Holy Cow Quotes

“The cycle of violence needs extreme love to break it.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. It's all the extremes.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“... I like your Jesus ... there's no doubt he was a great sadhu, most likely trained in India, but you know, he was wrong about God. God is not a judgemental giant sitting up in heaven, it's a force within us all - we are light bulbs in the electrical system of the universe.”
― Sarah MacDonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“I've learned much from the land of many gods and many ways to worship. From Buddhism the power to begin to manage my mind, from Jainism the desire to make peace in all aspects of life, while Islam has taught me to desire goodness and to let go of that which cannot be controlled. I thank Judaism for teaching me the power of transcendence in rituals and the Sufis for affirming my ability to find answers within and reconnecting me with the power of music. Here's to the Parsis for teaching me that nature must be touched lightly, and the Sikhs for the importance of spiritual strength....And most of all, I thank Hinduism for showing me that there are millions of paths to the divine.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“We Indian people, we look at the people more poor, more low, more hard than us and we be thanking God we are not them. So we are happy. But you white peoples, you are looking at the peoples above you all of the times and you are thinking, why aren't I be them? Why am I not having that moneys and things? And so you are unhappy all of the time.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“Brahma is the Generator, Vishnu the Organizer and Shiva the Destroyer. Together they are G.O.D. or Brahman. All the millions of Hindu gods are just forms of the one Supreme Being.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“In India I've slowly been learning that I'm not in complete control of my life...”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“Mild-mannered Abe, however, is Tarzan of the traffic jungle. He knows the strict species pecking order: pedestrians are on the bottom and run out of the way of everything, bicycles make way to cycle-rickshaws, which give way to auto-rickshaws, which stop for cars, which are subservient to trucks. Buses stop for one thing and one thing only. Not customers - they jump on while the buses are still moving. The only thing that can stop a bus is the king of the road, the lord of the jungle and the top dog.

The holy cow.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“It seems in a land where death is present, the cultural taboo of self-killing is slightly reduced. For women with few choices, death can deliver status and honour. The pull for respect and the shame of living in disapproval are stronger than the lust for life.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“I am worried self analysis will lead to spiritual paralysis”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“Do you have deep feelings for nature or do you year detachment? Do you prefer sex or self-control?”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“The Sikhs have shown me how to be strong, the Vipassana course taught me how to calm my mind, India's Muslims have shown me the meaning of surrender and sacrifice, and the Hindus have illustrated an infinite number of ways to the divine. But right now the Buddhist way of living attracts me the most. It complements my society's psychological approach to individual growth and development, my desire to take control and take responsibility for my own happiness and it advocates a way of living that encourages compassion and care.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“I must find peace in the only place possible in India. Within.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“I realize I don’t have to be a Christian who follows the church, or a Buddhist nun in robes, or a convert to Judaism”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“I've weeded out some past conditioning that dictates my preferences and prejudices; right now these people are as beautiful as I make them, things are as scary as I allow them to be, and as ugly and nasty as I create them. The world's a beautiful place.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It’s rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. It’s all the extremes. India defies understanding,”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“There's millions of gods, beta, but all represent aspects of three, and all three are really one"...”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“After nearly two years of traveling India's spiritual supermarket I'm still a self-occupied, selfish, pathetic, pessimistic bitch who's dropped any faith at first sign that things aren't going well.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“I figure that if I can find peace in death, then perhaps I can find peace and a sense of grace in life.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“I can look to Hanuman for energy, Varuna (the God of water) if I want rain, Lakshmi (Vishnu's consort, the goddess of wealth) if I need money and Saraswathi (Brahma's consort, the goddess of knowledge) ifI have an exam coming up. Ganesh the elephant god and the child of Shiva and Parvati) can be called on when starting a new journey or venture and Vishnu, Ram or Krishna if I want purity of spirit.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“God is not a judgemental giant sitting up in heaven, it's a force within us all - we are light bulbs in the electrical system of the universe.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“Mehmooda's faith and fatalism makes me realize how much I still cling to the belief that I have power over my destiny. Perhaps it's time to let that go. Back at the boat on the lake of lotuses I shiver with thoughts of surrender, for it seems such surrender requires sacrifices I could never make. I'm not sure I want that depth of faith and I can't imagine being capable of it.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“I've crashed into another bad wall of karma and in the process lost my lightness of being.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“Well madam, I will tell you one thing. You must listen. You are back in India for a good shaking. Here you will dance with death and be reborn. You will be a chameleon of karma and there are many guides to show you the way. You will search India's land of gods and find faith”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“Judaism or Islam or Sikhism. I can be a believer in something bigger than what I can touch. I can make a leap of faith to a higher power in a way that’s appropriate to my culture but not be imprisoned by it.  ”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“India is the land of the profound and the profane; a place where spirituality and sanctimoniousness sit miles apart. I”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“in my small pocket of my own isolated country, I felt like I understood my world and myself, but now, I’m actually embracing not knowing and I’m questioning much of what I thought I did know. I kind of like being confused, wrestling with contradictions, and not having to wrap up issues in a minute before a commercial break.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure

“My Sikh-inspired spiritual strength is melting away and my brain is too fried to meditate.”
― Sarah Macdonald, Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure