Notes by Sadhana Ramraj 11.30.22

• Knowledge is what facilitates transformation – assumptions, likes/dislikes, etc.
• You see what you believe – example: If someone thinks that they are ugly, say they are walking down the hallway and someone looks at them in a completely natural way, because of what they believe, their brain directs importance to the onlookers and makes the person think they are looking at them because of how ugly they are when they might not be. “You see what you believe.”
• If we can change our assumptions about the world around us, we can change our life experiences.
• “Quietude of mind equals joy” – our nature is joy 
• It feels like our nature is sorrowful, and we are trying to bring joy to our lives. Vedanta says the opposite.
• The nature of fire is heat, which means something that doesn’t have heat, isn’t fire – our nature is joy, meaning without joy, you wouldn’t be yourself.
• Why do we ask what is god? – To offer an explanation as to how we and this world came to be.
• God is that which is responsible for the creation of this universe.
• Before anything is created, it must exist in its potential form. Material, knowledge, etc. 
• Infinite potential – imagine you have a blank piece of paper, and on that paper, you can draw an infinite amount of things. – God is like the blank page, it’s the very existence of the infinite potential that allows this world to be created.
• Everything is changed ina different ways to create new things. This includes us.
• If god is infinite, there must be something else infinite about us as well.
• If I say my soul is infinite, is it the same as everyone else’s soul?
• Thinking is constant. Consciousness is the power of knowing oneself
• Independence is the quality of not needing anything external to be happy. How? Refusing to blame any sorrow on anything external. Growth mindset.