ABSTRACT
This chapter relates the Sigmund Freud's model of the unconscious with that of Hindu philosophy. Hindu philosophers' view is meditative and metaphysical. Both the Hindu and Freudian models deny the presence of negation in the unconscious. Freudian concepts are psychological and clinical, but not metaphysical or spiritual. Hindu philosophers, in contrast, approach the study of human experience from a transcendental perspective, which is anchored in spiritualism. For the Hindu philosopher, there are two consciousnesses: that of paramatma and that of jeevatma. The censorship between the conscious and preconscious is more permeable than between preconscious and unconscious. According to Freud the nucleus of the unconscious consists of wishful impulses. He writes, Unconscious processes pay just as little regard to reality. The unconscious in the Hindu model of the mind regards Vasanas as providing the basis for the concept of reincarnation—the cycle of birth and rebirth in Hindu thought.
