Tierra Carta Quotes

“Science doesn't make someone a better person, if it did, no physicist would help develop nuclear weapons, or no biologist would help develop biological weapons.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Jews are not the most dehumanized community in the world, muslims, native americans, and blacks are, yet antisemitism dominates all popular discourse on human rights, because that's the only little narrative where white people emerge as the good guys.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Doesn't take much to look human, two eyes, two ears, one nose, couple of limbs here and there, and you're done, but to be human that's a different matter.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Any book, old or new, that claims to hold all the answers to life, is a scam.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“If you love a living writer, buy their books, support them in a meaningful way, otherwise it's all just performative love, which only makes you feel good about yourself, but does nothing to help the cause you say you care about.

You won't lose anything by missing out on two cups of coffee to buy one or two books by your favorite thinker, poet or novelist, but that little gesture of tangible support means more to an author than a hundred likes.

Coffee makes you alert, books make you awake. Booze makes you forget life, books bring you to life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“All of Life Her Grand Design
(Sonnet 2840-2841)

Silence sold as golden virtue,
names erased in toxic ink -
told to walk behind the man,
never question, never think.

We're more than borrowed titles,
more than shadows wearing rings -
we are roots of all survival,
we are breath in everything.

They built a world on domination,
called tradition, called it fate,
but every empire of oppression
meets its end at woman's wake.

Why must love erase her surname,
why must birth deny her throne -
she is the one who forms existence,
yet there's nothing she can call her own!

Every child that walks this planet,
carries more than just one name -
every mother is a cosmos,
creation brews in her sacred flame.

They said she came from a man's rib,
but truth runs deeper than toxic lies,
the world itself is carved from woman,
all of life is her grand design.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Divinity of the past was based in sky-fiction, divinity of the present must be rooted in life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Books are my jewellery,
memories are my assets.
Languages are my liquor,
cultures are my cocaine.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Theologically, Jainism is the religion of nonviolence, while in practice, Sikhism is the religion of service.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“One langar prevents a hundred prisons.
One laboratory prevents a hundred quarantine zones.
One classroom prevents a hundred warzones.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“When I'm thirsty I drink water, when I can't keep my eyes open, I sleep, that's common sense, you don't need a bunch of gibbering manifestation monkeys with microphones to give you a four hour self-help lecture on how not to let the society jeopardize your wellbeing - when basic tasks of life start requiring podcast lessons, it's not self-care, it's crackpot-care.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Brain is an instrument, not the throne -
the real throne is the heart -
the throne, the empire, the emperor,
the path, and the pedestrian.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Langar and the Laboratory
(Sonnet 2835-2837)

In this world nothing is straightforward,
so you must never accept anything at face value.
To elaborate this let me bring up my
two fundamental inklings - science and faith,
but when I say faith, I'm talking about a human spirit
beyond your puny heaven-centered christian theology.

Faith oughta be synonymous with service, and
I'm not talking about transactional christian charity,
because christian charity comes with strings attached,
I'm talking about actual selfless, rewardless service.

In that respect, the only religion I can think of
is sikhism - in a neighborhood that has a sikh langar
nobody goes hungry, that too without Nanak being
shoved down the throat as the only way to salvation.

Theologically, Jainism is the religion of nonviolence,
while in practice, Sikhism is the religion of service.
But that's not what I started out to elaborate,
what I wanted to point out is this -

in a neighborhood with a langar and a laboratory,
where do you think, can a hungry person find a warm meal -
not in the laboratory, but at the langar,
so now tell me, which one is more honorable,
science or faith?

But then again, if a new strain of virus suddenly
breaks out, langar or laboratory,
from where do you think,
will come the vaccine?

So you see, nothing is straightforward,
science and faith both have their place,
but if you ask a fish to fly or a bird to swim,
you only end up with a world full of frustrated fish
and frustrated birds, that can neither fly nor swim.

One langar prevents a hundred prisons.
One laboratory prevents a hundred quarantine zones.
One classroom prevents a hundred warzones.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Never let society interfere with family,
never let law interfere with ethics,
never let religion interfere with morality,
never let tradition interfere with humanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“I've descended from exploding stars, there is starlight bursting in my arteries, comet-dust in my veins - I spin like a mad dervish, and particles conspire to construct the cosmos in my wake.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Like my existing plain voice recordings of some sonnets and excerpts, I do intend to record a few sonnets at least as songs with a guitar someday.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Tall skyscrapers don't constitute civilization, if half the population still sleep on the streets - space exploration doesn't constitute advancement, if half the children never wake up the next day”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“My first language is English,
my second language is Turkish,
my third language is Spanish.

English is my slave,
Spanish is my friend and brother,
and Turkish, my lover.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“The vast terrains of the himalayas are carpeted with corpses that failed to make it, yet the Himalayas stand, indifferent and undented by the yelp reviews of apes.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“The Naskar Terrain (Sonnet 2962)

If you refuse to call me a scientist,
because I place science at the feet
of the humans, not above their head -

if you refuse to call me a philosopher,
because I count philosophy second to life,
not the center of life -

if you refuse to call me a theologian,
because I place divinity inside the humans,
not outside and above them -

if you refuse to call me a poet because
I refuse to obey white man's fancy full-stomach
rhyme and meter, then be it, my child -

the vast terrains of the himalayas are
carpeted with corpses that failed to make it,
yet the Himalayas stand, indifferent
and undented by the yelp reviews of apes.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“I've descended from exploding stars,
and you think you with your
monkey mind can erase me,

you can own all the rockets, all the satellites,
all the armies, robots, and all the banks,
still you cannot dampen my nerve fibers
charged with lightning from the heavens -

there is starlight bursting in my arteries,
there is comet-dust in my veins -
I spin like a mad dervish, and particles
conspire to construct the cosmos in my wake.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“I don't want fewer believers, I want belief centered on compassion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“I want scientists with character, not just a militant mouth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Servant Scientists (Naskaristana 2907)

Anybody can inspire the youth to become scientists,
any trustfund white guy or even chatgpt can do that,
the point of Naskar is to ignite Servant Scientists,
because if a scientist does not burn with the fire of
service, they are no better than religious fanatics.

Growing up in the lap of aristocratic luxury,
then calling people's basic necessities a delusion,
it doesn't make you a great scientist,
it just makes you a white colonial trash.

If religion must accept the responsibility
for religious fanaticism, science must also accept
the responsibility for scientific mindlessness,
because intelligence without compassion
is more dangerous than ignorance with power.

True science will always be ethical,
but greed-centered apes cannot fathom such science,
nor can privilege-pampered aristocratic knowitalls,
their science is more concerned with what can be done,
instead of asking whether it should be done.

This is not the Science of Naskar -
I don't want fewer scientists,
I want scientists with character,
not just a militant mouth -
I don't want fewer believers,
I want belief centered on compassion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“I bleed on paper, they think it's poetry. I cry for tolerance, they call it philosophy. I reject prejudice, they call it science. I stand undivided, they call it theology.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“El agua compartida se convierte en espíritu.
La brisa compartida se convierte en aliento.
El sueño compartido se convierte en vida.
La tierra compartida se convierte en paraíso.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Earth monkeys confuse terrorism for civilization, exploitation for exploration, prejudice for heritage, inequality for economy, indifference for democracy, they even set up establishments to normalize their incessant bloodlust as tradition, and punish dissenters as traitors.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“In many of the monkey nations of earth their local governments often ban books, and yet not a single earth country has banned guns - in some countries you just need money, in some countries you need a licence, in others you need to be a soldier or copper, but not a single country has actually banned guns.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“I don't consider any white man's opinion worthy of respect until they've proven that they're on the side of humanity, not their thieving ancestors’ - and this applies not just to the white man of faith, but also the white man of reason.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“It's of no consequence, what the monkeys feel; xenophobia belongs in DSM, not in democracy. Bible, Torah, Gita, Koran, all are welcome, but Nazism, Zionism, Hindutva, Islamism, belong in medical case history.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth