He looks like the stereotypical image of a hermit, but Raimon Panikkar is not that easy to pigeonhole. He is both Hindu and Christian, philosopher and mystic, scientist and priest, Indian and Spaniard. Hardly surprising, Panikkar firmly believes in the importance of cultural and religious differences – but also in peace and acceptance.
bq. Panikkar, who was born in Barcelona in 1918 to a Spanish mother and an Indian father, has been associated with universities on almost every continent in the world. He has written about 300 articles and more than 50 books on a wide range of subjects, including Indian culture, metaphysics, interreligious cooperation, philosophy and mysticism. Panikkar studied and worked in Rome, San Francisco and Varanasi, India, before settling down permanently in his isolated Catalonian mountain village some years ago.