Ramana Maharshi

What a wise man! I liked the different quotes from him. Some you had to read over and over to better understand what he means, and that's what makes him so much fun to read. You can dwell on what was said, and let your mind wander.
I do like his "Affection toward the good, compassion toward the helpless, happiness in doing good deeds, forgiveness toward the wicked, all such things are natural characteristics of the Master." If everyone thought like this, wouldn't the world be such a better place to live? Most of these things seem like common sense, yet because of our selfishness this happens less often than we'd like. People trample over the good or take advantage of them. You have to have a tough skin to live in the world when dealing with people. We also need to have compassion for the helpless, yeah this seems like a nice thing to do, and everyone wants the government or organizations to help these people, but how many actually go out and help these people themselves? Forgiveness toward the wicked or towards those who have done you wrong. This is hard to do. When someone apologizes, sometimes we feel that it's not enough or that they owe us something. Why not forgive these people instead of waiting for something in return? We are not perfect, and have done wrong to someone. Don't we want the same forgiveness?
"God's grace is the beginning, the middle, and the end. When you pray for God's grace, you are like someone standing neck-deep in water and yet crying for water." God's grace is everywhere whether you pray for it or not. We just need to recognize that it's there, and maybe instead of asking for it, just thank him for it.
"Every being on the world longs to be always joyful...In order to realize this inherhent and untainted joy... it is essential that one know oneself." I think this is an important lesson to understand. To be joyful we need to fully understand ourselves. Isn't it interesting that others sometimes seem to notice things about us that we didn't realize or we don't want to admit? Sometimes I feel that others close to me seem to understand me better than i do! Although they don't always know the inner workings of my mind, they can usually get pretty close. Guess I'll never know full joy unless I figure that out.

The Upanishads

I found this reading to be very profound. I enjoyed how simple the ideas were, yet they really hit home. Even in the beginning, he says, "Whatever lives is full of the Lord. Claim nothing; enjoy, do not covet His property." I love this! Every living thing is full of the Lord... You can find some good in everyone, and anyone is able to point you onto the right path if you let them. He also says that everything belongs to the Lord, it is there for us to enjoy. Yet we get greedy and want to claim everything for ourselves. If we find something on the ground "It is mine", if there is a plot of unclaimed land, the first person there to claim it takes it for themselves. Do not covet the Lord's property, it belongs to Him.
"Of a certainty the man who can see all creatures in himself, himself in all creatures, knows no sorrow." If we see that we are all connected (all created by God) then we can relate to everything on that level.
"That which makes the mind think but which cannot be thought by the mind-that alone is God" He made our minds, and he gave them the ability to think. Yet we cannot even comprehend God in his fullest. He goes on with the same analogy using the tongue, eye, and ear. All of these senses we use, yet none of them can be used to see, hear, understand God more clearly.
"If you understand the meaning of 'I neither know nor don't know', you understand God" Meaning that we know of God, we know some of his capabilities, some of his promises, yet we don't know him to the fullest. Therefore we can't say we know him. Neither do we not know him at all. We know that he is there, that he is the creator, the all-knowing. So we cannot say we don't know him or don't know of him. If you know these things, then you know God. "Those who realize that God cannot be known, truly know; those who claim that they know, know nothing. The ignorant think that God can be grasped by the mind; the wise know it beyond knowledge."

Chief Seattle's Speech to Governor Stevens

This was a very sad speech. It had the feeling like something really really special was coming to an end, and there was no way to stop it. He has some very wise words to say even amidst this sad speech. While the young men viewed war based on revenge as gain, while losing their own lives, the elders and families that are left behind to pick up the pieces know better than that. Especially this small tribe who puts value in every member. He also had a good point of how the white man’s god is not the same as theirs since the white man’s god loves them, but hates the red man. If this god loved the red man he would actually protect them. And then he goes into this whole analogy of the red men’s spirits walking the earth, while the white men are going about their day in the same place the red men used to be. They feel so connected to this earth and to their ancestors that they believe that these spirits will roam this earth forever. So even though the white men may be taking their land away from them, they won’t be getting rid of the red men since their spirits will be there. And this sad speech ends with almost a threat when Chief Seattle claims “The dead have power too.” How powerful is that. He is not lying down and say “take our land” and that’s it. He is saying “you will take our land because we have no choice, but we will be powerful when dead and come back to be destructive”

Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha's Speech to a Crhistian Missionary

I really enjoyed reading this speech. I was surprised with how much I agreed with Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha, since I am a Christian myself, and originally thought I should be agreeing with the Christian missionary. I loved when he commented “your religion is written in a book. If it was meant for us as well as for you, why hasn’t the Great Spirit given it to us? …why didn’t he allow our forefathers to know that book, with the means of understanding it rightly?” He has a valid point. Why does the white man have all the answers and have the job of teaching everyone what is in the book? They have a god of their own. If he is the same god, as the missionary has claimed, why hasn’t he provided this book to them as well as the tools to understand it? Not only that but “the white people differ so much about it[.] Why don’t [they] all agree, since [they] can all read the book?” I never really thought of that before, but there really is such a wide range of views on the Bible. Think about all the branches of the same church- Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist. All of them have their own church because they don’t agree on the same things. Same book. Same underlying beliefs. But not enough to keep them unified. My favorite line that he states is about the missionary’s plan to share with the white men in the area, and how if this same message “does them good and makes them honest and less disposed to cheat the red man” then Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha and his tribe members may actually think about what he has said. But until then they want nothing to do with it. This goes to show you that it’s about your actions and what you mean, than having the right words to say. He also had a great point about how the white men and the red men are very different in every way, Why can’t they worship differently as well?