Lanza del Vasto

Lanza del Vasto, (Giuseppe Giovanni Luigi Enrico Lanza di Trabia), (September 29 1901 – January 5 1981) was a philosopher, poet, artist, and nonviolent activist.

Meeting Gandhi

In December 1936, Lanza went to India, joining the movement for Indian independence led by Gandhi. He knew of Gandhi through a book by Romain Rolland. He spent six months with the Mahatma, then in June 1937, went to the source of the Ganges river in the Himalayas, a famous pilgrimage site. There he saw a vision who told him "Go back and found!"

Related Topics:
1936 - Gandhi - Romain Rolland - Mahatma - 1937 - Ganges - Himalayas

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He left then India and went back to Europe. In 1938, he went to Palestine, then in the midst of civil war, to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, "between two lines of tanks".

Related Topics:
Palestine - Jerusalem - Bethlehem

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He come back to Paris at the time when the Second World War started. He wrote some poetry books and in 1943 he published the story of his trip to India, Return to the Sources, which became a huge success.

Related Topics:
Second World War - Return to the Sources

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