Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Books on Indian Psychology in Hindi

नारायण शास्त्री द्रविड़: भारतीय मनोविज्ञान (संपादित), अखिल भारतीय दर्शन परिषद्, फरीदकोट,पंजाब ,१९६३.
राम कुमार राय: असामान्य मनोविज्ञान, प्राच्य प्रकशन, जगतगंज,वाराणसी, १९७४.
डॉ. लक्ष्मी शुक्ला: भारतीय मनोविज्ञान, हिन्दी ग्रन्थ अकादेमी मध्य परदेश, भोपाल,१९७१.
रामनाथ शर्मा एंड रचना शर्मा: भारतीय मनोविज्ञान, एटलांटिक पब्लिशर्स and distributors, न्यू देल्ही,2005, इस्बं ८१-७१५६-५९७-२
श्रीमती आशा टंडन: सांख्य योग दर्शनों में मान्य मानसिक तत्वों का आलोचनात्मक अध्धयन , शोध प्रबंद, अलाहाबाद यूनिवर्सिटी,१९७२.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Indian Psychology Books

I am giving information about Some introductory books of Indian Psychology. It is very necessary to findout some books on Indian Psychology.
the details is provided in the next posts.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Buddhist Psychology Resources

Budhhist Pschology is a rich heritage in Indian ancient thoughts. Here isa short list of literature about the Buddhist Psychology:
The Dalai Lama (1994). The Way to Freedom: Core Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Eckhart, Meister, (1996). Meister Eckhart, from Whom God Hid Nothing: Sermons, Writings and Sayings. DavidO'Neil, Ed. Boston: Shambhala.
Feist, J., (1994). Theories of Personality,3rd Ed. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Goldstein, J., (1993). Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom. Boston: Shambhala.
Gunartana, H. (venerable), (1991). Mindfulnessin Plain English. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Hall, C.S. and Lindzey, G., (1978). Theories of Personality, 3rd Ed. New York: John Wiley &Sons.
Hanh, T.N., (1996). Breathe! You Are Alive: Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing. Berkeley:Parallax Press
James, W., (1890/1964). The self. In C. Gordon & K.J. Gergen (Eds.) The self in social interaction (pp 41-49). New York: Wiley.
Jung, C.G., (1963). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Aniela Jaff (Ed.). London: Collins and Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Jung, C.G., (1968). Analytical Psychology: Its theory and practice. New York: Random House.
Mizuno, Kogen, (1987). Basic Buddhist Concepts. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Co.
Noll, R., (1994). The Jung Cult: Origins of a Charismatic Movement. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Paranjpe, A.C. (1995). Is the person missing from theories of personality? In I. Lubek, R. van Hezewijk, G. Pheterson, & C. Tolman (Eds.), Recent trends in theoretical psychology Vol. 4, pp. 138-143. New York: Springer.
Lama Surya Das, (1993). A Ten Day Conference of Western Buddhist Meditation Teachers with His Holiness the Dalai Lama called: "Toward a Western Buddhism" (http://www.mandala.hr/5/6-surya.html)

Cited फरom:
Buddhist Psychology by Eric Pettifor,Dated:०२-०१-२००९

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Is Buddhism a Religion, a Philosophy or a Psychology?

On first encountering Buddhist teachings many Westerners wonder whether they are actually dealing with a philosophy or a type of applied psychology, rather than a religion.
Certainly Buddhism has strong elements of both philosophy and psychology.
Buddhist philosophy Buddhist teachings do not require a suspension of the intellect by demanding a belief in
scientifically implausible creation myths.
There are no 'revealed truths' (ie doctrines which come from out of the sky and must be believed on the basis of faith rather than reason). Buddha encouraged his students to test his teachings against their own reason and experience. Only by thoroughly challenging the teachings can one gain confidence in their truth.
One of Buddhism's main philosophical components is its ontology - the study of how things exist. A
common misunderstanding is that Buddhists believe that 'things don't really exist' or that 'nothing exists'. In fact Buddhists believe that nothing exists by its own nature. All produced phenomena exist in dependence upon other phenomena - every cause is itself an effect of another cause. A table does not exist by virtue of it's innate 'tableness'. It exists due to the timber and the joiner, and its possessing a flat surface, a certain number of legs etc. It also exists by identification with the 'tableness' that is present in the minds of the observers (but not in the table itself!).
Tracing things further back, the timber exists in dependence upon acorns, soil, sun, rain etc, and the joiner exists in dependence upon his mother, father and the midwife.
In Buddhism, relationships such as cause and effect, structure and components, observer and observed are regarded as more fundamental aspects of existence than actual 'things'. Even the mind is not a thing or a substance. The technical Buddhist term for the mind is the 'Mental Continuum'. In western terminology we would regard Buddhism as a
Process Philosophy.
Buddhist psychologyBuddhist psychology is intended to be used for improving our state of mind. It is an applied science and is not usually presented as an abstract or academic discipline, because in order to understand it Buddhists are supposed to 'walk their talk'. Practices include meditation, visualisation and mindfulness throughout the day.
When nineteenth century Europeans first studied Buddhism they were impressed by the rational aspects but were perplexed by some of the powerfully emotive and sometimes disturbing symbolism and visualisations. They ascribed these 'tantric' aspects to the corruption of a rationalistic philosophy by later mixing with primitive folklore and Shamanism.
Then along came Freud and Jung.
Buddha had recognised the importance of the subconscious activities of the mind, both individual and collective, 2400 years before the founders of Western psychology. He knew that purely rational arguments were insufficient to motivate a deep and lasting transformation of the mind. The practitioner also needs to harness and redirect the powerful emotional currents which well up from the depths. Jungian psychologists discovered that the
vivid symbolism of tantric art and visualisation involved the use of 'archetypes' - ancient patterns and symbols in the human subconscious which can be invoked to produce powerful emotional responses.
So why is Buddhism regarded as a religion?The reason Buddhism is regarded as a religion rather than a form of humanism is that it is primarily concerned with the long term future of the mental continuum rather than with just this single limited lifetime. Buddhists do not believe that the mental continuum is dependent upon physical 'things' such as the body or brain for its existence. In fact many Buddhists would turn this view on its head and claim that the way that physical things exist
is dependent upon the mental continuum of the observer.
Cited from:http://www.aboutulverston.co.uk/Buddhistlinks.htm,dated:०५-११-2008

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Integral Yoga and Indian Psychology

Dr. Panch. Ramalingam,
UGC – Academic Staff College,Pondicherry University, Pondicherry
Integral yoga psychology is union of all kinds of yoga principles and methodological practices related to human psychology। The contents of the course structure are to be distributed in terms of integral yoga and Indian psychology so as to introduce in the school /college curriculum.
Objectives
Exploring the existing literature in ancient scriptures on Indian psychology
Exposition of various types/ school of thought in Indian psychology
Development of practical application of Indian psychological approaches into practice
Exploring the existing practices in yogaExposition of various types of yoga
Development of practical application of yoga therapy into practice
Understanding the inner spirit of the problems and proper application of yoga therapy
Exercises on yoga therapy
To achieve the above objectives, the researcher tried to study the related literature prescribed in the contents of the school/college curriculum. In order to meet the challenges and opportunities of teh world , we have to play a major role by introducing appropriate curriculum at the school and college levels. The integral approaches will help us in designing the curriculum by open learning system. The course structure may have one to one interactive classes, seminars, symposia and presentation of assignments related to the prescribed curriculum.
The learner can also spend sufficient time with scholars/ yoga practitioners to understand the traditional values system and cultural ethos in addition to class room learning.
Citedfrom:dated:१६-१०-2008

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Triguna Theory of Personality with Special Reference to Samkhya System

Lakhwinder Singh, M.Phil. (Psychology), Dept. of Psychology ,K.U.K
Desh Raj Sirswal, Research Scholar(ICPR-JRF),Dept. of Philosophy, K.U.K.
Introduction
With the increasing realization that many of the Western psychological concepts and methods lack relevance to different cultural systems the need for developing indigenous psychologies was recognized all over the world (Kim & Berry,1973). In recent times more and more researchers have taken active interest in indigenizing and developing indigenous Psychology (Misra & Mohanty, 2000; Paranjpe,1999; Srivastava, 2002).the structure, nature and evolution of human personality are elaborated in these sources with special reference to the concept of Triguna. More than 40 books have appeared in Indian Psychology (Mathew,2004).
The present paper is attempts to look at the personality from the Indian perspectives as presented in the Samkhya System। Paper explains the philosophical basis of samkhya system and its empirical implication in personality psychology as the concept of Triguna।The concept of triguna mentioned in Atharveda. However, it is in the Samkhya system, that this concept has gained prominence as a major explanatory construct. Samkhya is a dualistic philosophy, which postulates two interdependent, simultaneously existing realities purusha (Consciousness) and prakrti (nature or matter).Apart from the purusha, which forms the inner core of the personality, everything in the universe, physical and psychological, including the mind, are regarded as originated from prakrti, which is constituted of three gunas viz. sattva, rajas and tamas. These gunas act together and never exist in isolation. They interact and compete with each other resulting in the preponderance of one over the others. The degree of predominance of one guna determines the individual’s personality type. Based on the above understanding, personalities are categorized into three viz. sattvic, rajasic and tamasic types(Rao,1966).
Discription of Triguna
• Sattva is that element of prakrti which is of the nature of pleasure, and is buoyant of light (laghu), and bright or illuminating (prakasaka)। Pleasure in its various forms ,such as satisfaction, joy, happiness, bliss, contentment, etc. is produced by things in our minds through the operation of the power of sattva inhering in them both.
• Rajas is the principle of activity in things. It always moves and makes other things move. It is of the nature of pain, and is mobile and stimulating. It helps the elements of sattva and tamas which are inactive and motionless in themselves, to perform their functions.
• Tamas is the principle of passivity and negativity in things. It is opposed to sattva in being heavy (guru) and in obstructing the manifestation of objects. By obstructing the principle of activity in usit induces sleep, drowsiness, and laziness. It also produces the state of apathy or indifference (visada). Hence it is that sattva, rajas and tamas have been compared respectively to whiteness, redness, and darkness.
• The gunas are in the state of both conflict and co-operation with one another.
• The gunas are in the state of both conflict and co-operation with one another. They always go together and can never be separated from one another. Nor can any one of them produce anything without the help of other two.
• The nature of things is determined by the predominant guna, while the other others are their in a subordinate position. The classification of objects to in good, bad and indifferent, or into pure, impure and neutral, or into intelligent , active and indolent, has reference to the preponderance of sattva, rajas and tamas respectively.
TRIGUNA AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
• The theoretical expositions on triguna and their manifestations in human nature have attracted the attention of Indian psychologists.The concept has been examined theoretically (Boss,1966; Misra et al.,2000; Rao.1971) and empirically (Das,1987,1991;Kapur et al., 1997 ; Marutham ,Balodhi & Misra, 1998 ; Mathew.1995; Mohan & Sandhu,1986;Sebastian & mathew,2002 etc.).
Mathew’s Poorna Chakra
• It is model of personality and development of consciousness rooted in concept of triguna.• It is the extent to which the qualities of mind vary(sattva) called as stability; rajas called as activation and tamas called as inertia) help differentiate an individual’s mind from the other minds.

Note: This paper presented entitled “The Triguna Theory of Personality with special reference to Samkhya System” in National Conference on Community Mental Health; Issues and Challenges, held on 15-16 Feb.2008 at Department of Psychology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.

Post Link:
http://niyamakpsychology.blogspot.com/2008/10/triguna-theory-of-personality-with.html

Monday, August 4, 2008

Human Destiny and an Ethical life

Dr. M.S. Valiathan

38th Founder Memorial Lecture 2002
Shriram Institute For Industrial Research, Delhi
The Yoga Vasistha insisted that our fate is in our hands and all our experiences could be controlled by a determined effort of the human will. This view or Paurusheya claimed that human will was all-powerful, and fate could be overcome. At the other end of the specturm, several schools held that fate (daiva) controlled our actions and human destiny was no more than its plaything. Charaka took an intermediate view which was novel in Indian philosophy. According to him, while the effects of acts of enormous wickedness could not be prevented by good conduct, those of all others could be countered or modified by conscious action based on good conduct. An illness which resulted from one’s improper Karma could be prevented or cured by non-moral actions such as proper health care. One could not contend that relief from illness under those circumstances had nothing to do with health care, and that it was a consequence of one’s past good deeds. If the effort of the patient and the physician could achieve nothing and the entire course of life was predestined, the endeavour of Ayurveda would lose purpose and significance. It was reasonable to claim that ‘fate’ came into play only when one’s best efforts failed to arrest the consequences of abominable actions. Vagbhata too echoed the Ayurvedic belief in the possibility of the triumph of human action over fate.
The motivations of all human actions are the desire for long life, the desire for wealth and the desire for the future life. In adopting this clear-cut view, Charaka differed from the traditional systems of Indian philosophy. The Vaiseshika looked upon the attraction to pleasure and aversion to pain as the motivations for human action; Nyaya went beyond attraction and aversion and traced their mutual source to delusion (moha); yoga of Patanjali held that virtuous actions arose from the tendency towards emancipation and sinful actions from ignorance and egoism; Advaita Vedanta insisted that all actions arose from ignorance (avidya). Charaka departed from all these views which identified false knowledge as the cause of all our troubles and upheld the realisation of the higher truth as the ultimate answer to the pain of existence. He urged that evil and suffering arose through our errors in judgement and imprudent conduct (Prajnaparadha) which had no philosophical significance. It was entirely within our non philosophic capability to give up errors and adopt virtuous conduct (Sadvritta). Ayurveda – the science of life – was always more than medicine and spoke of life which is good (hita) or bad (ahita), happy (sukha) or unhappy (dukha). A good and happy life is nothing without good health, but it is far more: it demands prudent and virtuous conduct that is conducive to the good of the individual, his surroundings and the society of which he is a part.
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At the experimental level, what are doshas which constitute the central doctrine on which diagnosis and treatment are based in Ayurveda? Charaka says in no uncertain terms that doshas are substances. As they have never been chemically identified, there have been suggestions to regard them as concepts. This may be a mistake and giving up on an ancient doctrine too soon. Plant formulations which oppose the properties of the three doshas are well known and used regularly for Ayurvedic treatment. If the plants with properties opposed to each dosha could be characterised in terms of biological activity – antimitotic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immuno-modulatory etc., and they showed characteristics fingerprints, the first step in identifying the doshas might have been taken. These are merely examples of the kind of exciting work which calls out to be done in what could be called Ayurvedic nosology and biology.
For detail of the article go to:India’s Medical Legacy
http://www.tifac.org.in/news/speech.htm#human,dated:०५-०८-2008