Sonnets From The Mountaintop Quotes

“Mother Earth is a living organism, forests are the lungs of the planet, soil is the womb, oceans are blood - climate change is the planet having fever, in response to the human virus.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Earth belongs to the Natives, settlers are welcome, but as participant, not head of state. Somos indígenas, somos indomables - you can make us houseless, but never homeless.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Earth Belongs to The Natives (Sonnet 2401)

We cannot abolish systemic persecution
without dismantling systemic privilege.
You cannot wipe the slate clean, but you can
take the responsibility and stand to heal.

Colonizers are the second class citizens,
every land first belongs to the indigenous.
Landback is the mother of all movements,
it contains the plight of all First Humans.

Women are indigenous to their own body,
Palestinians are indigenous to palestine;
uncultured crowns and criminal uncles
have no jurisdiction over our Earthright.

Earth belongs to the Natives, settlers are
welcome, but as participant, not head of state.
Somos indígenas, somos indomables -
you can make us houseless, but never homeless.”
― 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

“The day that you are born, is the day the planet becomes a bit more human - Mother Earth whispers, let there be dawn, from the vacuum of time emerges hope in action.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Every scar a scripture, every joy a sermon.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Desert are you, deluge are you, in a crowd of fakes, only truth is you.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Birthday Gospel (Sonnet 2479)

The day that you are born, is the day
the planet becomes a bit more human -
Mother Earth whispers, let there be dawn,
from the vacuum of time emerges hope in action;

learning to live a little more,
by the making of memories, not passing seasons;
animals may grow old, humans grow whole -
every scar a scripture, every joy a sermon.

My brother used to say,
you are the ocean in a drop;
I say to you today -
desert are you, deluge are you,
in a crowd of fakes, only truth is you.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Cell biology is soul biology.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

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

“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

“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.”
― 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

“Time is my home, integration, my reality!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Empirical disciplines will take us to the stars, but it's humanities that make sure, we don't leave behind our humanity, otherwise we'll just end up a bunch of space monkeys.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Why Humanities Matter (Sonnet 2443)

There's not one but two kinds of knowledge,
one is empirical, another is existential.
Maths, physics, chemistry, biology,
these are empirical knowledge that explore
the building blocks of life and universe,

whereas existential knowledge of the humanities
make us unfold new meanings of life and universe,
not in an archaic, blind, preordained sort of way,
but by fostering a deeper sense of lived community.

Empirical disciplines are instrument of efficiency,
while humanities are the carrier of illumination.
Abundance on the outside counts for nothing,
if the inside is suffering from malnutrition.

Empirical disciplines will take us to the stars,
but it's humanities that make sure,
we don't leave behind our humanity,
otherwise we'll just end up a bunch of space monkeys.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“In the presence of heart, silence is wholesome, and it's in this wholeness that bonding happens.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Mythology combined with blind faith results in mass hysteria.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Animals may grow old, humans grow whole.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Cell biology is soul biology,
nothing more majestic or enlightened;
sacred is not elsewhere,
sacred is just cells at their most humane.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“I have no allegiance to any religious institution, or to any academic institution, I don't even have allegiance to the truth, truth can go to hell for all I care - I only care about integration - absolute, indivisible, unbending, unflinching spirit of integration.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“To read me you have to think plurally and feel planetary.”
― 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

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

“Internet overrun by bots and AI content, defeats its purpose of existence.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

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

“Your dictionaries are too small for my voice, your disciplines are too primitive for my existence - not with intellect, not with faith - to read me you have to think plurally and feel planetary.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Jesus didn't write a single word in his life, the church convened time and again, and cooked up the bible as you know it, with possibly some elements drawn from actual life of Jesus - everything you know about the Christ was manufactured by the church with the sole purpose of marketing faith in Jesus as the only path to divinity. This my friend, is not divinity, it's blind faith at its most primitive form.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Existence lived in service of others, is existence that outlives the entity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“We're all brief, astonishing configuration of atoms, capable of tremendous hate or boundless love - the choice is ours.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop