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India and the Risk of Psychoanalysis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 April 2024
Extract
Because of the widespread feminine priority that makes it the receptacle of śakti, India is definitely “one of the last bastions of the Mother,” as is pointed out in a recent book. If in fact there is a “maternalistic” culture it is certainly that of India, in spite of the legal regime, in which the element of affectionate magic characterizing all life and all organic intimacy is affirmed through the warm symbiosis of mother-child love. A miracle of that absolute love incarnated with a natural serenity by millions of mothers dispensing a felicitous affectionate security, instilled in the Indian soul throughout its entire life. The traits of the Hindu personality and the principle content of its culture are organized and ordered around this center, characterized by an extraordinary coherence. Since its construction begins with this “dual unity” the Hindu personality has necessarily the popolarity of fusion-separation as a pivot. This is the central theme of S. Kakar, who, basing his conclusions on results of clinical psychoanalyses of Hindu individuals as well as on contributions from the collective imagination (folklore and myths) claims to discern the ontogenetic source of the supreme ideal of deliverance (mokṣa) in early childhood and, more specifically, in the strong unconscious desire to find again the benevolent presence of the “good mother”.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © 1986 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)
References
1 Sudhir Kakar, The Inner World, a Psychoanalytic Study of Childhood and Society in India, Oxford University Press, 1978, (2nd ed. 1982, p. 211; p. 153)
2 Ibid., p. 34.
3 Ibid., p. 85.
4 A. Kardiner, The Psychological Frontiers of Society, Columbia University Press, 1945, p. 233.
5 Kakar, op. cit., pp. 104-107.
6 Ibid., p. 110.
7 Ibid., p. 160 et seq.
8 Chändogya-Upanisad, VI, 10, 1-2; Mundaka-Up. III, 2, 8.
9 Kakar, op. cit., p. 46.
10 According to Freud, the subconscious keeps its objects like an Egyptian tomb.
11 Kakar, op. cit., p. 45 et seq.
12 L. Kapani is at present elaborating these ideas for later publication.
13 Kakar, op. cit. See for example p. 49.
14 Idem p.4.
15 Idem p. 8.
16 Idem pp. 12 and 34.
17 Idem p. 15.
18 BAU, IV, 3, 23-30; cf. II, 4, 14.
19 Kakar, op. cit., p. 16.
20 Trans. L. Renou, Prolégomènes au Vedanta, Paris, Imprimerie nationale, Maisonneuve, 1951, p. 54, no. 1.
21 BAU, IV, 3, 9-14 et seq.
22 Idem IV, 3, 15.
23 Ibid., IV, 3, 15-16; 33.
24 Ibid., IV, 3, 32.
25 Kakar, op. cit., See p. 16, where the author quotes W. Blake.
26 This darsana which, with the Samkhya-Yoga, has most shown its influence on Indian thought up until today, has its source in the first Vedic Upanishads whose five great commentators are Sankara, Ramanuja, Nimbarka, Madhva, Vallabha.
27 BAU, I, 4, 10.
28 Ch. U., VI, 8, 7 et seq.
29 Mundaka-Ipanisad, III, 2, 9.
30 Samkhya-karika, 68, Yoga-sutra, III, 50 and 55; IV, 34.
31 S.k. 11.
32 S.k. 19; Y.s. I, 3 IV, 34.
33 S.k. 11.
34 See S.k. 59, 65-66.
35 Commentary by Gaudapada on S.k. 44.
36 P. 21 et seq. Must we specify that the finality of yoga, from the beginning is radically different from psychoanalysis? Yoga does not treat an invalid. It assumes that one is first of all in good health.
37 Kakar, op. cit., pp. 22-25.
38 Ibid., p. 23.
39 Ibid., pp. 22-23.
40 Ibid., p. 25.
41 Ibid., pp. 23-24.
42 Yoga-sutra, I, 2.
43 Yoga-bhasya, I, 1.
44 Kakar, op. cit., p. 25.
45 Ibid., p. 24.
46 Ibid., pp. 147-148.
47 Ibid., pp. 142-143.
48 Ibid., pp. 156-158.
49 Ibid., see p. 155.
50 Ibid., p. 160.
51 I, VII, 11.
52 Kakar, op. cit., p. 196.
53 On the theme of "cultural renouncement" (Kulturversagung) see Das Unbehagen der Kultur, ch. I.
54 C.G. Jung, La Guérison psychologique, 1953, 3rd ed. 1976, Librairie de l'Université, Geneva, pp. 281-282.
55 Kakar, op. cit., p. 149.
56 Ibid., see for example pp. 23-24, 16.
57 See p. 81, the Erikson schema (Childhood and Society, New York, 1950) and the Hindu schema. The samnyasa is not the realization of dharma, but tends to the realization of moksa. At this stage, no tasks or virtues are required. In the cadre of varna-āśrama-dharma, the samnyāsa is effectively the last "stage" of life, thus linked to old age. However, we must note that in practice some young sons of Brahmins directly embrace the samnyasa. For example, Sankara.
58 Kakar, op. cit., note 1, p. 214.
59 Idem, p. 182.
60 p. 133.
61 Idem, p. 50.