Shankara

I enjoyed this speech because its different and its well written. Brahman is the universe all made of one substances and even though we all have different names, skin color, culture, etc, we are all still made the same. "Devote yourself to the Atman and live happily forever," become one with the Atman meaning your sense of yourself. Live the life you want to live but know that your soul is not yours. The combination with Brahman and Atman is away of releasing suffering and become kind, peaceful, gentle and free of mind.

"Apart from the Atman, these appearances are worthless, bodiless, unreal." We are only here because of the Lord and the Atman is our souls, our bodies and minds. In this world we are always wanting something, not totally satisfied and with connecting to the Atman you forget and let go with the wants and needs to make peace with yourself, with the Atman. The Atman is everywhere, "he appears to be an individual, yet he is present in all things, everywhere."

It is a difficult thing to let go everything you want, desire or need but it can be done. You realize that all the cravings are pointless and no longer need anything, you are free from distracting thoughts, free from everything and no more rules. "The things perceived by the senses cause him neither grief nor pleasure." We are just attached to all our wants and cannot let go.

The Upanishads

I like the statement, "The ignorant think that God can be grasped by the mind; the wise know it beyond knowledge." A lot of people think they know who God is but no one knows him. I don't know him. I admit I know God from images I've seen or through the bible, but I do not know God.God put us here on this planet to fulfill a duty, to live life. We are here because of him, everything surrounded by us is him, we are him. Everyone has some good in them and anyone can decide to choose the right path for themselves that's why God put us here on Earth.

"When you see that God acts through you at every moment, in every moment of mind or body, you attain true freedom. When you realize the truth, and cling to nothing in the world, you enter eternal life." This saying is powerful and passionate and I believe in this statement. We all go about life differently yet God is with us, he is by our side. He gave us a mind to think, eyes to see and ears to hear yet none of these senses can be used to understand God to the fullest.

The Upanishads are saying in this passage that God is a part of you.

Chief Seattle (1786-1866)

There was not a lot of trust between the white man and the red man, always fighting with each other. When he says that "Your God loves your people and hates mine. He puts his arm around the white man and leads him by the hand...There is no one to help us." I know back then that they believed the white people would not help them and took everything away from them. I admit the white people were cruel back then, but now we are all treated equally. It says that "we are two separate races, and we must stay separate. There is little in common between us." In my opinion we are all brothers and sisters. Doesn't matter what race we are or what we believe in, we are all equal.

This man was very harsh in what he had to say in this speech. I didn't like how he said that the white people forget about everything when they die and never return back spiritually. Seems like he's a bit judgmental, he doesn't know that for sure. He says that his people never forget the beautiful earth and come back spiritually. We are all the same yet different too. This speech is the total opposite from the other speech. Chief Seattle is so close minded and not open about anything.
I didn't enjoy this speech as much as the other one (Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha). Chief Seattle and Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha are completely two different people, Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha is a kind man and has respect for the white man and does not judge. Chief Seattle doesn't care for the white man, he only judges and points fingers.

Chief Seattle has so much anger and he has the right to be angry a lot of his people have died because of the white people. I mean if I was the Chief and my people died and everything was taken a way from me, I would be upset too because you built a family, a home and your people put all their trust on you for their safety and now everything was taken a way from them. The Chief understands and is not blaming the white brothers for causing this riot because he knows that they are partly to blame too.

Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha (1752-1830)

This was an inspiring speech by Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha. What I liked about this speech was the part where Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha says "You say that you are right and that we are lost. How do you know that this is true?" This is a good statement because we all have our own thoughts, ideas and opinions about religions. Each religion is different and has its own perspectives, so theres no need to tell someone that a certain religion is right and another one is wrong. You can choose any path of religion, you can decide what to believe in either its written in a book or spiritually or anything. Another part of this speech I liked was when Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha talked about how "The Great Spirit has made us all." We are all different in many ways, skin color, culture, religion, etc. Each person has their own opinion and can believe in whatever they want.

The red man thought that he could live in peace with the white man and be friends, but that wasn't true. The white man wanted more and more land and power by forcing his beliefs on them. In my opinion, I think the chief and his people can believe in whatever they want and the white man should not push his beliefs on them but to show them how his religion works. Anyone can preach what they believe in and anyone can worship privately.

We should not judge each other, we should understand each other and know that each religion is different. I'm not a religious person but I would like to learn about what each religion believes in.

Everyone needs to respect each other, not put each other down and to unite together as one. Its amazing that this speech is 200 years old because it seems I would hear this speech today.