Unknown Pilgrims

SR No.: 007014
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N Shanta
Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications Delhi
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 820
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 43

Author's Preface
23
Addition to the French edition
Inspiration came to me to undertake this study from the thought of R. Panikkar on the subject of the Encounter of Religions. This inspiration which guided me both during long years of close collaboration in the production of his works and throughout my research for this present study, is clearly expressed in one of his own writings:
Myths, symbols, intuitions, presentiments, basic thoughtpattems, spontaneous convictions, important factors all of them which need to be taken into account in one's attempt to evaluate fairly a religion in its entirety... In order to come close to a religious phenomenon which was unknown to one until then, a certain faith is necessary. From the methodological point of view it is necessary to recognise that each and every religious assessment (which is in any case a matter of faith) cannot possibly be "understood" without a corresponding faith. Nowadays the science of religions assumes that it is impossible from the outside to understand the whole complexity of a belief hitherto unknown. The ruling principles of the natural sciences are recognised as being inapplicable to spiritual sciences The subjectivity of the seeker is bound to intrude in this way, namely, that their aim and object, in order to be properly understood, demands a certain sympathy, a certain affinity, This is all the more true if there is a question of penetrating within a religion which is not that of the seeker. It is only a deep assimilation into the heart, an identification with the religious phenomenon in question, that will succeed in doing so.
Anniversary of the Independence of India August 15th, 1995, Kodaikkanal.
2 Panikkar, 1970, pp. 119-120.