IKS in Dialogue with Modern Psychology

Abstract

The study examines how Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) and modern psychology can be placed in a productive dialogue about cognition, emotion, meaning, and human development. It treats this dialogue as more than a comparison of concepts by highlighting differences in starting assumptions, methods of verification, and aims of psychological knowledge. The aims to clarify where IKS and contemporary psychological approaches converge, where they diverge, and how their interaction can enlarge models of attention, perception, memory, self regulation, and well being. A structured comparative analysis is applied. Key constructs from Indian epistemology and contemplative psychology are mapped to central domains of cognitive, humanistic, positive, and transpersonal psychology. The analysis integrates conceptual clarification, thematic synthesis, and critical evaluation of how each tradition defines error, learning, and transformation. The study shows that both frameworks portray the mind as active and interpretive rather than passive. Modern psychology tends to prioritize measurement, prediction, and intervention, while IKS embeds cognition in ethical cultivation and long term transformation of consciousness. The discussion indicates convergences around attentional training, metacognitive awareness, emotion regulation, and resilience, alongside divergences in the status of introspection, the moral framing of knowledge, and the ultimate purpose of psychological growth. The synthesis suggests that IKS contributes a normative and experiential dimension that can complement mechanistic accounts, while modern psychology contributes operational precision that can strengthen integrative models. Future work should develop shared vocabularies for key constructs, design culturally sensitive assessment tools, and test integrative interventions that combine ethical practice, contemplative training, and evidence based therapeutic methods across diverse populations.