Hindu psychology : its meaning for the West

263 Pages·2001·0.962 MB·English

by  Swami. Akhilananda

The International Library of Psychology
HINDU PSYCHOLOGY
Founded by C. K. Ogden
The International Library of Psychology
PSYCHOLOGY AND RELIGION
In 6 Volumes
I Hindu Psychology Akhilananda
II Religious Conversion de Sanctis
III The Psychology of Religious Mysticism Leuha
IV Indian Psychology Sinha
V Isaac and Oedipus Wellisch
VI Man in his Relationships Westmann
HINDU PSYCHOLOGY
Its Meaning for the West
SWAMI AKHILANANDA
Introduction by Gordon W Allport
First published in 1948
by Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
© 1948 Swami Akhilananda
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Hindu Psychology
ISBN 0415-21110-7 (Print Edition)
Psychology and Religion: 6 Volumes
ISBN 0415-21133-6 (Print Edition)
The International Library of Psychology: 204 Volumes
ISBN 0415-19132-7 (Print Edition)
ISBN 0-203-00266-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17319-8 (Glassbook Format)
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION by Gordon W. Allport ix
FOREWORD by Edgar Sheffield Brightman xi
PREFACE xv
I. A SURVEY OF WESTERN AND HINDU PSYCHOLOGY 1
II. COGNITION 21
III. EMOTION 37
IV. THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 54
V. WILL AND PERSONALITY 78
Will 78
Suggestion 88
Hypnosis 91
Personality 96
VI. MEDITATION 102
VII. EFFECT OF MEDITATION 126
VIII. INTUITIVE INSIGHT 135
IX. EXTRASENSORY EXPERIENCES 142
X. THE SUPERCONSCIOUS STATE 150
XI. METHODS OF SUPERCONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE 171
XII. CAN SUPERCONSCIOUS KNOWLEDGE BE IMPARTED? 190
XIII. RELIGION AND PSYCHOTHERAPY 199
XIV. PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 209
APPENDIX 225
BIBLIOGRAPHY 229
INDEX 233

Introduction
IT IS inexcusable that we who think in the Western frame of thought
should be as ignorant as we are of the frame of thought of the East.
Year after year we have spent our time thinking exclusively in the
thought forms of our own Western culture, in practicing or examining
the tradition of our own religion, and in evolving our own Western
theories of the mind. Few of us have spent even one day of our
lives learning about the thought forms that control the minds of
millions of our fellow men who adhere to the basic religion of
Hinduism. Since in modern days we can no longer deny that all
mankind lives in One World, such ignorance of our Eastern cousin’s
mind is as dangerous as it is inexcusable.
Does the excited psychology of action and behavior so
characteristic of America treat adequately all the capacities of the
human mind? Are the powers of meditation revealed through yoga
illusory and slightly absurd? Is it conceivable that the energies
released through mental discipline are of no potential use to men
who live in the West? Ignorance of Eastern thought leads us to give
callow and mischievous answers to such questions as these.
Swami Akhilananda makes available to us a nontechnical
introduction to the thought of the East. He does so in a direct and
lucid style. Understanding and appreciating the significance of much
of Western psychology, he is able to point shrewdly to certain
improvements that Eastern psychology can offer, and to chasms it
may help to fill. At the same time he stresses in a manner agreeable
B ix