The Concept of Krishna In Indian Psyche: A Study In The Light of Jung’s Collective Unconsciousness

The very utterance of the word Krishna’ sparks the psyche of the people who belong to the culture with the conscience of Krishna ideology. The term ‘Krishna’, in this context, refers to the character found in the Indian epic the Mahabharata depicted as one who turns out to be the driving force for winning the battle of righteousness over evil. The psychological construct of ‘Krishna’ holds the embodiment of an oriented archetype that runs through the veins of the people concerned. The paper will focus on how Carl Jung’s idea of ‘collective unconsciousness’ lays the foundation for the growth of individual conscience with the backdrop of psychic association to the concept of Krishna. Krishna is the guiding spirit to lead a mentally healthy life. The identification of Krishna as a deity is worshipped as the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu in India. This incarnation of Vishnu is more humanized than other incarnations. So, the association of Krishna in the collective psyche paves the way enroute an orientation towards a social order. As far as the question of Indian context is concerned Krishna is found to have rooted in the Indian psyche in two periods of his life time viz. the childhood and the adulthood of Krishna. The construct of ‘adult Krishna’ in the Indian mindset represents a collective manifestation and thereby generating an unconscious effort to internalize ‘the sixth sense’ which is considered to be the self-mentoring spirit for every individual. The study will be conducted with the available secondary information collected from the text where Krishna as a character is found to have engaged in discourse with argument for the journey towards righteousness in establishing a balanced psychic order.