Summer Project

On

Indian Psychology as a Basic Tool of

Psychotherapy

Parul Sood
M Sc. Integrated
NISER
Bhubaneswar, Orissa
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my honor to express my gratitude and sincere thanks to Prof.

Sangeetha Menon, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore
for giving me an opportunity to pursue my summer project under her
valuable guidance.
I would definitely like to mention that this was a golden
opportunity for me to get such a vast exposure in some of the most
interesting topics.
Last but not the least; I want to thank my parents and family for
their immense love, faith and moral support at each and every instant of
my life.
Introduction:

Psychology and Psychiatry as well as medicine are the fields considered and worked upon quite
independently. The correlation between the two is not so obvious and not well taken by many
physiologists or psychologists. But these strict boundaries appear to be dissolving with an
evolving correlation between disease and mental health of a person. The following work follows
the basic theme of bringing up the aspects of psychology and medicine that merge to a common
horizon especially in context of Indian psychology and its role in terminally ill and conditionally
ill patients. The two conditions so studied, i.e. terminally ill and conditionally ill patients are
expected to have different levels of various psychological disturbances, viz. fear, anxiety,
frustration, lack of social adjustability, peer pressure, inefficient coping with the present situation
which can be very well counter acted by the principles of Indian Psychology. The two conditions
vary in that while terminally ill patients in a way have no hope of recovery, the level of
hopefulness is far lower than conditionally ill patients since the certainty of their being away
from recovery and much closer the to the end of their lives is higher. Hence, a great deal of
elevated mental pressure. Consequently, the former have to be highly motivated unlike latter and
Indian psychology appears to be the best tool in dealing with both the conditions effectively.

The broad classification of physical ailments includes two main categories:

1. Physiogenic diseases: the diseases with root cause involving physical factors (also
referred as organic); e.g. TB, AIDS, infectious diseases, malnutrition
2. Psychogenic diseases: the diseases primarily caused by altered mental conditions (also
referred as functional); e.g. peptic ulcers, hypertension

Recently, there have been a number of scientific reports stating some or the other significant role
of mental disturbances as well as mental states in the progression , recovery and initiation of
many Physiogenic diseases especially AIDS, cancer and diabetes. Thus, it is evident that in a
way most of the diseases can be attributed to functional factors. All these reports have further
encouraged a great deal of interdisciplinary research in order to find out some psychotherapeutic
tools that will not only find the solution in overcoming some of the most dreadful and stressful
diseases with respect to their epidemiology and hardships in finding a suitable cure respectively
but also will help in improving the quality of life (QOL) in case of terminally ill patients. The
report thus highlights some of the important aspects of Indian Psychology that can be very well
formulated as different modes or steps of psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy can thus be defined as the practice of using psychological tools (in this report,
principles of Indian Psychology) for therapeutic purposes. Indian psychological principles can be
portrayed as a set of beliefs and practices that have grown out of religious concepts. A brief
account of Indian Psychology will be mentioned later in the report with further elucidation on
their formulation in psychotherapy while highlighting their applicability and usage for
conditionally ill and terminally ill patients.

Some of the psychological disturbances that are most commonly manifested in terminally ill and
conditionally ill patients are enlisted below with a brief explanation of each of them.

1. Anxiety: Anxiety in general arises as a result of apprehension of something unknown

which seems to create a conflict, tension and disturbance. While anxiety in normal non-
pathogenic conditions may arise from a number of factors starting from the fulfilling
economics while meeting the basic amenities of people to the obsession of possessing
more and more, in the diseased state the main cause of anxiety is the respective
uncertainty associated with the disease, course of progression and consequence especially
in a sense of non-awareness. Besides this the anxiety levels may also arise with the
thought of incapability to deal with the economic demands of the disease treatment,
dependency on others for sustaining life, thoughts of future perspectives with and without
recovery of the disease in case of terminally and conditionally ill patients respectively,
and uncertainty in life expectancy. Unlike conditionally ill patients, the terminally ill
patients are more anxious about fulfilling their duties and life demands in their respective
limited time interval while simultaneously under a great deal of pressure to cope up with
the present and future scenarios in view of both personal and social life irrespective of the
conditions prevailing at any point of time. It may also be possible that the reason of
anxiety may remain in the unconscious state of mind, so that a person may not be fully
aware of the cause of anxiety.

2. Fear: Unlike anxiety fear is based on actual knowledge of a thing or an incident that may
threaten a person’s existence, self-expression, pursuit of knowledge or any other such
primary urge or instinct. In a diseased state, all these factors come into picture as they are
threatened during the course of progression. A diseased person finding him inefficient in
coping with the present circumstances develops a fear of counter acting the disease. Here,
it is necessary to bring out the distinction between anxiety and fear. Anxiety results from
the uncertainty in the coping strategies of a person while in a diseased state unlike fear
which crops up while dealing the situation. Besides this, a diseased individual develops a
fear about the various on-going painful disease therapies as well as sufferings of the
disease during its course which adds to another level of discomfort to the person as such.
The person is not only afraid due to personal reasons but when considered socially, the
fear of sustenance of relationships while harmonizing in these stressful conditions with
the realization of not committing sufficiently with the economical, physical and mental
demands of the society continuously creeps into the person. This kind of fear that arises
from the sense of insecurity and inadequacy is termed as physical fear. The other two
kinds of fear, emotional or intellectual and spiritual fear arise from the inequality of
intellect or mental disposition and religious ignorance respectively. Spiritual fear may
 arise in people leading to pathological states where the basis of fear is some wrong
beliefs in the nature of God and practice of religion.
3. Frustration: Frustration, speaking in a general sense is associated with the failure of any
of the primary urges. Man dislikes any form of negation as it is a negation of happiness
which he continuously seeks in three realm of existence- mental, physical and spiritual.
And it will not be wrong to say that for a diseased person, frustration results from all
these three realms. He neither procures happiness from physical and mental realms due to
the upper limitations posed by the disease in the expressions of physical nature and
creative, intellectual and aesthetic pursuits, nor does he procure the spiritual happiness
while always involved and engrossed in fulfilling primary urges. The hedonistic attitudes
of people towards life based on the belief of the greatest amount of pleasure in the sense
plane for the attainment of happiness results in more and more frustration.

4. Conflict and tension: According to certain western philosophers, especially Freud, mind
has some specific kinds of urges that create conflict. And the conflict of the pleasure
principle and death principle results in tension. On the other hand Indian psychologists
are of the notion that mental tension is created not merely because of the presence of
specific urge or of several urges or because of extreme desire of their satisfaction.
Tension is also created by the wrong understanding of life in general. Such tensions and
conflicts are very easily manifested in a diseased person who feels himself of incapable
of satisfying his primary urges while continuously conflicting between pleasure and death
principle. On the other hand, the lack of understanding of the present painful state of
disease further adds to the tension. The person is under regular debate with himself as to
why it happened only to him. What and who is responsible for his present state. Is it
because of his sinful acts or God is not happy from him or that he has done something
wrong. Or is it that he did not abide by his religion? All these questions haunt the mind of
a diseased person and are a source of conflict, tension as well as frustration.

5. Social adjustment: The fact that man is a social being can’t be denied. Society inclusive
of family, friends and relatives play a key role in overall development of man. In fact it
has been observed that an isolated person lacks an organized, integrated, intellectual and
holistic approach towards life. The social relation of a person starts developing from the
moment he/she is born and continue till lifetime. Thus, social interactions of a person
with its society are indispensable for its mental soundness and consequently related to the
soundness of health. A diseased person, due to all the above stated reasons viz. anxiety,
frustration, fear, tension and some other like inability to accept or reveal his diseased
state in front of his even very close social relationships, a sense of insecurity and in
special case of terminally ill patients, the sense of “losing it all sooner or later” slowly
 make them to retreat from their social relationships. As a result, the patient is engrossed
in his solitude which further worsens the situation as for now there is no emotional
support on which he can rely or share his thoughts with to overcome the moment of stress
he is undergoing. It is very much true that real sense of security only comes from the
sense of adjustment based on higher spiritual values.

Indian Psychology: Some Aspects

Indian psychology with its foundation in spirituality and religious beliefs is a collection of
some of the most subtle concepts which help in better understanding of human mind and
behavior while simultaneously formulating a set of key practices which open up a multitude
of possibilities to explore the vastness of Self and infinite potentialities whilst progressing on
the accomplishments of spiritual aspirations of life with higher goals in mind. Some facets of
Indian psychology in context of their application in psychotherapy are presented as a
collection here. Although, they may not accentuate all the principles of Indian psychology, an
effort has been made to put up the most relevant concepts of all. They are described below:

1. Concept of self: Indian psychologists put forward the idea of “I” or “Self” i.e. being
conscious about one’s own existence. The idea that a person is conscious about its
existence and thus conscious is a self-evident truth. The realization of self as being
unique and of infinite potentialities as mentioned in seven spiritual laws of success by
Swami Bhodhananda is the key to achieve higher goals of life. The Indian psychologists
bring up meditation as a key to explore one’s inner Self by turning inward the insight
“antacaksu” in contrast to outsight, “bahyacaksu” that we have got. The development of
self to higher ideals, finally to get moksha is the basic theme of conceptualizing self as
mentioned later. Further Self is considered to be an integral part of universe, inseparable
and vice versa leading to the concepts of I being the whole universe and hence
equanimity of existence with the universe as a whole.

2. Concept of mind: Consciousness reflects itself through mind (jiva, jivatman; in person) to
explore the world and enlighten the perceived things just as sun reflects itself through
moon which then enlightens the world. The perceived things again relate to
consciousness. This is because of this reason that mind is compared to moon in Vedanta.
A beautiful analogy of this process is described by Sankara in Dakshinamurti strotam
where mind is compared to a rounded pot with five apertures (refers to five sense organs)
and consciousness as a flame inside the pot. The light shoots out of the pot in all
directions and illuminates everything that comes in its path as does consciousness.
According to Hindu psychologists like Patanjali, there are five states of mind enlisted
below:
 Kshipta extreme restless state when the mind has tension and many emotional conflicts
and longings.
 Mura inert stage in which the mind has lower conscious and unconscious passions, such
as anger, lust and so forth.
 Vikshipta state in which mind is partly concentrated at times
 Ekagra concentrated state
 Niruddha super-conscious states
These states of mind are made up of various emotions- conscious and unconscious. The
mind naturally has different tendencies. These may be called sentiments, urges, instincts
or emotions. Apart from primitive urges, man also has reactions to the conditions of life
and environment. The conflicts between these primary urges and different emotions are a
result of tension. Mind always seeks for happiness, health and intelligence. This desire to
acquire all the pleasures- hedonistic attitude is fatalistic. Hence, it has to be overcome.
The problem is tackled by Indian psychologists on spiritual and religious grounds stating
that primary goal of life should be the achievement of higher ideal, God through
dedication and devotion while rest pleasures should be secondary side goals. While it is
difficult to repress the primitive urges since they are primary urges which are naturally
imbibed in the human system, they can be controlled and transformed into higher
qualities. Religion accepts man as more than a mere biological being and emphasizes on
the belief that by repression of primary urges, it will be reduced to the level of an animal.
Hindu psychologists being dynamic, progressive and self-determined in their thoughts
believe that although the present condition of mind is created by past thoughts and
actions, the present mode of thinking and living effectively transforms the mind.
Simultaneously, they emphasize on revealing the power of mind and believing that mind
has the potentiality to do whatever it wants to. In fact, mind can be used to control one’s
physical nature as well. But all these powers of mind are latent and can only be activated
and put to use efficiently and effectively by an integrated personality. For the integration
and soundness of personality, religion plays a major role. In Indian psychology, a
formulation of six requisites is given for a person who wants to transform and integrate
personality as listed below:
1. Have a desire to integrate the emotions. The growth of personality depends upon
desire.
2. The person should have higher philosophy of life. He should be away from
hedonistic attitude and aspire for the higher goal of moksha
3. The person should direct the emotions to God. Through the cultivation of all kind of
suitable relationships with God, whether of father, friend, mother etc., a person can
strike to the root of various innate and spontaneous emotional expressions.
4. The person should struggle in any way to express the consciousness of his divine
nature.
 5. The person should cultivate feelings opposite to anger, hatred and other
disintegrating urges.
6. The practice of concentration. The constant thought of God brings out all the latent
powers of mind and thereby enables a person to carry out the spiritual philosophy of
life in everyday activities.

3. Concept of love: Love is natural expression of human mind. According to Swami

Vivekananda, “the expression of love in individuals can establish emotional relationships
with the supreme Being, with bliss itself.” In our individual life, the three kinds of love
are namely, immature or childish love, sense of mutuality and unselfish or devotional
love. The third kind of love is the most superior since it is not based on any selfish
motives or gaining perspectives. This is the love which will lead to the achievement of
higher goal in life. This form of love can always be developed during the life time if one
foregoes all the selfish desires and takes himself above the sense plane to express love.
The feeling of love is important for the integration of personality of a person since an
egocentric person only considers himself. It is evident that when emotions of love and
affection are stirred without proper cultivation and expression, the human nature
deteriorates. The devotional experience of love is above all the feelings of pleasure and
satisfaction. A true lover has no fear, wonder and admiration and experiences the
motivational feeling which is sufficient enough to devote a life time and live it to the full.

4. Concept of marriage: Indian psychologists are in support of marriage as it is a union of

two people who promise to support each other selflessly in any worst of the
circumstances of life. This is not only an act of union of two people but instead is a
sacrament where two people discipline their emotions, understandings, achievements and
aspirations in life thus bringing a stability in respective individuals. Besides emotional
satisfaction, it enables them to sacrifice their likes and dislikes for the common good and
good of their family in whole. The mutual fulfillment of the requirements of a married
life helps the couple to realize the divinity within them and hence rise above the sense
plane to achieve primary goal of life. Indian psychologists divide the lifetime of a person
into four important stages, viz. 1. The training period where a person acquires all the
knowledge, 2. Married life where man and wife serve their family, children, 3.
Contemplative stage where man and wife retire from the services of society and prepare
for higher ideal of life while following spiritual practices, 4. The last stage of immense
devotion to God associated with the life of renunciation. Thus it is pretty clear from
above that the companionship of each other in a way that both aim at same goal of
spiritual realization results in an easy manifestation of the objectives. Simultaneously, it
also adds another level of spiritual realization to their lives when they believe that both of
 them are the images of that ultimate power which they are trying to achieve and result in
strengthening of bonds between the two while motivating each other to carry on with
their lives in this material world.

5. Seven spiritual laws: Swami Bodhananda in his book Seven Hindu spiritual laws of
success has mentioned the seven laws, viz. law of Brahman, maya, dharma, karma, yajna
and yoga which give an insight into some of the most valuable concepts of Indian
psychology in context of diseases:

1) Law of Brahman: states that existence is a field of infinite potentialities and is grounded in
consciousness. In reference to it, Aitreya upanishd of the Rig Veda declares, “Prajnanam
brahmaa” “Consciousness is Brahman”. Further ahead, it is stated that you are the existence
and expression of Brahman, i.e. it is you who is the field of infinite potentialities itself as
clearly evident from one of the Upanishdic mahavakya , “Tattvamasi”, “That Thou Art!”.
The root of the word Brahman is “brh”, which literally means, “That which is Big”, thus
Brahman means “Brihitvat Brahma”- “the all accommodating”. Brahman can’t be realized
through senses or by logic. In fact this all-encompassing, all pervading, indivisible,
inexhaustible source and support of all are discerned by the subtle mind and also called as
Spirit. The indivisibility and inexhaustibility of the Brahman is beautifully portrayed in Gita
as, “Bijam mam sarva-bhutanam viddhi partha sanatanam…” that Brahman is “the eternal
seed of endless manifestation”. The law can be understood when a person meditates and
processes this law in the silence of one’s heart. Brahman possesses an infinite energy and
hence strong needs to express. It is because of this that everyone possesses an urge for self-
expression and is the ground of our very existence. This desire of expression can be brought
out in the form of creativity. This desire of creativity is latent and hence one must have a
vision to seek possibilities where it can be expressed. Once creative urge arises, that becomes
one’s unique expression and hence his subjective consciousness. Thus creativity links you to
Brahman, the infinite potentiality. In order to develop on the law of Brahman, following are
some of the basic steps that should be followed:
 Believe the law of Brahman meditating upon your fullness like, “I am infinite, I am
not limited”. As is mentioned by Krishna in Bhagvad Gita, “Na tvevaham jatu,
nasamna tvamn’eme jan’adhipah/ nac’aiva na bhavisyamah sarve vayam atah param.”
Which implies that “You are an infinite field and I am an infinite field”
 Meditate regularly and concentrate on your infinite potentialities.
 Never fear to take risks and go ahead to fulfill your urge of expression through
creativity.
 Thus, following these laws one can explore the infinite potential within oneself and step up to
the first step of moksha, the utter fulfillment of life’s goals.

2) Law of maya: states that the entire phenomenal world is continuously changing. Since
change is inevitable, the wisest of the choices is to “go on with the flow of change” because
if we try to interrupt the change and interfere with the law of maya, we ourselves fall a victim
of it. Thus, one must accept change, flow with change, but more importantly, use change as a
way of exploring, unfolding and expressing oneself as an infinite potential stated by the law
of Brahman. As said in Sankaracharya’s Mayapanchakam, “Aghadita ghadana padiyasi
maya”, i.e. “Maya is capable of creating impossible things.” Thus it is evident that maya is a
tool of Brahman. The same is mentioned in Tattva Bodha that maya is “trigunatmika”- made
up of three energies, namely sattva, rajas and tamas and that these three energies are tools of
Brahman. The three energies are responsible for our cognition, movement from place to
place and stabilization respectively. These three energies operate in a dynamic equilibrium
also stated as “vishama avastha” with each other such that one balances out the other in
definite situations. Maya constantly creates changes that help in manifesting Brahman in a
myriad of ways. The phrase “ya ma sa maya” clearly states that maya is that which does not
exist implying further the perceived notion of this world and worldly experiences. In this
view, each particular state or condition can be perceived differently by different people. For
example, the perception of a situation of a death of person suffering from fatal disease will be
bad and sorrowful for the family since they lost their dear one but it can be considered good
in a way that the suffering person finally got moksha from this material world and thus, his
soul lie in peace away from all pains. This is a form of maya. Therefore, it can be concluded
that the mere realization of the law of maya can be of great help and importance in
understanding the prevailing conditions of life albeit being unbiased of its being good or bad.
The only thing to be kept in mind is that things around us are always new, it is only our ideas,
thoughts and perception that don’t change. Once it is understood, our lives become flexible,
fluid, unresisting in our constant willingness to accept change. The theme is supported by the
expression in Bhagvad Gita that says, “janma-mrityu-jar-vyadhi-dukha-dos’anudarsanam”,
means you must be ready for continuous change- “birth, growth, old age, disease, suffering
and finally death”

3) Law of dharma: dharma is that which sustains life, “Dharanat dharmamityahu” and law of
dharma states that every individual is unique and has unique personality, mission and destiny
that arise from the unique experiences one gains from the independent sustenance of the
“Self” in this material world. The importance of the law is that when one understands his
uniqueness, then he knows what he should do in any circumstance- what’s his mission in life
and what is expected of him. This helps in developing one’s self-expression and hence gives
an opportunity not only to tackle any situation but also to make some significant
 contributions to the world. Further, each existing person in this world has a unique dharma
due to the uniqueness of each individual. Every individual thus brings unique talents, sahaja
prakriti, one’s inborn nature, into this world. Along with this comes the set of needs which is
to be well identified and expressed. Since its non expression add to a level of frustration and
unhappiness due to compromise of one’s need to a certain extent beyond which it becomes
impossible to do so. This further leads to inner conflicts and restlessness. On the other hand,
the more I accommodate other’s needs and talents in my pursuit, the more I become clear
about and discover my dharma and my destiny. One important thing is while put forwarding
the needs in context of one’s inbuilt talents, he/she should be honest about his talents. As a
consequence of lack of honesty to present your talents and failure to state your needs, your
relationships suffer. This imbibes the qualities like dishonesty and manipulation of the people
around in the same person. Therefore, it is important to realize one’s in built talents and
needs to be successful, established and integrated, going with your Svabhava in life keeping
in mind the dharma not only at individual level but at social level as well. Dharma has been
classified further to bring out some of the subtle distinctions between the kinds of nature
human and animal possess. This is primarily, Nivriti and Pravriti dharma: Active and Passive
Dharma. Those who are extroverted and inclined towards outer pursuits follow pravriti
marga. Others who are introverted and attracted to inner pursuits follow nivriti marg. Active
dharma on the other hand is simply doing what one’s nature dictate. This sense of dharma is
more applicable to animals than human life but in certain circumstances is the best way to
cope up with them. Unlike passivists, dharma in an active sense insists upon developing
one’s individual potential through dynamic interaction with the environment especially
through moral, spiritual and intellectual disciplines. Thus, in all active dharma is a set of
values through which you discipline yourself. This leads to a state of self-consciousness
where the person identifies his potential, disciplines himself continuously with the changing
world and makes choices for its own betterment. There is another form of dharma called apat
dharma that essentiates the dynamic behavior of a person with the situations of crisis. This is
clear now that the dharma is a dynamic concept and once this is understood, one is capable of
simultaneously acting as an individual, as a social being and as a spiritual person and
promote social and communal well being.

4) Law of karma: the word karma has its Sanskrit origin from “kr- kriyate iti karma” which
means to act. Bhagvad Geeta defines karma as, “Bhuta-bhavodbhava-karo visargah kar ma
samjnitah”, “karma is creative activity which projects the world of beings and things.”
Vedanta introduces the law of karma to explain experience. On the other hand, it is used by
most people in a broader sense to explain an event or an experience which has already taken
place. Karma theory is more like a retrospective tool that aids us to analyze and understand
our present situation with respect to the events that happened in the past. Looking at other
side of the same coin karma theory emerges as a prospective where one can predict future
 based on present conditions. Both these tools are based on the fact that your present
conditions, whether good or bad have an influence of the past deeds. In fact action and
consequence are a continuum with the consequence always directed to the intender of
actions. Looking at the law of karma from completely different view point of Sage Vishtha, it
can be stated as “one has the freedom to choose his actions and one must exercise that
choice.” Thus, holistically speaking karma gives us an understanding of the past as well as
future, empowers us to take charge of our present life and fashion it according to our dreams.
Nobody is to be blamed for our present and we should have the heroism to accept this fact.
We are the only sole creators of our destiny. Karma theory also highlights a very subtle and
deep fact of life that since our actions are finite, the consequences of the actions are also
followed to a finite period. Thus, anything good or bad is going to stay for a finite period and
hence we should be ready to face this fact. Other positive aspect that karma theory brings up
is that irrespective of the prevailing good or bad present conditions, one should always seek
an opportunity in it since the present response will decide your future. Running away from
the circumstances saying that my present is a result of past will not allow to live your life to
the full. Hence, always live your present as an action for future.

5) Law of Yajna: also called as the law of sacrifice and highlights the concept of sacrifice at
macrocosmic and microcosmic levels stating that Sacrifice is the most gratifying and
satisfying of all and is indispensable for the flow of life or affluence. It operates in every
aspect of life. The root syllable of the word yajna is “yaj” meaning to offer and this is what
the law states “To receive is to give”. This means whatever you want to gain first give the
same to the world and then you will gain the same. Thus, one should renounce the best of
himself, the best of talents one possess. Only that kind of renunciation is valued since it
raises the field of energy of an individual as well as society to a higher level. Since, sacrifice
incorporates a sense of taking only that which is necessary, a material affluence and social
harmony is also established. Yajna gives an opportunity to connect with the cosmic energies
and implore the powers by self-offering. In the application of law of yajna, five stages are to
be understood as mentioned below:

 Prepare yourself, intellectually, psychologically and physically

 Engage with other excellent people, together creating an atmosphere of excellence
 Offer this collective work at the altar of higher ideal and receive the result
 Share the results
 Whatever balance remains keep as your profit

Law of yajna formulates the method of sacrifice called sanyasa that has three levels as
stated below:

 First is when you give up your home and concerns of home to become sanyasi
  Second is when you renounce the second time after gaining success from first attempt
and re-entering the material world
 Third is when renunciation has been accomplished

6) Law of yoga: the simple meaning of yoga is “non-reaction”, whatever the situation may be.
In Bhagvad Geeta, it is remarked by Sri Krishna, “sukha-dukhee same kritva/labhalabhau
jay’ajayau/ tatao yoddhaya yujjasve/n’aivam papam avapsysi”. “keeping the mind even in
pleasure and pain, andin the profit and loss preserve in detachment; thus you will never incur
sin.” The ability to restrain action is yoga. The law of yoga is of great deal of help in
controlling the incoming and outgoing emotions in the situations of life by detaching from
the state of emotions like suffering, pain etc. just renounce it. When you renounce an object,
the objects lose their power over you. Only with one’s own permission does the thought gain
power. In case of sufferings just observe them with a detached mind. This is also called as
mindfulness where one is a spectator of one’s thought itself without actually being involved
into its processing. Similar is the case of pleasure. Renounce the feelings of pleasure as they
will entrap you. Geeta clearly says, “ye hi sampsara-ja bhoga/ dukha yonaya eva te/ ady-
antavantah kaunteya/ na tesu ramate budhah”, “born of sense contacts, these pleasures are
seeds of future pain”. Once you are above these feelings the excellence can be achieved in
any subject matter. Thus yoga aims at emotional intelligence where one has full control over
emotions leading to both skill in action and equanimity of mind. The aim if yoga is to
establish a state of non-reaction to success as well as failure so that one is not discouraged by
not achieving the set goals as well as contented to a higher limit with success such that he
stops further progression. Only by this a state of excellence can be achieved. The detachment
is the sole way to control or manage the mind. At another higher level of benefits of yoga the
right choice making activities arising from the state of non-reaction help in growth of
spiritual intelligence while accessing the spirit for right response. Thus, detachment is the
key of invoking three kinds of intelligence analytical, emotional, and spiritual. The methods
of yoga are discussed in detail here. But this is to be noted that to meditate is not yoga rather
one must have insight into Spirit.

7) Law of leela: also called as law of playfulness or least effort and states that intelligence and
efforts put into completing a task is inversely proportional i.e. more intelligence, minimum
time taken to complete a task. Children are the most playful with no external feelings that
obstruct their self-expression and thought process but with growing age we are obsessed with
fear, jealousy and anxiety which creates a mental block to the upcoming thoughts leading to
lack of creativity, lack of tendency to come up with upaya and hence an enhanced state of
effort. This finally results in pathogenecity in adults. On the other hand happiness is
playfulness. Problems can be easily solved by a happy mind.
 From all the above seven laws, it can be framed out that the ultimate destiny of human
intelligence is to achieve that state of total spontaneity, playfulness and creativity deriving
moment-to-moment responses to all challenging situations.

Religion and Indian Psychology: According to Hindu psychologists, religion is not a mere
observance of ceremonies and rituals. It is a way of life, both inner and outer, both individual and
social. By spirituality, we mean the understanding of our soul, the manifestation and realization
of divinity that is already inside man. The Hindu religion mentions four goals of life: Dharma:
ethical means or righteousness; Artha: wealth or comfort; Kama: pleasure; Moksha: liberation.
While artha and kama are material visible goals. The pursuit of artha and kama is to be tempered
and restrained by consideration of dharma. On the other hand it is instrumental in attaining life’s
highest goal moksha. If these two goals are pursued within the parameters of dharma, a universal
harmony with the nature, society and self can be easily established. It has to be kept in mind that
the spirit be continuously manifested while pursuing these material goals otherwise the
essentiality of desire is lost. There is a set of religious or spiritual practices that may help in
manifesting the spirit whilst overcoming the anxiety and other factors while simultaneously
aiming at achieving higher ideal of life which lie beyond the sense pleasure. Religious practices
help in concentrating on God and hence integrating the emotions while establishing a link with
him. There are four types of such spiritual practices as listed below:

(i) The prayer done by people with a sense of askance from the God and is the lowest form
of prayer but can be considered the first step to establish a link with the God.
(ii) The second form of prayer is practiced for the attainment of higher qualities and
consequent integration of total personality. E.g. devotees pray for purity, truthfulness,
patience, endurance etc.
(iii)The third kind of prayer is deep meditation and concentration. In this practice man
enjoys the thought of God through which he gains the higher ideal of life, the pleasure
and satisfaction beyond the sense plane. The introduction and method of meditation is
given in detail below.
(iv) The highest kind of spiritual practice is Samadhi, a super-conscious experience.

Mediation and Methods of meditation:

Meditation is an activity of subtle state of mind out of three states, viz. the gross, the sharp
(tikshana budhi) and the subtle (sukshma budhi). It’s an activity higher than thought. Meditation
helps in realizing God as the oneness of existence. Meditation, thinking and other activities
reinforce one another. Without meditation the other activities become shallow and lack the
power of spirit. Activities on the other hand become nourishment to meditation. Thus, both
infuse energy into one another and create wholeness of experience. This kind of meditation
where activities are given equal impetus unlike the general notion of mutual exclusiveness of
both is called dynamic meditation.

Meditation: The technique

Five steps in meditation:

1. Sit in a particular posture, asanam. Sukhasana is best suited with legs crossed, erect
vertebral column, half-closed eyes with hands resting on knees. The attention fixed on
Bhrumadhya and concentrating on incoming and outgoing breath,
“sthirasukhamasanam”.
2. Pranayama: derived from prana, opens all the channels in our system. All our physical,
psychological and physiological activities are controlled by prana. Hence, it becomes
important to regulate them and pranayama is the key.
Prana and Roles of prana:
Physical and psychological activities are shoots of prana. Breathing in and out are
expressions of prana and a small part of complex pranic system. The five functions of
prana are:
 Help intake the food
 Digest the food
 Distribute the essence of food
 Assimilate it
 Excrete it
3. Chanting of mantras follow some vibrations that help in achieving the complete goal of
pranayama.
4. Visualization is imaging some beautiful form that inspires you and helps in better
concentration in meditation by overcoming reaction for certain psychological memories.
5. The last step is invoking the power of silence.

Some of the aspects of meditation and their brief description is given below:

Reflection: the literal meaning of word reflection is giving a true presentation of the object
without any personal bias as does the mirror. The interpretation of another person by one
individual is biased with the interpretation his own nature in other’s. A true meditator has a
capability of reflecting the true state of an object without adding any personal bias. Such a
person has mirror like consciousness and it is only then possible to be in harmony with the world
around. Hence, elimination of unnecessary thoughts and a focus on the central object of pursuit
that is necessary to meditate is an implication of reflection.

Concentration: initial step in meditation is where an upasak concentrates on a particular deity

upasyam while performing upasana. Simply speaking it is focusing one’s attention at one object
while excluding others. Or in other words it’s putting your heart and soul together. A stage
comes in concentration when only upasyam remains while upasaka disappears. Upasayam is
always an object greater than upasak otherwise the upasana is called as indulgence. Such a thing
never leads to enlightenment. An implication of upasana is establishing harmony between reason
and passion controlled by two different cerebral hemispheres of brain while simultaneously
giving a direction to one’s passion. While reason is required for right decision to foray in life,
passion is the energy to lead one’s self forward and both are mutually interdependent.

Contemplation: also called introspect and/or reflection. It means to remain detached from the
object and mind interacting with the object, i.e. to remain in an attitude of the witness,
Sakshibhava. In simple words concentration with depth is contemplation.

Introspection: introspection refers to watching the things from inside or watching inside.
Introspection is generally followed by a judgment and criticism. A true introspection on the other
hand is simply allowing the thoughts and events to take place.

The eightfold path of Buddha: the Noble Eightfold Path describes the way to the end of
suffering, as it was laid out by Siddhartha Gautama. It is a practical guideline to ethical and
mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and
it finally leads to understanding the truth about all things. Together with the Four Noble Truths it
constitutes the gist of Buddhism. Great emphasis is put on the practical aspect, because it is only
through practice that one can attain a higher level of existence and finally reach Nirvana. The
eight steps are the key to end all the sorrows and self-awakening. These are listed below:

1. Right view
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration

The above eight fold path, more or less represents the same ideas as that of seven spiritual laws
of success.

Psychotherapy and its advantage for terminally and conditionally ill patients:

With the collection of above stated principles of Indian Psychology, we are ready to highlight
their use in context of psychotherapy. Following are the aspects of Indian psychology that can be
vividly used in psychotherapy for terminally and conditionally ill patients not only to help
overcome but also aspire for higher ideals of life and achieve the same.
1. To counteract the anxiety, frustration and fear in patients, it’s important that they
should be encouraged to realize the law of karma and maya. Both are related in a
sense that while one explains that conditions of life are continuously changing and
that we should flow with the change whilst accepting the change, the second law
states that that the present unstable conditions of change are not infinite and since
they are finite and have to change, one should accept them courageously without
questioning. This will help in coping with the present situation while maintaining a
ray of hope that time will show changes in one’s own favor. Moreover, the
realization of law of karma provides the patients with an opportunity to see the
positive in the worst of the situations while strengthening their morals and hope and
giving rise to a positive attitude of life. This positive attitude has been established to
initiate certain physiological processes that help in overcoming physiological
disease.
2. The next law, the law of Brahman helps in imbibing the sense of belief and
confidence in one’s selves and one’s mental powers. It’s been recently established
that those people who believe in themselves are more certain to be cured from the
diseases than one who don’t.
3. In case of terminally ill patients, all the hopes are lost since there is no chance of
their recovery. These patients find a great difficulty in coping with the adverse
situations and are finally secluded from society into the solitude of their sorrow. In
such people the concept of establishing devotional love through prayers while
aiming at achieving the higher goal of life with the realization that primary aim of
life is moksha and that it’s the only truth which can be fulfilled by following our
duties can help in motivating these patients to live the part of lives selflessly without
any tensions, insecurity and disheartedness. Thus, in case of terminally ill patients
the devotional love can manifest as the motivation of life. The love to the ultimate
power whatever way one can imagine it can help in experiencing the pleasures
beyond sense experience. The other two kinds of love are not supported since they
involve hedonistic attitudes and may become a cause of sorrow to the lover leading
to mental conflicts. On the other hand the feeling of highest form of love since
involves no expectation from other sides is away from worldly emotions and may be
quite relieving for the patients
4. The law of yoga also helps patients to stay unbiased to their thoughts, good or bad
while controlling their emotions and imposing self-discipline. The mindfulness will
essentially be beneficial in such cases as it will help overcome the painful aspects of
disease.
5. Meditation and other forms of concentration especially introspection helps in
realizing the terminally ill patients the aim for which they got their lives so that they
can direct it to its achievement.
 6. The physical exercises, the asanas and the mudras followed in meditation also help
in overcoming the diseases by allowing the free operation of physiological processes
during yoga.
7. The whole process of meditation is a kind of rejuvenation for patients that help in
proper flow of thoughts through mind and open up a gateway by which they can
overcome these worldly sensations in the form of maya.
8. The dedication, devotion and belief on God further add to the feelings of
psychological support, the experience of the presence of an infinite power with
which the patients may find a close personal relationship can be motivational, and
induce hopefulness in the patient. All these characteristics of positive attitudes have
been established to affect the normal physiological processes of the body that may
help in overcoming diseases in conditionally ill patients and improving the QOL in
both.

Conclusion:

In concluding remarks, it can be said that the foundational principles of Indian Psychology can
be very well extrapolated for use in psychotherapy since their direct correlation with establishing
mental soundness and integration. Thus, Indian Psychology opens new perspectives of its use in
psychotherapy based on religious beliefs that can prove really useful in present scenario of
overcoming some fatal disease having some root cause in certain mental attributes.

Bibliography:

 Swami Bhodhananda, The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success, 2004.

 Swami Bhodhananda, Meditation-The Awakening Of Inner Powers, 1995
 Alvin R. Mahrer, Becoming The Person You Can Become, 2002
 Swami Akhilananda, Mental Health And Hindu Psychology, 1950
 Robert Ornstein and David Sobel, The Healing Brain,1987