Indian psychology is a distinct psychological tradition rooted in the native Indian ethos. It manifests in the multitude of practices prevailing in the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Unlike the mainstream psychology, Indian psychology is not overwhelmingly materialist-reductionist in character. It goes beyond the conventional third-person forms of observation to include the study of first-person phenomena such as subjective experience in its various manifestations and associated cognitive phenomena. It does not exclude the investigation of extraordinary states of consciousness and exceptional human abilities. The quintessence of Indian nature is its synthetic stance that results in a magical bridging of dichotomies such as natural and supernatural, secular and sacred, and transactional and transcendental. The result is a psychology that is practical, positive, holistic and inclusive. The Handbook of Indian Psychology is an attempt to explore the concepts, methods and models of psychology systematically from the above perspective. The Handbook is the result of the collective efforts of more than thirty leading international scholars with interdisciplinary backgrounds. In thirty-one chapters, the authors depict the nuances of classical Indian thought, discuss their relevance to contemporary concerns, and draw out the implications and applications for teaching, research and practice of psychology.

A brilliant study examining the development of the ancient theoretical psychological thought in India, starting from the pre-Vedic period and its maturation up to the early Buddhist period. It outlines the concept of monism in the Vedas, the Vedic concept of afterlife, the Vedic concept of the human being, in terms of individual identity, vital faculties and the mental organs. It should be of enormous interest to the students of religious as well as modern psychology."Appropriate for undergraduate and graduate libraries" Choice

East meets West in this fascinating exploration of conceptions of personal identity in Indian philosophy and modern Euro-American psychology. Author Anand Paranjpe considers these two distinct traditions with regard to historical, disciplinary, and cultural `gaps' in the study of the self, and in the context of such theoretical perspectives as univocalism, relativism, and pluralism. The text includes a comparison of ideas on self as represented by two eminent thinkers-Erik H. Erikson for the Western view, and Advaita Vedanta for the Indian.

Venturing into the widely under-explored area of Indian Psychology, this book provides coverage of the origins, scope and development in this area. The twenty-six essays in this book cover a broad spectrum of topics in Psychology and link mainstream topics that are taught in General Psychology with Indian thought. It has several renowned contributors who have covered Indian psychology's links with Yoga, Buddhism, Ayurveda, Veda and Sufi traditions. The book covers some of the most important areas that have emerged in modern psychology and will be of great value to students and teachers alike.

With the emergence of positive psychology in the West, and the many fold discovery of the impact of psychology in one’s life, there is a need to understand spirituality, and to use its positive aspects to maintain a balance in hectic modern life. This book presents models for mapping basic psychological processes and their relationships. It covers basic constructs like cognition, emotion, behavior, desires, creativity, as well as applied topics like personal happiness, intercultural conflict handling, and world peace.

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Professors Ramakrishna Rao and Anand Paranjpe are two distinguished psychologist-philosophers who pioneered what has come to be known as Indian psychology. In this authoritative volume, they draw the contours of Indian psychology, describe the methods of study, define the critical concepts, explain the central ideas, and discuss their implications to psychological study and application to life. The main theme is organized around the theme that psychology is the study of the person. They go on to present a model of the person as a unique composite of body, mind, and consciousness. Consciousness is conceived to be qualitatively and ontologically different from all material forms. The goal of the person is self-realization, which consists in the realization of the true self as distinct and separate from the manifest ego. It is facilitated by cultivating consciousness, which leads to some kind of psycho-spiritual symbiosis, personal transformation, and flowering of one’s hidden human potentials.