Mahatma Gandhi’s Pragmatic Spirituality: Its Relevance to Psychology East and West

M. K. Gandhi is no academic psychologist; but his philosophy and practice of pragmatic spirituality have important implications for psychology in general and Indian psychology in particular. Psychology as taught and practised in India is mostly Western and not Indian psychology. Indian psychology is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychological studies Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 109 - 116
Main Author Ramakrishna Rao, K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New Delhi Springer India 01.06.2018
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand (1869-1948)
General Psychology
Personality and Social Psychology
Psychologists
Psychology
Religion
Review Article
Science
Self-actualization
Spirituality
Traditions
India
Religion
Self-realization
Spirituality
Consciousness
Gandhian thought
Non-violence
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Summary:M. K. Gandhi is no academic psychologist; but his philosophy and practice of pragmatic spirituality have important implications for psychology in general and Indian psychology in particular. Psychology as taught and practised in India is mostly Western and not Indian psychology. Indian psychology is an emerging system of psychology with its roots in classical Indian thought. According to Gandhi, the person is instinctively brute, but inherently spiritual. Consequently, he/she has on the one hand natural attraction to sensory gratification and indulgence, selfish desires and craving. On the other hand, he or she aspires for self-realization. Human development is a dialectical process where people seek to find a workable synthesis between sensory indulgence and spiritual aspirations, between egotistic selfishness and altruistic urges. Gandhi’s life provides an excellent case study of the ways of spiritual development. The techniques he crafted like satyagraha and the strategies he followed in his public life give us insights into how spirituality can be applied to improve human condition. The applications are not India specific, but universal. Therefore, psychologists from the East as well as from the West can join in exploring Gandhian ideas and techniques of psycho-spiritual development and their relevance to today’s troubled world.
ISSN:0033-2968
0974-9861
DOI:10.1007/s12646-017-0394-x