In a series of original and pathbreaking publications, Jaswant Singh Neki (1925-2015), a leading Indian Sikh scholar and psychiatrist (Sikhnet contributors, 2021; Wikipedia contributors, 2021), proposed the gurū-chelā (master-disciple) relationship to create a new paradigm for the therapeutic relationship, employing an accessible cultural idiom that Indian patients could understand and identify with (Neki, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1992). Contrasting his new Indian paradigm with the Western patient-therapist relationship, Neki explored both similarities and sharp contrasts between Western and Indian cultures. Neki argued (1974) that “both are voluntary associations wherein a master enables a change-seeker to dispel ignorance and the effects of undesirable social conditioning.” Using ideas adapted from Raymond Prince, one of the founders of Social and Cultural Psychiatry at McGill University, the author identifies the “I-centered assumptions” behind Western-based psychotherapy: based on the individual as the focus of therapy, using introspection and insight as key therapeutic methods, with personal independence as the goal of therapy (Di Nicola, 1985a, 1985b, 1997). The gurū-chelā relationship, by contrast, “encourages permanent dependency, since the guru assumes total responsibility for leading the chela toward self-mastery through the disciplines of persistence and silence,” and would be “most suited to cultures valuing self-discipline rather than self-expression, and creative harmony between individual and society” (Neki, 1974; emphasis added). The author will take stock of the impact of Neki’s paradigm in India (Carstairs, 1980; Parkar, et al., 2001; Sethi & Chaturvedi, 1985), in the Indian diaspora (Shridhar, 2008), among Indian trainees in the West and in their return to India (Ananth, 1981; Pande, 1968; Surya, 1966) and in Western psychiatric and psychotherapeutic cultures (Di Nicola, 1985a, 1985b, 1997), concluding with a synthesis of Neki’s gurū-chelā paradigm with contemporary trends in psychotherapy, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis.

1. THE GURŪ-CHELĀ
RELATIONSHIP REVISITED:
A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF INDIAN
PSYCHIATRIST JASWANT SINGH NEKI
Prof. Vincenzo Di Nicola
Founder & President, CASP
President-Elect, WASP
Opening Plenary
WASP Asia-Pacific Hybrid Congress
New Delhi, India – 16 September 2021

2. Vincenzo Di Nicola
MPhil, MD, PhD, FRCPC, DFAPA, FCPA, FCAHS
Professor of Psychiatry
University of Montreal & The George Washington University
Global Mental Health Teaching Faculty
Harvard Medical School
Honorary Chair & Professor of Social Psychiatry
Ambrosiana University

3. Learning Objectives
1. To revisit the contributions of Indian psychiatrist,
Punjabi poet, and Sikh scholar JS Neki to social
psychiatry
2. To contrast and compare Neki’s Indian gurū-chelā
paradigm for psychotherapy with the Western
“I-centred paradigm” of psychotherapy
3. To examine the impact of Neki’s gurū-chelā paradigm
in India and the Indian diaspora and to synthesize it
with contemporary trends in Western societies

4. JS Neki
(1925-2015)

5. Revisiting JS Neki
Jaswant Singh Neki (1925-2015) was a pioneering
Indian psychiatrist, Punjabi poet, and Sikh scholar
He was born on the 27th of August 1925 in the Punjab in
then British India and present-day Pakistan
When he was a young child, his family moved to
Baluchistan, now part of Pakistan
Ref: Wikipedia contributors (2021, June 23). Jaswant Singh Neki. In Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia. Available from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jaswant_Singh_Neki&oldid=1029
961613

6. Revisiting JS Neki
Neki’s scholarship across many disciplines was evident
very early as he earned many merit scholarships from
high school until his qualification as a psychiatrist,
setting achievement records throughout
Ref: Wikipedia contributors (2021, June 23). Jaswant Singh Neki. In Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia. Available from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jaswant_Singh_Neki&oldid=1029
961613

7. Revisiting JS Neki
Neki’s key achievements in psychiatry include:
Prof & Head of Psychiatry – All India Institute of Medical
Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS, 1968-1978)
Director – Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education
and Research, Chandigarh (PGI, 1978-1981)
Consultant for Africa – WHO, Geneva (1981-1985)
Ref: Wikipedia contributors (2021, June 23). Jaswant Singh Neki. In Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia. Available from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jaswant_Singh_Neki&oldid=1029
961613

8. Revisiting JS Neki
The “living legend” of Indian psychiatry, Prof. NN Wig
(1930-2018) recalled Neki as one of the finest
psychiatrists India has produced
Prof. Wig said that Neki was one of those who laid the
foundation of psychiatry in India
Ref: Remembrance: Jaswant Singh Neki. Available from:
https://www.sikhnet.com/news/remembrance-jaswant-singh-neki

9. Revisiting JS Neki
Let us turn now to my interest in Neki as a psychiatrist
and original thinker in psychotherapy
In a series of original and pathbreaking publications,
Neki proposed the gurū-chelā (master-disciple)
relationship to create a new paradigm for the
therapeutic relationship (see References:
Neki, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1992)
Ref: Wikipedia contributors (2021, June 23). Jaswant Singh Neki. In Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia. Available from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jaswant_Singh_Neki&oldid=1029
961613

10. Revisiting JS Neki
Neki’s paradigm for the therapeutic relationship
employed an accessible cultural idiom that Indian
patients could understand and identify with
And this is how it came to my attention in the 1980s
as a young psychiatrist-in-training with Prof. Raymond
Prince, my mentor who was the Director of the Division
of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill
University

11. Revisiting JS Neki
Contrasting his proposed Indian paradigm with
the Western patient-therapist relationship, Neki
explored both similarities and sharp contrasts
between Western and Indian cultures

12. Revisiting JS Neki
Neki (1974) argued that both the gurū-chelā and
the therapist-patient relationships are:
“voluntary associations wherein a master
enables a change-seeker to dispel ignorance
and the effects of undesirable social
conditioning.”
Ref: Neki JS (1974). A reappraisal of the guru-chela relationship as a
therapeutic paradigm. Int Mental Health Research Newsletter, 16(2): 2–7.

13. Revisiting JS Neki
Working with Raymond Prince, we identified three
“I-centered assumptions” behind Western-based
psychotherapy:
the individual as the focus of therapy
introspection and insight as key therapeutic methods
personal independence as the goal of therapy
Ref: Di Nicola VF (1985a, 1985b). Overview: Family therapy and transcultural
psychiatry: An emerging synthesis. I. The conceptual basis. Transcultural
Psychiatric Research Review, 22(2): 81-113; II. Portability and culture change.
Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 22(3): 151- 180.
Di Nicola V (1997). A Stranger in the Family: Culture, Families, and Therapy.
New York and London: W.W. Norton & Co.

14. Revisiting JS Neki
Neki’s gurū-chelā relationship, by contrast,
“encourages permanent dependency, since the
guru assumes total responsibility for leading the
chela toward self-mastery through the
disciplines of persistence and silence”
Ref: Neki JS (1974). A reappraisal of the guru-chela relationship as a
therapeutic paradigm. Int Mental Health Research Newsletter, 16(2): 2–7.

15. Revisiting JS Neki
The gurū-chelā relationship, Neki explained,
would be “most suited to cultures valuing self-
discipline rather than self-expression, and
creative harmony between individual and
society” (Neki, 1974; emphasis added).
Ref: Neki JS (1974). A reappraisal of the guru-chela relationship as a
therapeutic paradigm. Int Mental Health Research Newsletter, 16(2): 2–7.

16. Revisiting JS Neki
Let’s take stock of Neki’s gurū-chelā paradigm in:
1) India
2) the Indian diaspora
3) Western-trained Indians returning to India
4) Western psychiatric and psychotherapeutic
cultures

17. Numerous Indian scholars note Neki’s work positively
(Carstairs, 1980; Parkar et al, 2001; Sethi & Chaturvedi,
1985), but I have not been able to identify any studies
or summary reflections of the use and impact of Neki’s
paradigm in Indian psychiatry and allied professions
Ref: Carstairs M (1980). Developments in psychiatric care in India. Bulletin of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists, 4(10): 146-148.
Parkar SP, Dawani VS, Apte JS (2001). History of psychiatry in India. Journal of
Postgraduate Medicine, 47(1): 73-76.
Sethi BB, Chaturvedi PK (1985). Psychotherapy for the developing world. In: P Pichot,
P Berner, R Wolf, and K Thau, eds., Psychiatry: The State of the Art. Vol. 4:
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine. New York and London: Plenum Press,
pp. 167-175.
1. India

18. The paradigm is clearly based on traditional
aspects of Indian life, including history and
tradition, sociology and religion; and an attempt
to grasp and mobilize a key dynamic of
traditional aspects of Indian society
It may be possible that it is more striking to the
outside observer as a way to understand Indian
traditions than as a formal research paradigm
1. India

19. Paras Shridhar, University of Derby, Doctor of Ministry and Care
Discusses the possibility of the guru-chela (disciple) relation
acting as a model for ‘therapeutic care for the Hindu patient in
diaspora”
Study sample is in “the heart of Hindu England”
“The study investigates the meeting ground for science-based
western psychotherapy and intuition-based spirituality. Both
subjects deal with pastoral care components for their respective
respondents but are diametrically opposed in their approaches.”
Ref: Shridhar P (2008). The Guru-Disciple Relationship in Diaspora.
PhD Dissertation, University of Derby, UK. Available from:
http://hdl.handle.net/10545/559581.
2. The Indian diaspora

20. Paras Shridhar, University of Derby, Doctor of Ministry and Care
The investigator emphasizes the cultural change of the Indian
immigrant to England and the adaptations that are necessary
He raises many interesting questions that parallel Ananth’s
concerns about Indians training abroad and then returning to
India
There are not simple conclusions although the researcher offers
many narrative observations and discussions
He addresses issues of “authenticity” more than “effectiveness”
In experimental terms – validity versus reliability
Ref: Shridhar P (2008). The Guru-Disciple Relationship in Diaspora.
PhD Dissertation, University of Derby, UK. Available from:
http://hdl.handle.net/10545/559581.
2. The Indian diaspora

21. 3. Western-trained Indians returning to India
Implications of Neki’s culturally responsive
model of the therapeutic relationship
Ananth (1981) argues that medicine is a cultural
institution so that “disease and treatment must
be viewed within a cultural context”
Useful to review the cultural problems that
Indian trainees face in Western training and its
impact on their therapeutic and diagnostic skills
Ref: Ananth J (1981). Is Western training relevant to Indian psychiatry?
Indian J Psychiatry, 23(2): 120–127.

22. Implications of Neki’s culturally responsive model of the
therapeutic relationship
Ananth cites the work by Indian psychiatrists looking
into indigenous methods of conceptualizing and
treating mental illness:
JS Neki (1976), SK Pande (1968), and N Surya (1966)
Ref: Neki JS (1976). An examination of the cultural relativism of dependence as a
dynamic of social and therapeutic relationship. British Journal of Medical Psychology,
49: 1–10; 11–22.
Pande, SK (1968) The mystique of “Western” psychotherapy: An Eastern
interpretation. J Nerv Ment Dis, 146(6): 425-432.
Surya, N (1966) Some observations in the field of transcultural psychiatry. Paper read
at the Conference on Mental Health in Asia and the Pacific. Honolulu, HI, USA.
3. Western-trained Indians returning to India

23. Implications of Neki’s culturally responsive model of the
therapeutic relationship
“Self-fulfilment” – The goal of Western psychiatry, Ananth
argues, is to help the patient achieve autonomy and to separate
his or her needs from those of the family
Whereas the goal is the opposite in Indian psychotherapy:
“An Indian is always the ambassador of his family” and “his
achievements, ambitions and aspirations are merely the
reflections of those of his family”
Ref: Ananth J (1981). Is Western training relevant to Indian psychiatry?
Indian J Psychiatry, 23(2): 120–127.
3. Western-trained Indians returning to India

24. First, Neki’s work was taken seriously in the West
across a wide group of professionals – in general
psychiatry (J Ananth), in social and transcultural
psychiatry (R Prince), and in family
psychotherapy (V Di Nicola)
4. Western psychiatry and psychotherapy

25. 4. Western psychiatry and psychotherapy
In my synthesis of social & transcultural psychiatry with
family therapy (Di Nicola, 1985a, 1985b), I looked to
Neki’s paradigm to go beyond cultural sensitivity for a
new way to conceptualize the nature of therapy
This paradigm is Cultural Family Therapy (Di Nicola,
1997)
Ref: Di Nicola VF (1985a, 1985b). Overview: Family therapy and transcultural
psychiatry: An emerging synthesis. I. The conceptual basis. Transcultural
Psychiatric Research Review, 22(2): 81-113; II. Portability and culture change.
Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 22(3): 151- 180.
Di Nicola V (1997). A Stranger in the Family: Culture, Families, and Therapy.
New York and London: W.W. Norton & Co.

27. Revisiting JS Neki
Is a synthesis of Neki’s gurū-chelā paradigm with
contemporary trends in psychotherapy,
psychiatry, and psychoanalysis possible?

28. Conclusions
Is a synthesis possible?
First, a comment. The West in general and notably the
USA has been a laboratory for generating new ideas
However, as Ananth observed, Western society is
dynamic, where we generate ideas and move on to the
next bright idea
Other cultures such as India are more traditional and
stable, Ananth affirmed, encountering new ideas by
working them through, and adapting locally before
deploying them in practice

29. Conclusions
Is a synthesis possible?
My own work in family therapy is a good example
Most of the pioneers in family therapy were in the USA,
even if they were often immigrants, like Sal Minuchin,
but it would be fair to say that in psychiatry, family
therapy is now much less practiced than in say, Italy and
Brazil, to mention two countries where I am active
As a social and cultural comment, it’s very interesting
that the countries where family therapy is most active –
including among psychiatrists – are “Latin” countries –
Italy, Portugal and Spain and in South America

30. Conclusions
JS Neki represents the brilliant foundational generation of Indian
psychiatry, along with NN Wig and others
With deep roots in the social and cultural traditions of his family,
his Punjabi language and region, and his Sikh religion, Neki was
able to integrate Western psychiatry into Indian society
At the same time, he had the courage to not become an epigone
of Western masters, forging instead a proper Indian psychiatry
and looking to Indian society as a model for the therapeutic
relationship – gurū-chelā
That is the lasting legacy and impact of JS Neki – psychiatrist,
poet, and Sikh scholar – a gift from India to the world

32. JS Neki – Punjabi metaphysical poet
The impatience of people yearning for shore, one way,
The will of the restless waves pointing the other way
To which side the boat will glide?
Whichever shore, wave ‘consents’ to meet
Whichever shore the ‘unchecked’ winds greet
is the way, the boat will sway
– JS Neki, extract from a Punjabi metaphysical poem
(Translated from the Punjabi by Dr. Raman Deep)

33. Acknowledgments
Rakesh K. Chadda, MBBS, MD, FAMS, FRCPsych, DFAPA
Organizing Chair, Asia-Pacific Congress
Secretary-General, WASP
Professor & Head, Department of Psychiatry
Chief, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, All India
Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi
Raman Deep, MD
Additional Professor, Department of Psychiatry
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi
Turku, Finland

34. References
Ananth J (1981). Is Western training relevant to Indian
psychiatry?. Indian J Psychiatry, 23(2): 120–127.
Carstairs M (1980). Developments in psychiatric care in India.
Bulletin of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 4(10): 146-148.
Di Nicola VF (1985a). Overview: Family therapy and transcultural
psychiatry: An emerging synthesis. I. The conceptual basis.
Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 22(2): 81-113.
Di Nicola VF (1985b). Overview: Family therapy and transcultural
psychiatry: An emerging synthesis. II. Portability and culture
change. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 22(3):
151- 180.

35. References
Di Nicola V (1997). A Stranger in the Family: Culture, Families, and
Therapy. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Co.
Di Nicola V (2011). Letters to a Young Therapist: Relational
Practices for the Coming Community. New York: Atropos Press.
Manickam LSS (2010). Psychotherapy in India. Indian J Psychiatry,
52: S366-70.
Neki JS (1973). Gurū-Chelā relationship: The possibility of a
therapeutic paradigm. Am J Orthopsychiatry, 43(5): 755-766.
Neki JS (1974). A reappraisal of the guru-chela relationship as a
therapeutic paradigm. International Mental Health Research
Newsletter, 16(2): 2–7.

36. References
Neki JS (1975). Psychotherapy in India: Past, present and future.
Am J Psychotherapy, 29(1): 92.
Neki JS (1976). An examination of the cultural relativism of
dependence as a dynamic of social and therapeutic relationship.
British Journal of Medical Psychology, 49: 1–10; 11–22.
Neki JS (1977). Psychotherapy in India. Indian J Psychiatry, 19(2): 1-
10.
Neki JS (1978) Search for paradigms of psychotherapy relevant to
non-Western changing societies. Paper read at Annual Congress of
the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists,
Singapore.

37. References
Neki JS (1992). Editorial: Confidentiality, secrecy and privacy in
psychotherapy: Sociodynamic considerations. Indian J Psychiatry,
34: 171-3.
Parkar SP, Dawani VS, Apte JS (2001). History of psychiatry in India.
Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, 47(1): 73-76.
Pande, SK (1968) The mystique of “Western” psychotherapy: An
Eastern interpretation. J Nerv Ment Dis, 146(6): 425-432.
Sethi BB, Chaturvedi PK (1985). Psychotherapy for the developing
world. In: P Pichot, P Berner, R Wolf, and K Thau, eds., Psychiatry:
The State of the Art. Vol. 4: Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic
Medicine. New York and London: Plenum Press, pp. 167-175.

38. References
Shridhar P (2008). The Guru-Disciple Relationship in Diaspora. PhD
Dissertation, University of Derby, UK. Available from:
http://hdl.handle.net/10545/559581.
Sikhnet contributors (2021, September 1). Remembrance: Jaswant
Singh Neki. Available from:
https://www.sikhnet.com/news/remembrance-jaswant-singh-neki
Surya, N (1966) Some observations in the field of transcultural
psychiatry. Paper read at the Conference on Mental Health in Asia
and the Pacific. Honolulu, HI, USA.
Wikipedia contributors (2021, June 23). Jaswant Singh Neki. In
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jaswant_Singh_Neki&ol
did=1029961613

39. Questions
&
Comments