Multicultural Poet Quotes

“I switch cultures like clothes,
I switch sciences like pens.
I switch scriptures like tides,
I switch languages like seasons.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Selam-e-Sapiens (Shattered Seer Sonnet)

Sometimes I'm battered vagabond,
Sometimes I'm shattered seer.
No claim to name, fame or reign,
Lovedrunk I write borracha poesía.

Sometimes I'm mest-i-mevlana,
Sometimes I'm my own Shams.
Sometimes I'm dastan-e-dervish,
Sometimes I'm selam-e-sapiens.

I am no brahmin,
I am the Godfather of brahmins;
I am Parabrahma, the Brahmins worship.
I am Adi, I am Anth, I am Ananth Adishakti.

Leave your creed, crown and
constitution, when you enter my door.
I am but a human if you are human,
if you're sectarian, I'm messiah galore.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iman Insaniyat, Mazhab Muhabbat: Pani, Agua, Water, It's All One

“I am Multiculturalism (The Sonnet)

I don't write on multiculturalism,
I am multiculturalism.
The only nationalism I care about,
is tribalism ending multinationalism.

I can't do it no more - I can't!
One little language is enough no more!
I gotta be the Himalayas in every language,
I gotta be the Himalayas in every culture.

Either you'll know me as a national hero
of every nation, or you won't know me at all.
So long as a single human calls me foreigner,
I'll conclude, I've achieved nothing at all.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“I don't write on multiculturalism,
I am multiculturalism.
The only nationalism I care about,
is tribalism ending multinationalism.

Either you'll know me as a national hero
of every nation, or you won't know me at all.
So long as a single human calls me foreigner,
I'll conclude, I've achieved nothing at all.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“The biggest requirement of learning is to know your limits of the moment. Let me elaborate with an example. Alongside my mainstream works, I have wanted to create complete works in turkish and spanish for several years. And few years back, with my rather limited experiential understanding of both languages, I even took it upon myself to do so, but I got stuck on the very first page. Why? Because it is one thing to pen occasional gems in another language, and totally different to release an entire work in that language. I was ready at heart, but not at brain. So, instead of writing whole works in these languages, I simply made turkish and spanish a joyful addition to my mainstream work - however the original linguistic and cultural intention kept reflecting in the titles of works, such as Aşkanjali, The Gentalist, Gente Mente Adelante, Mucize Insan and so on. It was not until late 2023 that my brain finally caught up with my heart, and delivered the first complete original turkish and spanish Naskarean works to the world.

Know your strongholds, they'll take you far. Know your shortfalls, they'll take you farther. Strongholds help you enhance your predominant capacities, whereas shortfalls help you unfold new possibilities - they help you unfold new vistas of human endeavor.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Once you wake up to the vastness of the world, it is impossible to revert to the tribal lane.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Only a multicultural polyglot,
who has wiped out borders from heart,
rising above both intellect and faith,
can sense the immenseness of my work.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Language is magic,
I wield that magic in my breath.
My brain is a symphony of portals,
each transcending past exclusivity,
into distinct linguocultural awareness.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Language is magic, culture is magic,
I wield that magic in my breath.
My brain is a symphony of portals,
Each transcending past exclusivity,
into distinct linguocultural awareness.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“I don't need to write in all these languages of the world - those who care, will find a way. I write in more than one language because I want to. I want to leave at least something extremely personal for every culture in the world - that is, for as many cultures as I humanly can.

However in the end, the universal spirit of love, light and oneness transcends language and culture, and finds a home in the heart of every conscientious human being - and that's what counts. It's the bridge that counts, not the shape it comes in.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“I don't need to write in all these languages of the world - those who care, will find a way. I write in more than one language because I want to. I want to leave at least something extremely personal for every culture in the world - that is, for as many cultures as I humanly can.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“When I crossed the hundred books mark, I genuinely thought, "I'm done". But something happened! I don't know why, but my drive towards other languages became stronger than ever. I felt, now is the time to make parts of my legacy more accessible to other languages. I have never relied on anyone in my life for the realization of my legacy, so it was obvious that I was not gonna wait for somebody else to translate my works for me. Besides, when somebody else translates an original literature into another language, it always remains a translation - it can never become an original literature of that language and culture. This I absolutely did not want.

Sure, other than Turkish and Spanish, I have difficulty with other languages - that is, I am not at all fluent in them. But the point is, once I feel the language and culture in my veins, I can deliver my ideas in any language I want. And I've been doing exactly that over the years - absorbing as many cultures and languages into my bloodstream as I can that is. If you tear my heart open, you can find every single culture in the world, caringly placed and nurtured. Some call it gift, I call it intention.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Once I feel the language and culture in my veins, I can deliver my ideas in any language I want. I can write in any language, because I want to. And no, I don't use some fancy AI tools. In fact, I have an uncompromising principle against the use of AI in literature. Heck, I opted not to use something so trivial as an image containing yours truly with a mace, as cover image of "Bulletproof Backbone", because it collided with the book's anti-weaponry vision - so you can imagine my stance on fraudulent material generated by AI!

What I do use, while writing in other languages, is old-fashioned dictionary - online dictionary that is, to fix things like spelling, missing vocabulary and other broken bits - which makes me a broken polyglot. And believe you me, broken polyglots are potent polyglots. I may not be fluent in a lot of languages, but after I am long gone, each of these languages and cultures will have something distinctly personal left by me to call their own.

For example, I may not speak fluent German, yet if I write even one page in the German language, it'll forever become an indelible part of the German culture. It'll not be some off-key German translation of an original Naskar, rather it'll be a German literature from the vast Naskarean oeuvre.

Sure, I know my limits in each of these languages, that's why I keep my sentence structure simple, which I am not compelled to do in Turkish and Spanish. But more than my limits, I am aware of my limitlessness. And once the being transcends the limits of language, culture, border and tradition, puny apparatus like intellect is bound to follow.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Broken polyglots are potent polyglots.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Plenticultural (Sonnet 1434)

When I get mad, I revert to English,
because English is my first language.
When I feel romantic, I revert to Turkish,
because Turkish is my love language.

When I feel passionate, I revert to Spanish,
because Spanish is my passion language.
When I feel electric, I revert to Telugu,
because Telugu is my power language.

When nothing works, I revert to Korean,
because Korean is my backup language.
And you wonder why I never run empty,
why the natural spring is ever abundant!

Language is the gateway to culture,
Culture is the gateway to life.
I am no person who speaks many tongues,
I am the proof of plenticultural life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Language is the gateway to culture,
Culture is the gateway to life.
I am no person who speaks many tongues,
I am the proof of plenticultural life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“My legacy does not represent the achievement of any one culture, my legacy represents the capacity of the entire humankind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“My life is a repository of what is possible if you put your petty tribalisms aside.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Even after speaking six languages, I say, the supreme language is love.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“My existence is testament to assimilation, proof of the wonders beyond exclusivity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Humanitarian Dictator

“I’m sorry, I cannot live a single cultural, single lingual, single scriptural existence. I want all the cultures and languages, I want all the scriptures and sciences.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Little Planet on The Prairie: Dunya Benim, Sorumluluk Benim

“The Good Conqueror (Sonnet)

Born in the land of multiculturalism,
I grew up speaking three languages,
mother tongue, national tongue and English.

Then in my late teens I acquired
my fourth tongue Telugu on a whim,
and later along the years,
I acquired my fifth, Turkish, which
became my dearest, and my sixth,
yet to be perfected, Spanish.

That's the only conquest I care about,
for language is the highway to culture.
Not real estate, gadgets or cash,
give me languages, give me cultures.

English is my work language,
Turkish is my love language.
Science is my brain language,
Integration, my heart language.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood

“Born in the land of multiculturalism, I grew up speaking three languages, mother tongue, national tongue and English. Then in my late teens I acquired my fourth tongue Telugu on a whim, and later along the years, I acquired my fifth, Turkish, which became my dearest, and my sixth, yet to be perfected, Spanish. That's the only conquest I care about, for language is the highway to culture. Not real estate, gadgets or cash, give me languages, give me cultures.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood

“Every corner of earth
has added to my flight,
erase any one community,
and you diminish my light.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood

“I don't write on multiculturalism, I am multiculturalism, I'm the living specimen of a multicultural human from the future. Today I may be the anomaly, but tomorrow people like me will be the norm, and cultural exclusivity will be a deranged fringe practice, like witchcraft is today.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience

“I have no mother-language, every mother is my mother, every language, my language.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience

“Öncelikle ben insan,
iyilik benim iman;
mundo mi monasterio,
annihilation my azan.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Sonnet Shahada, 2345

I switch cultures like clothes,
I switch sciences like pens.
I switch scriptures like tides,
I switch languages like seasons.

Service of humanity is supreme shahada,
to defend the persecuted is cosmic khalsa,
to treat neighbor as god is real dharma,
quiet kindness is the real karma.

Ana al-haqq, ana al-hub -
aham bindu, aham brahmanda.
I shed dogma like dead skin,
el cosmos es mi casa.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“My roots go deep down to the core of earth, spread across the bones and marrow of the human race.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“My roots run deep down to the core of earth, spread across the bones and marrow of the human race.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot