘in charge’, but rather with our view that ‘they’ are the problem, and that there is little or nothing ‘we’ can do about it.

The Vedic worldview is that everything is structured in consciousness, including governments, and the only way to effect change is to effect consciousness.

Thom shares that governments reflect the consciousness of the people, even in a dictatorship, and so our own role is to take responsibility for our own consciousness, and to be an example, an exemplar, for others to do the same. This is the only way in which governance can improve and the crisis can be resolved.

Of course, Vedic Meditation, being the most efficient means to bring about a change in consciousness, has a role to play in this process.

Here are some highlights from the episode, which you can listen to via the player, or read via the transcript, below.

Episode Highlights:

[01:58] A Reflection of the Average State of Consciousness

[04:00] The Crisis of Identity - Self and ‘Other’

[07:57] Self Sufficiency Is the Seed of Revolution

[15:11] Dependence of the Individual Leads to Dependence On Government

[17:38] Spreading Self Sufficiency By Example

[21:01] The Ideal Individual Is the Basis of Ideal Government

[21:41] Vedic Meditation Produces Ideal Individuals

[27:06] The Spreader Effect - 1% of the Population Leading the Way Through Vedic Meditation

[29:59] Individual Peace is the Basis of World Peace

[33:14] Social Change is Not Going to Come From the Top Down

[36:14] The First Science - The Science of Self Discovery

[40.32] Challenge Your Assumptions About What is Possible

[43:28] Self Realization + Action = Self Actualization

[48:29] All Suffering is Based on Inaccurate Expectations

Jai Guru Deva.
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Truth - That Which Never Changes Jul 17, 2020

Show notes

Thom Knoles discusses Truth as that which does not change, how it can be detected in all fields of life, and how, by allowing change to form our sense of identity, we succumb to suggestibility. Vedic Meditation takes our awareness from the field of ever-change into an experience of that which is beyond change, and reveals to us the truth of our own identity, as an implicit statement of pure knowingness.
Episode Highlights:
[00:56] Truth is That Which Never Changes

[02:36] Non-Change is Not Possible in the Relative World

[05:28] Who is the ‘I’?

[07:39] Evolution is a Truth

[10:52] Catastrophe is Relative

[13:10] Expanding Our Repertoire

[15:32] Knowledge is Always for Action

[17:24] Are We Alone?

[20:47] Between the Changing and Never Changing

[22:53] Vedic Meditation as a Path to Being

[24:28] The Splitting of Truths

[28:42] Sat-chit-ananda - Absolute, Consciousness, Bliss

[28:58] Change is Exhausting

[37:12] Transcending The Relative Provides Relief

[41:41] Accessing the Self Through Vedic Meditation

[43:39] There is No ‘Other’

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Fear and Fearlessness - The Pinnacle of the Development of Human Consciousness May 05, 2020

Show notes

Thom Knoles discusses the state of fearlessness, how all fear is based on something unreal and how to learn to transcend fear and yet be fully participating in life. Living a life in fear is worse than death. Fearlessness is the pinnacle of the development of human consciousness. Through the regular practice of Vedic Meditation, we achieve it spontaneously.

Episode Highlights:

[00:39] The One Standard of a Life of Significance

[02:38] Fear Isn’t Based on Reality

[04:59] On Death and Dying

[13:48] Immortality Removes Fear

[16:29] The Long Dream

[24:54] Expanding Consciousness

[28:49] The Death Cascade

[31:39] Transcending the Story Through Vedic Meditation

[37:06] Beginning an End to a Sense of Fear

[41:13] (Don’t) Go Jump Off a Cliff!

[42:58] Wisdom Hair

[44:42] The Changing Face of Fear

[47:50] Consciousness is the Source of the Body

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Self-Reliance And The Few Who Lead the Many Mar 25, 2020

Show notes

Thom Knoles discusses the mechanics of Self-reliance, how it is embedded inside ourselves, how true Self-sufficiency is not about isolation but about being one of the few who lead the many, and how to take responsibility for our own experience instead of waiting for others to behave better. To live fully, we take possession of what we actually are – and what we are is the Universe living inside a human body.

Episode Highlights:

[00:48] The Few Lead the Many

[02:21] Self-sufficiency Is...

[08:56] You Deserve the Best

[12:42] Love is an Experience of Self-Sufficiency

[16:06] There is No ‘Other’

[18:38] The Hallmark of Greater Sophistication

[21:44] Enlightenment - Coexisting With the Unbounded

[26:11] The Fundamental Truth

[28:54] Totality is Not Capable of Suffering

[25:49] Enlightenment Denial

[33:30] Choo Choo Gone

[36:11] Sophistication - Simple, Elegant Complexity

[40:25] The New Contagion

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The Relevance of Yoga Today with Eddie Stern Mar 05, 2020

Show notes

Thom Knoles and Eddie Stern discuss what yoga is really, why and how it has maintained relevance over several thousands of years and the importance of having a teacher to guide you through the experience. In their exploration, Thom and Eddie expound on the commonality of the variations of Vedic knowledge as expressed through the points of view of Ashtanga Yoga and the basic principles of Vedic Meditation.

Produced by Eric Cahan

State of Consciousness and Social Change Dec 25, 2019

Show notes

Thom Knoles discusses the social relevance of expanded awareness, how consciousness alone dictates behavior, and the mechanics of the spreader effect: how having merely 1% of the population practising Vedic Meditation is demonstrated to stimulate spontaneous right action in the broader, non-meditating community.
Episode Highlights:

[00:42] Behaviour and Consciousness

[03:52] Our Inability to Control Others

[07:15] What Are People Going to Think?

[09:28] Fear-Based Administration

[11:07] Backlash is Counterproductive

[14:15] Further Proof

[17:57] A Social Failure

[19:10] All-Inclusive Awareness - Cosmic Consciousness

[25:22] Meeting the Greatest Need of the Time

[27:41] Violating the Laws of Nature

[31:03] Greater Productivity Through Vedic Meditation

[34:48] Being the Inspiration for Change

[36:16] A Solution to People Problems

[39:05] The Maharishi Effect - A 1% Tipping Point

[42:50] Nature Requires Adaptive Behaviours

[46:54] Transition From an Age of Ignorance to an Age of Enlightenment
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Understanding Grief Dec 25, 2019

Show notes

Thom Knoles discusses the mechanics of what causes grief, how Vedic Meditation is pivotal to the success of learning how to let go and how, in the ultimate analysis, death is unreal.

Produced by Eric Cahan

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