Indian psychology: Implications and applications

K. Ramakrishna Rao

Unlike Western psychology which does not have an overarching theory encompassing the entire discipline, Indian psychology’s approach is synthetic and holistic, and theerfore it becomes possible to overcome dichotomies like science and spirituality, the sacred and the secular, theory and practice, individual and society, etc. At the same time, Indian psychology, broadly speaking has applications ranging from individual transformation to conflict resolution at the societal level. The author takes centrality of consciousness as the defining characteristic of Indian psychology, and goes on to delineate twelve principles which provide the outline for a model of Indian psychology. The realm of extra-ordinary human experience (including telepathy and the direct action of mind over matter), can be researched most thoroughly using the concepts, methods, and models of Indian spiritual psychology.