Sacred Psychoanalysis - etheses Repository - University of ...

psychoanalysis can be seen as a Western Tantra, combining meditations on religion,
sexuality, the body, life and death enshrined in rituals. The training by analysts of
analysands in the private but shared analytic space leads to personal jnana (path of right
knowledge). Kripal acknowledged that too much could be made of this analogy but that it
still offered an opportunity of how to think about both psychoanalysis and Hindu mysticism
(Kripal 2003). This inclusive approach offers further engagement with contemporary
psychoanalysis as an evolving field. Brar however goes further. In his comparison of Yoga
and psychoanalysis he builds on universal truths enshrined in both but concludes ‘in
recognizing a spiritual plane of existence, Yoga transcends the limitations of
psychoanalysis’ (Brar 1970: 206) thus adding a new role for Hindu religion and mythology
based on spiritual practices – in much the same way as has been seen in Buddhism’s
relationship with psychoanalysis.
Cultural engagement has evolved through the increasing acceptance of alternative
viewpoints in contemporary psychoanalysis, which sees it as part of wider philosophical,
social, cultural, religious and global contexts. This offers a dialectical engagement, which
has generated new opportunities in an Indian context. Akhtar’s edited work demonstrates
the emerging range of engagement with wider cultural concerns. It includes: a Kohutian
analysis of Gandhi; a literary and analytic analysis of the poet Tagore; an examination of
gender in the capacity of Indian women to have multiple selves, including a spiritual self
and the impact of this for psychoanalysis; new forms of developmental theory arising from
within the Indian experience; the unconscious in Bollywood; the application of
psychoanalytic ideas to the complex religious, social, political relations between Hindus and
Muslims; a critical examination of sexuality in the light of Indian traditions; the place of
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