Author Archives: Jyoti
Trying to deal with the resentment one faces from others
“This human being is a guest house. Every morning there is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor…Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honourably. The dark thought, the … Continue reading
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A peek into myself
As member of the IPI team I had agreed to submit blogs for the ipi-website at regular intervals, and now it was my turn. But… I am engaged in many unrelated things, and I was finding it difficult to put … Continue reading
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Know Thyself
The biggest and the most refreshing departure from western psychology to Indian psychology, for me, was the shift from trying to understand the other, to ‘know thyself’. This is a process, a journey, an adventure, which entails a dive inside, …Continue reading
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Shifting authority from outside to inside
I have spent a lot of energy in trying to grapple with a sense of guilt. The reason is that a few years ago I ventured to break the norm, and swim against the tide. I had my reasons for …Continue reading
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The cycle of suffering and healing
Healing follows the experience of suffering as day follows night. The two are inseparable just like the two sides of a coin. Suffering sets the stage for healing to begin. The two are apparently diametrically opposite, yet, together, they complete … Continue reading
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TIP-2011: Observations from the sidelines
TIP-2011 — IPI’s collaborative workshop on Teaching Indian Psychology — began with much hope, enthusiasm and eagerness, as something, the need for which had been felt since quite some time. In spite of the resistance against the teaching of Indian … Continue reading
by the way, one more point, in the way of a friendly challenge. You wrote a post about western psychology vs Indian psychology.
An interesting blog post might be this: Now that psychology around the world is becoming “one”, does it even make sense to keep using the modifier “Indian” psychology? For example, on your July 26 post, you stated the biggest difference between the two was the acknowledgment of the Self.
But the Nonduality Laboratory at New York University (and similar labs at Emory and several other universities in the US alone) are studying the Self. Really. Look up http://www.lochkelly.com and you’ll see a list of research studies he’s participated in where they study the shift into nondual awareness. One might modify that with an observation from Sri Aurobindo that this might be the reflection of the Self in the mind, but I’m not sure how many fully Self-realized Yogis there are anywhere in the world today who would be available for psychological research.
- Thank you for your comments. As for the term “Indian psychology”, it is used basically to honour and acknowledge the source rather than to float a parallel stream of psychology to Western, cross-cultural, or Buddhist psychology.
For me personally what “Indian psychology” offers is so comprehensive, detailed and complete in itself, that this is “real psychology” or The Psychology, if psychology can be termed like that. It is slowly making inroads into the existing discipline of psychology, but perhaps it will take some more time before we don’t need the modifier “Indian” any more, and this comes to stay and be accepted as ‘what real psychology is’.- Very clearly said. I agree fully – one day, hopefully not too far in the future, “psychology” will include all that is so extraordinary about Indian psychology.
I have some suggestions to cure your writer’s block 
Since the authors of this blog are budding or practicing psychologists, perhaps you can expatiate on how Indian psychology is different from Western psychology (beyond the obvious differences about the notion of the Self, the soul being Divine etc).
How would one put Indian psychology into clinical practice ?
Do you need to turn to a Guru to solve all psychological problems ?
How would you counsel an atheist ?
How do you diagnose mental illness ? Is there an equivalent to DSM-IV ?
How would you offer counseling for a wide variety of problems encountered by the common man who doesn’t necessarily follow a spiritual path ?
Do you need to turn to a Guru to solve all psychological problems ?
How would you counsel an atheist ?
How do you diagnose mental illness ? Is there an equivalent to DSM-IV ?
How would you offer counseling for a wide variety of problems encountered by the common man who doesn’t necessarily follow a spiritual path ?
How can you prove Indian psychology is more effective than Western psychology ?
Is there a practical framework for using Indian psychology ?
