Anasakti, the Hindu ideal, and its relationship to well-being and orientations to happiness.

Author: Banth S, Talwar C.
Affiliation: Psychology Department, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
Conference/Journal: J Relig Health.
Date published: 2012 Sep
Other: Volume ID: 51 , Issue ID: 3 , Pages: 934-46 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1007/s10943-010-9402-3 , Word Count: 147



Anasakti, a Sanskrit term for traits like non-attachment, equipoise, selfless duty orientation, and effort in the absence of concern for the outcome, can be regarded as a Hindu-ideal cluster of personality traits. The relationship of Anasakti with well-being and the three distinct happiness orientations was explored through a study of 676 college students and a sample of 65 yogic practitioners in India. The findings revealed that the yogic practitioners were markedly higher in Anasakti than the secular population. For the yogic population, there was a large correlation between Anasakti and the Orientation to Meaningful Life, and it accounted for more than 20% of the variance in the regression of Anasakti against all the measures of well-being. The yogic population's scores also correlated with several other measures of well-being. The scores of the secular population were less strongly related to the well-being scores; though, several correlation coefficients were statistically significant.
PMID: 20953711