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.