Interfaith Quotes

“Awakening to faith is not a one-time event, but a continuously unfolding reality. The journey of faith is not a race, but a marathon of love that each person walks at a different pace.”
― A. Helwa, Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam

“Any person who, with all the sincerity of heart, is in search for God, on land or in the sea, is worthy of respect.”
― Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi, The Religion of God

“Not with intellect, not with faith - to read me you have to think plurally and feel planetary.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Why is it that, for one religion to be true, all other religions have to be false!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Why (Sonnet 2493)

Why is it that, for one religion to be true,
all other religions have to be false!
Why is it that, for one culture to find glory,
all other cultures have to be dehumanized!

Why is it that, for one people to prosper,
another people have to be exploited!
Why is it that, to conceive a brave new nation,
the landmass has to be sterilized of the natives!

Why is it that, for one nation to be strong,
all other citizens have to be tagged as enemy!
Why is it that, for one kind of love to flourish,
love's myriad spectrum gets banished to the closet!

Why is it that, for one community to flourish,
rest of humankind must be choked against the wall!
Why is it that, for the state to come into power,
the citizens must be brainwashed into vegetable!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“To read me you have to think plurally and feel planetary.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“I Don't Have Time to Explain
(Sonnet 2466-2467)

I don't have time to explain basic science,
I don't have time to explain
why vaccines are crucial,
why the earth is not flat.

I don't have time to explain basic theology,
I don't have time to explain why
no religion is truer than another,
and why belief as coping mechanism is okay,
but belief mustn't be confused with truth.

For example, if you wanna talk facts,
most scientific religion is buddhism,
for much of buddhist literature is basic psychology,
sure, all religious meanderings occasionally
align with modern science, but no theology
is more aligned with modern science than buddhism -

likewise, most nonviolent religion is jainism,
to harm even a fly is sin in jainism -
and most charitable religion is sikhism,
nobody goes hungry where there is a sikh langar,
that too without being converted into a sikh.

There are two kinds of divinity in the world,
doctrinal divinity and human divinity -
doctrinal divinity is less holy, more prejudice,
whereas human divinity prioritizes humanity.

There are two kinds of truth in the world,
empirical truth and human truth -
empirical truth is all about facts,
human truth is more than facts -
human truth applies facts wisely among other
instruments to uplift human condition.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Belief matters less where people matter more.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Scientific truth changes with data, spiritual truth changes with era, cultural truth changes with civilization, but to unite, empathize, love and lift across fractures, is the one absolute virtue.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Your dictionaries are too small for my voice, your disciplines are too primitive for my existence.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Insan Chalisa (Excerpt)

Jai Insan, Chetna Sagar;
Jai Vivek, Vidyut Ujagar.
Rise Insan, Ilaaj Ilahi;
Al Hub, Hayat Paygamber.

Ik Onkar, Satnam Shahada;
One Insan Bodhi Vihara.
Born of Ash, Deed Amartya;
Once Ignited, Ashiq Ananta.

Vision Virat, Vajra Avinashi;
Kafir Kareem to Vidyesh Vinashi.
Unbent Akhanda in Realm Divided,
Dervish Divaane, Advaita Ruhani.

Ek Insan, Hoonkar-e Asmaan,
Khalsa in Veins, Noor-e Nadaan;
no togetherness, no tomorrow -
Awake, Arise, O Christly Insan.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“By the time I'm finished with religion, religion would be more allergic to superstition and prejudice than science. By the time I'm finished with science, science would be more service centered than religion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Pluralism is not a polite idealism, pluralism is civilizational emergency.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Wandering the earth as a monk scientist I've understood one thing about converts - people convert to christianity looking for bread, people convert to hinduism looking for answers, people convert to buddhism in search of freedom, people convert to islam in order to heal - it has nothing to do with god, it has nothing to do with truth - every person carries a secret wound, religion we run to is the bandage that fits.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“I am born of dust, and as I'm nearing to be dust again, my tolerance of intolerance has become apocalyptic.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Don't Be The Salt (Sonnet)

Wandering the earth as a monk scientist
I've understood one thing about converts -
people convert to christianity looking for bread,
people convert to hinduism looking for answers,
people convert to buddhism in search of freedom,
people convert to islam in order to heal -

it has nothing to do with god,
it has nothing to do with truth -
every person carries a secret wound,
religion we run to is the bandage that fits.

I am born of dust, and as I'm nearing to be dust again,
my tolerance of intolerance has become apocalyptic.
We are all wounded, looking for a bandaid -
some act like salt, I choose to be ointment.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“I don't think, I roar.
I don't write, I pour.
I don't live, I combust,
so you may outgrow the shore.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“I'm not a citizen of the planet,
I'm the Engine of Earth Society.
I'm bound by no constitution,
I'm the Constitution of Humanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Nazmahal: Palace of Grace

“Divided we are space-racing monkeys, integrated we are Upright Humanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Empathy originated in Mother Africa,
naturalism originated in Latin America,
divine love originated in Arabia,
equilibrium originated in China,
integration originated in India.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“World War Naskar (Sonnet 2699-2700)

You've had generations of ape scholars selling the cannibals of Europe as saviors of the world, now watch one Naskar and his Earth Soldiers bring down your entire industrial complex of conversion, cleansing, and holy cockery, without lifting a single weapon!

By the time I'm finished, descendants of even the staunchest supremacist will be engulfed with tolerance madness - by the time I'm finished, each human with the slightest inclusive spark will be mutated into a full-blown multicultural seismic cataclysm.

You spent centuries manufacturing lies as law, prejudice as policy, cleansing as civilizing, now watch one Naskar and his ablaze soldiers establish the first proper Human Civilization, with no one dominant culture, no one supreme religion, no majority, no minority, no privileged, no marginalized - where all streams inhabit the human veins, not as oil and water, but as one lifeblood, enhancing consciousness into completeness.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“You spent centuries manufacturing lies as law, prejudice as policy, cleansing as civilizing, now watch one Naskar and his ablaze soldiers establish the first proper Human Civilization, with no one dominant culture, no one supreme religion, no majority, no minority, no privileged, no marginalized - where all streams inhabit the human veins, not as oil and water, but as one lifeblood, enhancing consciousness into completeness.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“By the time I'm finished, descendants of even the staunchest supremacist will be engulfed with tolerance madness - by the time I'm finished, each human with the slightest inclusive spark will be mutated into a full-blown multicultural seismic cataclysm.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Empathy originated in Mother Africa, naturalism originated in Latin America, divine love originated in Arabia, equilibrium originated in China, integration originated in India. Pluralism is not a polite idealism, pluralism is civilizational emergency.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Tawhid doesn't mean all other gods are false, tawhid means it's all one god.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“No Other, But One
(Naskaristana 2503)

Some say tawhid,
some say advaita,
some say ubuntu,
some say divinidad.

Tawhid doesn't mean
all other gods are false,
tawhid means it's all one god.

Divinity doesn't mean
mortal must submit to divine,
divinity means mortal and divine are one.

Divinity done properly dissolves the self,
poetry done passionately dissolves the self,
neuroscience done honestly dissolves the self.

Shallow theology fights science,
deep theology becomes it.
Shallow science fights spirituality,
deep science becomes it.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Some say tawhid,
some say advaita,
some say ubuntu,
some say divinidad.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“I am the warfare (A Very Naskar Sonnet, 2698)
My brain is the planet's largest organic
manufacturing plant of multiculturalism,
so don't, I beg you, don't trigger me too much,

because once the hate crosses my threshold,
I won't hate you back, instead, I will inject
your language, your culture into my bloodstream,
and pour out literature at such a vast scale,
that before you know it, your offspring will
be studying my canon as their native heritage -

my human-centric divinity will be their divinity,
my life-centric culture will be their culture,
my service-centric science will be their science,
my earth-centric existence will be their existence.

I am the warfare, and the rewriting of civilization
started decades ago, when I made slave
out of the most tyrant language on earth.
Show me love, I'll respond with a quiet smile -
throw me hate, I'll metabolize it and rewrite your history.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“Your offspring will be studying my canon as their native heritage – my human-centric divinity will be their divinity, my life-centric culture will be their culture, my service-centric science will be their science, my earth-centric existence will be their existence.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“My brain is the planet’s largest organic manufacturing plant of multiculturalism.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock