About Thom Knoles

Thom Knoles, Meditation master, walking with students

Learn About Thom Knoles

Maharishi

“A great seer”

Vyasanand

“Someone who sequences knowledge”

GIRI

“The tradition from which I come”

MAHARAJ

“A revered master of Vedic wisdom”

“I teach a methodology whereby, sitting comfortably for twenty minutes twice each day, one can transcend all of the thoughts of the ‘ever-repeating known’ and experience bliss in the unbounded field of Being.”

Thom Knoles 
Thom Knoles with hand on the head of a student

SHRI 1008 MAHAMANDALESHWAR MAHARISHI VYASANAND GIRI MAHARAJ

Thom learned meditation in the 1960s from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the great Indian guru who brought meditation to the West in the 1950s.

Thom spent the next 26 years traveling the world with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Under Maharishi’s guidance, Thom taught predominately in Australia and also researched neuroscience and consciousness at Maharishi European Research University (MERU). 

He received an honorary doctorate, “Doctor of Science of Creative Intelligence” (D.Sci) in 1978. He quickly became a sought-after public speaker and educator, consulting over 40 top corporations and federal and state governments. 

Thom went on to help set up meditation schools in Sydney, Nepal, and the Philippines and began to teach in the USA after moving from Australia in the ’90s.

Today, Thom Knoles continues to teach Vedic Meditation. He’s taught nearly 50,000 people to meditate, including heads of many major Hollywood studios, Fortune 500 corporate leaders, two heads of state, and Nobel Peace Prize laureates. 

Thom is the first Westerner to be inducted as Mahamandaleshwar, a pre-eminent master of the Vedic tradition, and is known in India by his honorific title Shri 1008 Mahamandaleshwar Maharishi Vyasanand Giri Maharaj.

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