Raimon Panikkar, born in Barcelona, was the son of a Spanish mother, a Roman Catholic, and a Hindu father from India. Thus, the call to reconcile differing cultures and religions was seemingly inscribed in his genetic makeup. He earned separate doctorates in philosophy, theology, and chemistry, and in 1946 he was ordained a Catholic priest. Yet it was his first trip to India, in 1954, that proved a decisive turning point. There he met with pioneers of interreligious dialogue, like Bede Griffiths and Swami Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux), as well as sages and holy men of the East. As he later wrote, “I left Europe [for India] as a Christian, I discovered I was a Hindu and returned as a Buddhist without ever having ceased to be Christian.” In The Unknown Christ of Hinduism, he inquired into the possibility of understanding Christian themes like the Incarnation, the Trinity, and salvation in terms of Hindu philosophy. In many other books, he elaborated on the “cosmotheandric principle”—the interplay between God, humanity, and the cosmos that runs through all religions.
Panikkar’s interreligious explorations did not diminish his Christian identity, he said; they enabled him better to grasp and verify the truth of Christ that is everywhere, inscribed in the nature of reality as well as other religious paths. In Tavertet in Catalonia he established a center for intercultural studies. There he died on August 26, 2010.
“If the church wishes to live, it should not be afraid of assimilating elements that come from other religious traditions, whose existence it can today no longer ignore.” —Raimon Panikkar
