Sudhir Kakar

Sudhir Kakar (25 July 1938 – 22 April 2024) was an Indian psychoanalyst, novelist and author in the fields of cultural psychology and the psychology of religion.

Quotes

 * Psychoanalysis . . . has been insufficiently aware of its underlying paradigm and its deep roots in Western culture. The implicit model of man that underlies the psychoanalytic meta-theory is certainly not universal; the psychoanalytic notion of the person as an autonomous, bounded, abstract individual is a peculiarly Western notion. In contrast, the holistic model of man that underlies Indian mystical approaches and propels their practices is rooted in the very different Indian cultural tradition which, in some ways, lies at an opposite civilizational pole.
 * Sudhir Kakar, in Antonio de Nicolas, Krishnan Ramaswamy, and Aditi Banerjee (eds.) (2007), Invading the Sacred: An Analysis Of Hinduism Studies In America (Publisher: Rupa & Co., p. 21) Sudhir Kakar, “Reflections on Psychoanalysis, Indian Culture and Mysticism,” review of The Oceanic Feeling: The Origins of Religious Sentiment in Ancient India, by J.M. Masson.