With all this, we would be in a state of ignorance if we are not in a position to go further down into the causative factors requiring of us an investigation into and a study of subjects like aesthetics, together with all those things that precede such a need felt within. The love of beauty, whether visible as in architecture, sculpture and painting, audible as in music, or intelligible as in literature, is basically found to be an expression of a reaction set up by the human mind to the conditions of the world outside in terms of the peculiar relation it bears with these conditions. The human mind as the subject and the world outside as its object form the correlative counterparts complementary to each other, and we may say in a sense that when a round rod finds a round hole fitted to its insertion into it, there is the perception of beauty. Beauty, then, is the experience roused in oneself of a sense of completeness on the recognition of one’s exact counterpart in the outer world, whether this perception is sensory or intellectual. The perception of beauty turns out to be a psycho-physical condition subtly brought about by factors deeply underlying the correlation between the human mind as the subject and the world outside as the object. This interesting psychological truth would be seen to be the basis of even such apparently altruistic activities of human nature as the pursuit of human culture, the interest in the field of study as history, the need for law and regulation in society and the institutions—civic, social and political governance, etc. Man himself is the basis and the cause of all that he does, all that he needs and all that he thinks are the necessary values of life. In a word, man sees himself outside and studies himself, looking at himself as in a mirror under the erroneous notion that he is studying something thoroughly external and unconnected with himself, which misconception is the cause of the failure of modern educational systems in the realisation of the final aim of life.

Man, thus, comes to realise that a study of the scientific principles of Psycho-analysis becomes a further development in the curriculum of a true system of education that could be adopted with good as its result. The study of Psycho-analysis is fundamentally a study of the intrinsic urges of human nature, which, to a large extent, condition even the functioning of man’s rational powers. Western Psycho-analysts have thought that the basic urges of human nature are those of the instinct for food, the instinct for sex and the instinct for power. When these urges get defeated or frustrated by opposing forces, either due to the inadequacy of the proper means to fulfil them or due to the operation of the laws and rules framed by outer society, the mind sets up protective reactions known as ‘defense mechanisms’ and tries to fulfil itself either directly by obtaining the necessary ‘means’ even by unlawful ways, or by defying the operating rules and regulations outside by subtle devices of cunning, or indirectly by regression to the lower levels of satisfaction, by seeking the next best thing available immediately below the level of what is the main objective. If even the next best is not available, the mind can go down to the third level below, and so on, until, if all forms of approach become futile, the urges react upon themselves seeking satisfaction in their own selves, which condition is called mania or a psychopathic condition—a state of mental illness where one enjoys merely by imagination. The study of Psycho-analysis is very important since it is an ignorance of the workings of the human mind that is mostly responsible for the anxieties, worries and tensions that harass people everywhere. It is this ignorance that is at the background of people often projecting their own feelings upon other persons and things and, vice versa, assuming the character of other persons and things in themselves, all which cannot be regarded as a healthy state of mind. The Upanishads make mention of what they call ‘eshanas’, or instinctive cravings, namely, those of wealth, sex and fame, which may be said to correspond to the urges of self-preservation of the physical organism, of self-reproduction and the preservation of the ego, respectively. In the West, Jung, Freud and Adler have exclusively devoted themselves to the study of these primary drives of human nature. It is imperative that students of psychology and seekers on the spiritual path should be well-versed in the diagnosis of these natural urges of the human nature, in order not only to obviate the chances of getting subjugated by them but also to channelise them for a higher and more constructive purpose, as is the case with the rushing waters of the river which can be allowed to damage towns and villages or can be diverted ably for purposes of irrigation and agriculture, and such other useful ends. Human activities are not so impersonal and altruistic as they are made to appear, for a careful study of man reveals that all that he does is an outward manifestation of the needs he feels within due to the very nature of the manner in which his mind and body are made as a complex living organism. Though a person may think that he wills freely of his own choice, he cannot know why he wills at all in that particular way. This would cut the ground from under the feet of human freedom and open the gates to the existence of a Power which seems to be directing even the will of the individual.

The studies in Psycho-analysis are not complete in themselves in spite of the fact that they give the clue to the operation of subtle personal factors behind the vast objective activities of mankind; for, the reason behind the state of affairs which seems to be compelling man to work as well as evaluate things in terms of the direction and colour given by his own instincts, is something subtler and more pervasive than the workings of the instincts themselves. It is unfortunate that the Western psychological studies have not gone beyond what they call Depth-psychology, meaning thereby the psycho-analytic researches heralded by Freud, Adler and Jung, and propounded by their disciples and admirers. It is in the Upanishads and the yoga-Sutras of Patanjali that we have a profound discovery made, pointing out the rationale behind the manner in which the human instincts and urges act in the person as well as in the outer world. Behind Psycho-analysis is Psychology which covers a wider field than that envisaged by the former.

A very succinct and aphoristic maxim on the essentials of General Psychology has been given by Patanjali in the first chapter of his yoga-Sutras, wherein he states that right knowledge, wrong knowledge, doubt, sleep and memory are the ‘non-painful psychoses’ (aklishta-vrittis) of the mind, meaning thereby that these processes of the psychological organ are something unnatural to its essential nature. The nature of human perception is the cause of the way in which the human instincts operate, and what human perception is, is indicated in the aphorism stated above. The point involved here is that affections and emotions, loves, hatreds and all evaluations of life in general are relative to the conditions of one’s consciousness of objects. To take only the first part of this aphoristic enunciation of Patanjali, the process of man’s perception and inferential knowledge of objects is the consequence of a reciprocal action on the part of the subject and the object of knowledge. The instincts and urges, though they may be regarded as the subtle inner causative factors behind most of human actions and dispositions, have thus a still further cause behind them. And this deeper cause is the very structure of the knowledge-process itself. Inasmuch as this knowledge-process is a consequent product of a reciprocity obtaining between the subject and the object, it may be said that there is behind the operation of the urges and instincts of human nature, the power of the whole universe—a reason, perhaps, why the urges appear so involuntary, uncontrollable and impetuous in their functions—for the object of knowledge is nothing but the universe itself. The implication of the suggestion of Patanjali is to be had in greater detail in the vaster researches of the Vedanta philosophy. Patanjali is very short and does not explain what he seeks to indicate. The idea is that the whole mental process in its conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious levels is a complex involvement in the characteristics of both the subject and the object of knowledge, so that the studies in General Psychology extend beyond the mere conscious-operations of the mind. Conditions of loss of consciousness, such as sleep, are also included in these psychological studies. As a matter of fact, even psycho-pathology and parapsychology are not outside the purview of General Psychology in its proper meaning.