| Professor R. S. SRIVASTAVA M.A. (Phil.), M.A. (Indian Phil. & Religion), D. Litt. Ex-Head, Department of Philosophy Ex-Dean, Faculty of Humanities Ex-Chief Editor : Research Journal of Philosophy Ranchi University, Ranchi (India) President : Indian Philosophical Congress President : Akhil Bharatiya Darshan Parishad Date 7.5.1993 |
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THE CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY IN SRI AUROBINDO’S INTEGRAL YOGA PSYCHOLOGY
AND A. MASLOW’S HUMANISTIC / TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY
by Joseph Vrinte
Joseph Vrinte’s monograph offers a very faithful exposition of Sri Aurobindo’s yoga psychology and Maslow’s humanistic psychology. The Eastern spiritual mystic and Western empirical psychologist diverge vastly in their levels of approach. For Sri Aurobindo man is rooted in the Divine and for Maslow in the human psyche. The treatise rightly shows that Maslow’s metaphysical assumptions do not go beyond the intellect and man’s transpersonal state is the extended form of mental consciousness. The eminent psychologist remains ever tied to the intellectual principle, which has no spiritual value.
Joseph Vrinte sincerely represents Maslow’s picture of transpersonal humanism, a society of high individuals having large collective ideals. The pursuit of man is to be the most perfect man in whom society aims at integration, and the destiny of mankind lies in the full actualisation of human potentials and formation of a eupsychian society.
Sri Aurobindo’s integral personality is the Gnostic personality. Joseph Vrinte differentiates between Maslow’s man as biological organism and Sri Aurobindo’s divine being. The Gnostic society of the divinised man transcends Maslow’s eupsychian society. The author shows that the future of man and society is to become superman and Gnostic society, whose roots lie in Sachchidananda.
Joseph Vrinte’s work is unique and surpasses all published books on the subject. The monograph is rich in content, lucid in expression, and charming in style. The monograph deserves all praise from the scholars who pursue their researches in the study of man.
R. S. Srivastava
Dt. 7.5.1993