Before I introduce this new dialogue, let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Bhima Breckenridge. I have the great joy to serve at East West Bookshop as the book buyer and co-manager, along with Rick Johnston. Two things have inspired me daily these last 4.5 years since I first joined the East West family:
The People: There is a strong community of truthseekers who believe in unity of all paths and faiths and seek to be the change they wish to see in the world.
The Place: East West is a real, living, breathing place where one can experience the good vibrations of books and gifts selected to uplift and inspire; where countless people have come to simply relax and recharge.
People and Place. These are the Heart Thoughts that created East West Bookshop in the spring of 1989 and which continue to sustain it. The intention of this blog is to reflect on the many heart thoughts which nurture and sustain us in our daily lives.
For those who may not know, East West was established by members of Ananda Sangha, a worldwide family of communities, retreat centers, churches and meditation groups founded by Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) and based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi.
As a way to reach out and serve the world and to offer a place where people of like minds but diverse paths could come together, East West was born. Paramhansa Yogananda stated in 1949 that "simple living and high thinking" and communities that support those ideals would "spread like wildfire."
It is our hope that places like East West can multiply and serve as the tinderboxes of this wildfire of consciousness, that the whole world can awaken and come together as one family.
With these words from Gil Fronsdal's lucid translation of the Buddha's Dhammapada, we invite you to share your Heart Thoughts with us through this blog.
“All experience is preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind. Speak or act with a peaceful mind, and happiness follows like a never-departing shadow."
What has inspired you today? Let's make a beautiful world together, one thought at a time!
Blessings, Bhima & East West
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Bhima
July 28, 2017
“Love Everything” True wisdom, thanks Stephan. Our guru, Yogananda, used to get all sorts of heady questions from student’s on what techniques are better than others. To the intellectuals, he would often just say, “Love God!” not indulging in their restless minds. Thanks for sharing!