Contributions of Indian Tradition to Psychology

[aditik]

Hello everyone
Here is an excerpt from an article on Contributions of Indian tradition to the field of Psychology :
“There are five distinct areas in which the Indian tradition can make a major contribution to Psychology as an academic science:

1.Philosophical Foundation. The Indian tradition provides a comprehensive philosophical framework that can not only support the enormous wealth of psychological knowledge inherent in its own spiritual paths, but also, and with equal ease, all branches of modern psychology. The core of this philosophical framework is its insight into the nature and role of consciousness, which provides a considerably more fruitful foundation for the social sciences than the materialist-reductionist theories and methods on which Western science presently bases itself.
2.Epistemology and Methods of Subjective Enquiry. Based on this consciousness-based ontology, the Indian tradition contains a perfectly coherent theory of knowledge that has spawned numerous rigorous and effective techniques to arrive at valid and reliable insights in the subjective domain.
3.Theories of Self and Personality. The Indian tradition has an understanding of the Personality and the Self that is more comprehensive, coherent and rewarding than any other personality theory presently available in academic psychology.
4.Special Areas of Psychology. There are a number of specialized fields of psychology to which the Indian tradition has made extremely interesting contributions. Subjects that come to mind include emotions and aesthetics (eg. Bharata’s theory of bhava and rasa), language, motivation, human development, etc..
5.Applied Psychology: Pathways for Change. Last, and perhaps most important, the different approaches to Yoga contain insights and techniques to bring about psychological change, that can revolutionize applied fields like psychotherapy and education.”

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http://ipi.org.in/texts/matthijs/mc-five-contributions-of-ip.php

• This topic was modified 6 years ago by .

[Divya]

All five of these contributions seem very crucial. But what is most interesting for me is the contribution regarding “the role and nature of consciousness.” This basic understanding in the Indian tradition that Consciousness is the fundamental building block of all existence, it is the Stuff of which we are made — makes the remaining 4 contributions possible. It is the secret Whole. And to know that we are also part of That Whole is the very crux of our lives. As Sri Sankaracharya says, “That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman — that thou art.”

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