August 21, 2011

Indra Sen, Kishore Gandhi, Madhusudan Reddy, Haridas Chaudhuri, & C.R. Goswami

INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRAL YOGA PSYCHOLOGY :: About Us > THE INSTITUTE :: Publications - Institute will have special emphasis on publications of research and scholarly work on Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's psychological system, The following are the list of publication activities. ...
Psychology itself has undergone several shifts. The place of spirituality in human psyche is being increasingly acknowledged. With the popularity of the transpersonal school in psychology, spiritual, mystic and occult perspectives are becoming subject-matters that need not only to be understood but also to be transfigured in practical terms. In this context, Sri Aurobindo's psychological thought implicit in his yoga (named Integral Yoga) needs a special and distinctive consideration because it is a departure from the traditional ways of thinking as well as a departure from the ascetic tradition in spirituality. Moreover, it brings as a central theme the concept of evolution of Consciousness. [12:52 PM]
IYP explores the ranges and depths of consciousness, its planes and parts, so as to construct an integral structure and model of human being capable of evolutionary growth. In the process it studies the hierarchy of consciousness as represented in the human being as well as in nature, the different beings in our depths, the aspects of personality and impersonality, time and timelessness, ego and beyond - ego principles. The emergent perspective not only helps us to understand the structure of the being but also to study psychopathology at different levels with the possibility of devising concomitant therapeutic modalities.
IYP's standpoint is that as its field and matrix is consciousness in its most global perspective, it cannot ignore the variegated pursuits of the human mind in its quest towards truth. Thus it not only studies spirituality and religion but also include in its ambit the psychological foundations of occultism, parapsychology and metapsychology. IYP will study the practical implications of the consciousness paradigm in ...
Our predecessors are stalwart-scholars and yogis who had the vision and foresight of acknowledging the inherent psychological insights in Sri Aurobindo’s thought. This illustrious list begins with the late Prof. Indra Sen, who published as early as 1944 an article entitled “A psychological Appreciation of Sri Aurobindo’s System of Integral Yoga” and culminates in Dr. A. S. Dalal’s landmark publication of “A Greater Psychology” in 2001.
Dr. Indra Sen used the term “Integral Psychology” in 1960 to denote Sri Aurobindo’s Psychological system but as Robert Gerard (in 1982) and Ken Wilber (in 2000) have been using the term for other things, the nomenclature “Integral Yoga Psychology” has evolved. Other predecessors include the late Kishore Gandhi who had been using class notes on this theme since 1966 at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, the late Madhusudan Reddy whose book on Integral Yoga Psychology was published in 1988, Jobst Muhling who differentiated conventional Western Psychology from Sri Aurobindo’s psychology in 1960, the late Haridas Chaudhury who with F. Spiegelberg in 1960 published a Commemorative Symposium proceedings where the term “Integral Psychology” was first used, C. R. Goswami who used this term in 1989 and Lloyd Fellows who established an Institute for Integral Psychology in USA during 1970s under the inspiration of Late M. P. Pandit.

One of the pleasures of reading Sri Aurobindo’s works is that such contradictions do not exist because he resolves every contradiction by tracing it to its Divine origin and reconciling it as part of a larger Truth.   He explicates how every principle has it’s play in a certain context but if we over-generalize, then it loses its value. […]
What can we glean from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on the Nature versus Nurture debate?  We are given the understanding that nature and nurture can be reconciled in the greater spiritual truth, that there is an soul within Man evolving towards Divinity.  This soul persists across incarnations, puts forth its own distinct personality in every life and is also influenced by the genetic makeup of the parents as well as by the prevailing Zeitgeist. […]
Intelligent Design raises valid questions about abiogenesis (i.e. how life arises out from inorganic matter) and speciation (i.e. how do new species arise) but is unable to satisfactorily answer them with a suitable teleology, other than to posit the existence of an extra-cosmic entity which must be managing the Universe.
On the other hand, Neo-Darwinism only examines the superficial evolution of forms, and remains unaware of the greater aeonic evolution of souls as they are reborn in progressively more complex forms, (plant, animal and human) as determined by the evolution of soul consciousness.
We present the synthesis of the above ideas as discovered in the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.  Speciation is explained by the fact that consciousness precedes form in evolution [12]. 

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