Alfred Sorensen

Alfred Julius Emmanuel Sorensen (October 27, 1890 – August 13, 1984), also known as Sunyata, Shunya, or Sunyabhai, was a Danish mystic, horticulturist and writer who lived in Europe, India and the US.

[2] In the 1929, while working at Dartington Hall, near Totnes, Devon Sorensen met Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian Nobel Laureate poet.

[3] The two shared conversation and Sorensen introduced Tagore to gramophone recordings of Beethoven's Late Quartets, the poet then invited him to his newly created university, Shantiniketan in Bengal to 'teach silence'.

When Sorensen returned to India he started wearing Indian clothing, a style of dress he would continue for the rest of his life.

It was while staying with the Nehru family that one of their friends offered Sorensen a piece of land where he could live: Crank's Ridge, near Almora.

India's rich spiritual heritage provided a perfect environment for Sorensen's natural mystical attitude.

During his first stay in the country Sorensen had been initiated into Dhyāna Buddhism, but it was Ramana Maharshi who was to provide the biggest influence on his spiritual life.

Although Sorensen, or Sunyata, as he came to be known for the last forty four years of his life, kept his Almora hut as his base he would continue to travel around India visiting friends and ashrams, especially during the cold, Himalayan winter months.

While in America Sunyata held weekly meetings at Alan Watts' houseboat SS Vallejo, where he would answer questions from visitors.