“To you, the beautiful human in you, who, like everybody else on this planet, is on an everyday struggle to love and be loved. I hope you find the love, happiness, and enlightenment you have been looking for, in you, in your backyard, in your wretched little neighborhood.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Dark is beautiful, brother.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Let your ego go . . . This is how the world is. Everyone chases love, but very few recognize it. Because to love unconditionally is the toughest task on earth. Learn to accept it.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Tantra is about cultivating ecstasy and the awe for Shakti—the raw feminine energy that drives the world. When the male force Shiva and the feminine Shakti unite in unrestrained love, freedom is born. Freedom from ignorance, fear, hatred, bigotry, patriarchy, and misogyny.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“If you had closed your eyes and looked inward, you would have seen me; you would have seen us. We have always been inseparable, like night and day, light and dark, flowers and fruits, and spirituality and sexuality.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Remember, your destiny has been foretold long ago. You just have to stand up and seize it.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“The footpath curves right, and my home’s roof ridge is visible through the coconut fronds. A streak of happiness lights up in my heart. I know it’s just a building, but I hear its frantic call, reaching out to me like a mother cow that has lost its calf. Is this what differentiates a home from a house—the life in the former, the soul breathed in by my grandparents, my parents, and me?”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Darkness is bliss; so is light. Together they make life tick on Earth. Light keeps us going, but it is the darkness that mothers us in her lap and recharges our souls. For without her, dawns will never be beautiful. Never will they be so energetic. The more we fight darkness, the more we tire.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Bhagwan says that running after money will never bring happiness, and finding true happiness is to touch the center of one’s soul. I can have all the money in this world and still be unhappy. Likewise, I can have no money and still be happy. Happiness is just a state of mind. I choose to be happy.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“an ascetic might be a pauper, but he has ashrams where love, happiness, and prosperity overflow.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Manglish is the Malaysian form of English. It’s superior to Singlish when you’re in Malaysia and inferior when you’re in Singapore. It’s known for its love for Malay, Cantonese, Tamil, Mandarin, and Hokkien. Occasionally, there are English terms, too. It’s different from Indian English, which is spoken with a punchy tone, or British English, which is an endangered language in London. A key distinction between Manglish and Singlish is Manglish’s recognition of Tamil words. Singlish denies the existence of inferior Tamil words.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Everything he says is new to me. But something about it sounds so familiar, like a passive knowledge I had always known before. I want this liberation, this boundless love!”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“The more I reach for her soul, the more I connect with mine.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Did you know? There are three major milestones in human evolution. One, the discovery of fire; two, the invention of the wheel; three, the creation of budget airlines.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“When a white man goes to the pub, he is a socializer; a Brown man in a bar is a drunkard. A white arrogant man is an alpha male; headstrong Indians are pricks. A white man sleeping around is a lover; an Indian on multiple dates is a womanizer. White men make love, we Brown Indians f*ck”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“. . . There are many type of humans. Look here.” She steeples her hands and puts her chin on top of it. “On top is white man. White man culture, very good.” She slides her chin down to her wrist. “Second comes Yellow man culture. Yellow also good.” She lifts her head and serves me a pitiful glance. “Sorry to tell you, Kumar. Other species comes only below.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Tantra! You might want to read about it. There’s a reason why feminine energy exists in this world”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“As the wise men say, the key to happiness is to have a heart as pure as a child’s—a heart that sees the world as a child sees, a heart that smiles and cries like a child. For such a heart will also sleep like a child.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Writing is a refuge. When the world betrays us, we authors find asylum in our literary realms. Our wordlandias are our revitalizing saunas.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“You see, writers traveling to Southeast Asia visit indigenous communities. No writing quest will be complete without some cross-cultural comparisons. This exercise is a decisive moment in every author’s life. Equate it to a photographer meeting his first old man with a wrinkled face or the old lady with heavy earrings dangling from her earlobes.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“The influence of Hinduism is all over the church and our lives beyond its stone walls: We wear saris and dhotis to church, light traditional lamps, apply sandalwood paste on our foreheads, and choose auspicious days to schedule important events. Our girls sport the round dots resembling Hollywood laser-sight spots on their foreheads, and every Christian in the south celebrates Diwali with the same fervor as any Hindu”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“The best way to make a line appear shorter without touching it is to draw a longer line next to it. It works with grief, too.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“I realize three things: one, I want a tantric massage, but I don’t want to be nude; two, I want the union of masculine and feminine powers, and I’ve got a hooker with whom I don’t want to have sex; three, I’m confused and don’t know what I want.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“I meditate fourteen hours a day—two hours out of bed and twelve hours in bed. The mortals call it sleeping, but the enlightened are awake. It’s just the body that sleeps.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“This place is a paradox: it’s a backward shit heap with no cell phone signal and thus no WhatsApp. But we have broadband cables at home and jobless aunties on the main street who spread misinformation faster than radio waves. I”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Buccal list: A list of food a person has never tried before but wants to taste during their lifetime.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Enlightenment through spirituality versus sexuality is a chicken-and-egg situation. But I’m not bothered about what comes first—as long as I have both the chicken and the egg.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“One would assume that travelers to Bali, the heaven on earth, would cry for joy. But in reality, every traveler is grieving some loss or another.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Remember, your mission is to love, expecting nothing in return.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“See you later, tailgater.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker