Ancient Psychology

ANCIENTINDIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Ancient Indian Psychology• The Indian Psychology is known since ancient times. It

was completely different from today’s psychology. Unlike other countries psychology in ancient india was governed by various philosophical as well as religious schools of thoughts.

• Psychology in ancient India started from the period of Rigveda and Upanishads. Buddhist philosophy, his techniques of meditation, psychology of Aatma and nirvana , Vedanta psychology , Jain psychology and Yoga psychology lay the foundation on Indian Psychology stands today.

RigVeda • The Rig Veda, the first book of the Vedas (1200 BCE), • It speaks of death and immortality, rather than rebirth. • The Rigveda contains several mythological and poetical

accounts of the origin of the world, hymns praising the gods, and ancient prayers for life, prosperity, etc.

• Some of its verses are still recited as Hindu prayers, at religious functions and other occasions, making it probably the world's oldest religious texts in continued use.

Upanishads• Upanishad means the inner or mystic teaching.• Upanishads are a collection of texts in the Vedic Sanskrit

language which contains the earliest emergence of some of the central religious concepts of Hinduism, some of which are shared with Buddhist and Jainism.

Vedanta Psychology• When we talk about Vedanta psychology, we first need to

understand that this psychology comes from the ancient Vedantic school of thought.

• The schools of vedanta seek to answer questions about the relation between “atman” and “brahman”

• Atman is the soul and Brahman the universe, this school of thought wanted to answer the question as to what is our purpose in this life.

Buddha Psychology (6th and 4th centuries BCE)

• The Buddha's main concern was to eliminate suffering, to find a cure for the pain of human existence. In this respect he has been compared to a physician, and his teaching has been compared to a medical or psychological prescription.

• Like a physician, he observed the symptoms – the disease that human kind was suffering from; next he gave a diagnosis - the cause of the disease He gave the prognosis -- it could be cured; finally he gave the prescription -- the method by which the condition could be cured.

Buddha’s Techniques of Meditation

• Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward Enlightenment and Nirvana.

• "Vipassana" means clear insight into the real characteristics of body and mind. Vipassana bhavana (insight meditation) is sometimes called mindfulness meditation.

• The technique of Vipassana uses mindfulness to note every detail of our mental and physical experience from moment-to-moment, with an unbiased attitude. By practicing mindfulness meditation we can see and actually remove the causes of suffering, which are within ourselves.

Psychology of Nirvana• The concept of Nirvana was given by the Lord Buddha (566-486 BC)

• His Lordship reached Enlightenment, at the age of 35, awakening to the true nature of reality, which is Nirvana (Absolute Truth). The word Nirvana comes from the root meaning 'to blow out' and refers to the extinguishing of the fires of greed, hatred and delusion.

• When these emotional and psychological defilements are destroyed by wisdom, the mind becomes free, radiant and joyful and at death one is no longer subject to rebirth. Nirvana is the ultimate happiness.

• The Buddha describes the abiding in nirvana as a state of 'deathlessness' and as the highest spiritual attainment, the reward for one who lives a life of virtuous conduct.

Jain Philosphy• The Jainist school of thought also influenced Indian

Psychology into what it is today.• The jainist school of thought believed in jiva(life) its

nature is chetna(consciousness). This jiva and chetna are coextensive, where there is one the other will exsist.

Psychology of Yoga and its influence

• Everybody is aware that yoga came into exsistence as early as 6000 B.C.

• The artifact of a man sitting in Padmasan was obtained in excavation proving that yoga was practised during the setting up of our civilization and it has been passed down centuries to centuries.

• Yoga is well practised as a way getting rid of various diseases physical or mental.

Researches and Conclusion • In the end, we find that our ancient history is full of schools of thought, which make us

what we are today. Psychology is a very contexual subject, the western theories even though applied very widely in India may not always give us the result we want.

• Focusing on Indian’s and their mentally its important to further expand the horizon of Indian Psychology, take into consideration the vast amount of knowledge that our past has for us and use it to further better the society

• Mehndipur Balaji, is a very big example of how psychology even though in a rudimentary, highly superstitious way is practised.

• A lot of doctors have started using myths and stories of god to treat mental illnesses, even this idea is not widely popular yet the results have shown that Indian Psychology if perfected could give us something amazing. We are people of faith and spirituality, its important to have faith in our future and past.