Mysticism and Spirituality

When Panikkar died at the age of 92 near his birth-place in Barcelona, the world lost not only an unusually prolific writer but an impressive, saintly figure as well. Born from a Catalonian Catholic mother and a Hindu father from South-India, he had been educated by Jesuit priests whose order, Society of Jesus (S.J.), he joined after obtaining doctorates in chemistry, philosophy, and Catholic theology, having studied in Barcelona, Bonn (Germany) and Madrid. He became priest in 1946 but continued to study Indian philosophy and Hinduism in Mysore and Benares. This convinced him that the great religious problems today all wear a political face: hunger, peace, freedom, justice and human dignity (p. 188). For him fuga mundi, fleeing the world, cannot be the approach of modern monks (pp. 198, 202). Their approach should instead be becoming totally free from the ‘ties of desire’ (p. 239). Monks therefore should not worry about being ‘Apollonian models of beauty, Socratic examples of wisdom, Renaissance paradigms of global knowledge, or Olympic athletes of physical prowess,’ (p. 189) because monks are neither priests, nor scientists nor artists. Rather they seek unqualified holiness (p. 189). In fact, while ‘intellectuals experiment with ideas, monks experiment with their lives’ (p. 226).