CHENNAI:The world is divided into two major groups as far as existence of soul is concerned, one of these consists people who believe in the existence of the soul — called religious people — and the other consists people who do not believe in its existence — called non-religious people. True knowledge of soul is not a matter of superficial importance nor is it to be left to some philosophers or religious scholars to discuss. However, it’d be incomplete if we do not touch upon views of a well known psychologist on soul or consciousness.
He did not believe in the existence of soul as an entity, different from the body and the brain. He considered ‘The Unconscious’ as comprising mainly of the repressed desires which manifest themselves in dreams and find expression in the form of neurotic habits and phobias. He called this as ID (or instincts and drive) and said that man’s desires were so censored by his super-ego and those desires which were considered as not conforming to social norms or to accepted ethical standards were repressed. On the other hand, religious people of India have, since ancient times, been believing in sanskaras which are to some extent, like ‘The Unconscious’ of Freud’s Theory. These do not form the content of ‘The Conscious’ because man is normally not aware of them or their sources even though his personality and behaviour, at all times, is influenced by the sanskaras that he possesses.
His sanskaras do not leave him even in his dreams or his spiritual efforts. In fact, these are so intimately related with man’s peace and war or good and bad personality that it would be meaningless to talk of world peace or a social, political or cultural change without talking of and planning and working for a change in the man’s sanskaras.
Remember! without the knowledge of ‘The Unconscious’, all the inventions of science and technology will not make the world peaceful though they may make it comfortable. All the scholarship, erudition, religious rituals and mantras will also not help man be in peace unless there is a change for the better in man’s sanskaras. And that is why we must strongly work towards changing our sanskaras if we want to have a good and better sansaar.