Aligning with the Cosmos: Vedic Astrology and the Science of Connection in a Global Yoga Community
Abstract
ABSTRACT: This paper explores how non-Indian spiritual seekers engage with the practice of Vedic astrology, or jyotish . In particular, I focus on a 75-hour online course in 2021–2022 that sought to train members of a global yoga community in the basics of Indian astrology. Led by an executive life coach with an explicitly “East-meets-West” orientation, the course presented jyotish as a practice that went “beyond and behind Hinduism.” Indeed, here jyotish was not a “Hindu thing” but an ancient secular science accessible to all who seek its gifts. In what follows, I articulate how the course’s instructor, Nish, used the idea of science in his framing of jyotish , and how the concept of a scientific and accessible jyotish aligns with a broader constellation of yogic beliefs and practices.
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- Authors
- Thomases, D.
- Corresponding author
- Thomases, Drew
- Venue
- Nova Religio
- Publisher
- Project MUSE
- Published
- 2026-08
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 34-55
- ISSN
- 1092-6690 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-8480
- OpenAlex
- W7172027444
- Semantic Scholar
- a7ae7972a5e1cd6cbcef4eaadf8127f48c6c6a5c
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nova Religio The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Keywords
- Vedic astrology, Jyotish, yoga, science and spirituality, Hinduism, life coaching, secularization
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