A student's review

The IPI programme on Indian Psychology is more than an introduction to the subject. Of course, by learning the context of the subject -- the divine oneness of the individual with the spirit at all levels and everything else relating to the mind and beyond flowing from that source -- the course opened our minds to the incredible depth of ideas, thoughts and scientific inquiry that the Indian way of looking at psychology offered. It explained, for instance, the subtle differences between the soul, the spirit and the psychic, which many other texts use interchangeably.

What I have gained from this course and from my exposure to Indian psychology is something that can’t be put into the rather confined syntax of words and expression. Suffice to say that my personal gain within the context of Ego-driven, Ego-limiting benefit belongs equally, if not more, to humanity -- one step of man towards becoming a superman. It is perhaps a footnote in the destiny of the evolutionary process. What I found absolutely fascinating was the way the course took up the subject and gave us personal insights into our own complex, multi-layered selves. The understanding and experiencing of consciousness, for instance, was an adventure that I could never have imagined. What I now know, through three forms of knowledge -- mental, experiential and realisational -- is something I wish I had known as a child.

The children of 5,000 years ago must have known it. It must have been part of their growing skill, a part of their holistic education. After going through this movement of consciousness, I realise it is so very important to have our children learn this life skill. Imagine the young people who walk out of schools and colleges, armed with not merely degrees and mental knowledge, but also with a deeper sense of Knowing. This is India’s true heritage, its hidden wealth, its eclipsed future. To squander it unthinkingly is a crime that the generations to come will not forget. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have organised this universe of knowledge with an amazing detail. It is now time for the rest of us to take this knowledge, sourced from the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Mahabharata, forward. But the modern man seems to have lost his mind to statistics, success and surface behaviours. So, any effort that ventures close to this field that’s too independent and uniquely individual would find it difficult to measure up to the trivial tests of the mind. To bind psychology to the mind alone, and within it just to the surface mind, is in itself a great folly. Closing the mind to anything more than that is academic dishonesty.

It is time for light to brighten these dark spaces of our civilisation and this course from IPI is one step towards bringing that light.

-- a student