Authors: Dr. Madhavi Godbole, Dr. Sagar S Vidwans, Ananya Shastry

Students’ Handbook of Indian Mind Sciences is a series of books about perspectives on human nature and experience as elucidated by the Indian tradition of knowledge. Foundations of Indian Mind Sciences is the first installment in this series.
- The book outlines the philosophical backgrounds of western and eastern perspectives on human nature, evolutions of these concepts and the techniques of study
- It provides an overview of the Indian textual tradition
- The book lays down the fundamental concepts about human experience and purpose as explained by Ancient Indian Thought.

"Our discussion on methods of knowing in western psychology reflects the assumption underlying the empirical methodologies of science – knowledge is validated through systematic measurement and testing. As we have seen, this requires that there must be something measurable, or material. All seemingly non-material things such as thought, and emotion are defined and measured by their antecedents and consequences. However, such a statement requires accepting that without the material, these non-material processes would not exist. It is at this point that we run into a host of problems. Firstly, can mind and consciousness be reduced to only an inference? If not, and if they truly exist as a result of brain activity or other bodily processes, how is that a material entity is giving rise to something non-material such as the mind? This is a question that yet needs to be answered. If the material is capable of creating something non-material, why is it that all material items do not exhibit non-material qualities? Finally, if the material is what constitutes the non-material, does everything follow the laws that govern the physical world? If so, how does this explain human purpose, will, morality and other attributes that characterise humans?" - The Need for Indian Mind Sciences, Chapter 2 

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