{"id":2586,"date":"2025-05-13T14:10:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T14:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/?page_id=2586"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:45:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:45:28","slug":"biography-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/?page_id=2586","title":{"rendered":"biography-2"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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PATH OF LIFE AND THOUGHT<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A Multicultural and Multireligious Origin. From Barcelona to Rome, via Bonn, Madrid and Salamanca (1918-1954)<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Raimon Panikkar i Alemany was born on November 3rd, 1918 in in the borough of Sarri\u00e0 in Barcelona. His origins, however, are unusual in that his mother was Catalan and Catholic (Carme Alemany, \u20201975), from an important bourgeois family, and his father was Indian and Hindu (Ramuni Panikkar, \u20201954), a Malabar of aristocratic origin and British nationality, who settled as a businessman in Barcelona in 1916 (Spain was neutral during the First World War) and lived there until the end of his life. They had four children (Raimon, Josep Maria, Merc\u00e9 and Salvador). Raimon has often said how much he owes to his family roots. \u201cThere was a profound harmony between my father and my mother, in spite of belonging to two different traditions\u201d.<\/p>

From an early age, Panikkar tried to bring together his multicultural origins with his deep religious and metaphysical leanings: \u201cI don\u2019t see myself as half Spanish and half Indian, half Catholic and half Hindu, but fully Western and fully Eastern\u201d. \u201cI\u2019ve always been someone concerned about what is usually called the religious problem.\u201d<\/p>

Panikkar attended school with the Jesuits in Barcelona, receiving an \u201cExtraordinary Award\u201d when he completed high school (1935). During 1936-1942 he was a university student of both Science and Humanities. His desire to integrate the whole of reality was already implicit in the early steps of Panikkar\u2019s intellectual journey. This calling led him to take graduate studies in Science, Philosophy and Theology in a number of universities in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid), Germany (Bonn) and Italy (Lateran University, Roma).<\/p>

The Spanish Civil War put his family at risk. He left for Germany, where he spent three years studying Physics, Mathematics, Philosophy and Theology. He returned to Spain in the summer of 1939, planning to go back to Germany to get his degree, but the outbreak of the Second World War prevented his return. Panikkar completed his degrees in Spain, obtaining a MSc from Barcelona University (1941) and a MPhil from Madrid University (1942).<\/p>

In Barcelona he undertook further studies and worked in the family business. He returned to Madrid and obtained his Doctorate in Philosophy in 1946 with a dissertation on The Concept of Nature, which was awarded the Premio Men\u00e9ndez Pelayo and became his first book (El concepto de Naturaleza,<\/em> 1951). Panikkar writes in the Introduction: \u201cConcerned about the theological problem of what is beyond nature as metaphysical substratum of an integral anthropology that would explain the specific and personal man, the real and historical Christian, I had to deal first with the metaphysical problem of nature\u201d.<\/p>

In 1940 Panikkar joined a group of laymen (later to become the Opus Dei) who were striving to achieve a full Christian life within their professional work. Raimon Panikkar met Escriv\u00e1 de Balaguer, its founder, shortly after having returned from Germany, and they established a close relationship. For the next for twenty years Panikkar was a numerary member of this Roman Catholic organization, first in Barcelona and then in Madrid. In 1945 Escriv\u00e1 de Balaguer himself suggested that Panikkar become a priest; Panikkar was ordained the same year of his Philosophy doctorate (1946) and became a chaplain at the Colegio Major la Moncloa, working actively with both priests and laypeople. After he left Opus Dei, Panikkar was incardinated into the Indian diocese of Varanasi.<\/p>

Panikkar was never very keen to speak about his relationship with Opus Dei. The only time he made a public statement was in Alberto Moncada\u2019s book Historia oral del Opus Dei (Barcelona 1987), where he says he did not join Opus Dei as one joins \u201ca club\u201d, but as a Church organization. Before this we only have a brief remark in his autobiographical book Cometas: \u201cI do not repent of that period of my life\u2026 life\u2019s line is neither straight nor zigzag\u201d.<\/p>

In Madrid he formed close ties with well-known philosophy professors such as La\u00edn Entralgo, Garc\u00eda Morente and Xabier Zubiri. They offered Panikkar a Chair in Philosophy at Madrid University, but Escriv\u00e1 de Balaguer did not approve as he wanted Panikkar\u2019s exclusive pastoral dedication. Panikkar lived in Madrid until 1950; during these years he taught Philosophy of History and Psychology at the University, and Comparative Cultures at the Seminario Diocesano and Religious Sociology at the Instituto de Ciencias Sociales Le\u00f3n XIII, and was also Guest Lecturer at a number of universities, including Universidad Internacional de Santander and Universidad Hispanoamericana de la R\u00e1bida.<\/p>

In these years Panikkar was also Secretary General of the Philosophy Congress of Barcelona (1948), and first secretary of the Sociedad Espa\u00f1ola de Filosof\u00eda. From 1942 onwards he was a member of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient\u00edficas and the Instituto de Filosof\u00eda Luis Vives, and was one of the promoters of the journal S\u00edntesis (1943), later to become Arbor, which was cofounded by Panikkar and has been published since 1944.<\/p>

At this time, Panikkar had already begun to write profusely. Part of these writings would remain unpublished (Praxis cristiana de la inteligencia, Mysterium Crucis, Introducci\u00f3n a la esperanza, etc.) while others were brought to light in a number of journals and in his early books. Panikkar often published in Arbor and other journals in Spain (e.g. Revista de Filosof\u00eda, Nuestro Tiempo, Indice, Atl\u00e1ntida, La Actualidad Espa\u00f1ola), Latin America (Sapientia, Revista de Teolog\u00eda de La Plata), France (La Table Ronde), Italy (Studi Cattolici), Germany (Wort und Wahrheit, Politeia, Dokumente, Neues Abendland), and so on. He was the first director of the \u201cColecci\u00f3n Patmos\u201d in the Rialp publishing house, where he published some of his first books: La India. Gente, cultura y creencias<\/em>\u00a0(1960), awarded with the Spanish Premio Nacional de Literatura;\u00a0Patriotismo y cristiandad. Una investigaci\u00f3n teol\u00f3gico-hist\u00f3rica sobre el patriotismo cristiano<\/em>\u00a0(1961) and\u00a0Humanismo y cruz<\/em> (1963). He caused a stir among the high ranks of the Spanish Church with his Foreword to J. Guitton\u2019s book La Virgen Mar\u00eda (1952), published in the Colecci\u00f3n Patmos.
Also in these years Panikkar wrote a very personal book (published many years later) reflecting his experience before moving to India: Cometas. Fragmentos de un diario espiritual de la postguerra\u00a0<\/em>(Madrid 1972).<\/p>

After three years in Salamanca, in late 1953 Panikkar moved to Rome and stayed there for one year in order to complete his theological studies. Besides his studies at the Lateran University (Master in Theology in 1954), Panikkar was conciliar of a Collegio Maggiore, a position that put him in touch with Rome\u2019s intellectual, philosophical and theological environment.<\/p>


<\/strong>\u2981<\/b> <\/span>Raimon Panikkar\u2019s Fourfold Identity >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>

\u2981\u00a0<\/b>A Multicultural and Multireligious Origin. From Barcelona to Rome, via Bonn, Madrid and Salamanca (1918-1954)<\/span><\/p>

\u2981<\/b><\/span> India. Christian-Hindu-Buddhist symbiosis. Meeting Monchanin and Le Saux (1955-1966) >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>

\u2981 <\/b><\/span>University teaching in California (1966-1987) >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>

\u2981 <\/b><\/span><\/strong>The return to his Catalan roots to complete his vital cycle >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>

\u2981<\/b><\/span> Raimon Panikkar: Writing as a Life-style >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>

\u2981<\/b><\/span> Several Panikkars or a continuity within diversity? >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>

\u2981<\/b><\/span> Panikkar as a Lecturer >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>

\u2981<\/b><\/span> <\/strong>The return to the Source >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>

\u2981<\/b><\/span> <\/strong>The intellectual legacy >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PATH OF LIFE AND THOUGHT A Multicultural and Multireligious Origin. From Barcelona to Rome, via Bonn, Madrid and Salamanca (1918-1954) Raimon Panikkar i Alemany was born on November 3rd, 1918 in in the borough of Sarri\u00e0 in Barcelona. His origins, however, are unusual in that his mother was Catalan and Catholic (Carme Alemany, \u20201975), from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2586","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2586"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5170,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2586\/revisions\/5170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}