AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda

What can I say? It’s simply a classic. Read it.

Good book. freedom

It make you think about life

This is the first independent-style documentary film of Paramahansa Yogananda’s extraordinary life (1893-1952), crafted not for students of Yogananda’s works but for the general audience unfamiliar with him. The cinematic approach is like that of a news team, with a modern appeal to teens as well as adults. The hybrid documentary moves evocatively at a dynamic pace, using re-created scenes and metaphorical imagery to give viewers a visual sense of what Yogananda’s spiritual-classic Autobiography of a Yogi and other works offer in detail.When studios bring people’s lives to the screen they usually amp them up for effect. This is a rare instance in which the opposite is true. Yogananda’s spiritual attainment and divine quest from earliest childhood involved so many encounters with advanced yogis, saints and masters, and so many phenomenal experiences, that the film makers had to skip them en masse to keep the narrative manageable. They used film clips, visual shots, quotes and re-enactments to touch on various themes in his life, and added interviews with experts in various fields to comment on some of Yogananda’s views.In the film, Yogananda says he is bringing “not a creed or dogma, but a science of the soul and spirit.” His high regard for scientific rigor, even in spiritual matters, was a consistent theme in his life and work. In an era when science is thought incompatible with religion, Yogananda held that a deeper insight into the revelations of seers and prophets is possible now partly because of science’s discoveries about the nature of reality.

This documentary movie is a great complement to the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi. The silent enactments of the great events - Lahiri Mahasaya blessing the baby, meeting the Master, experience in Cosmic Consciousness, and the Resurrection - were heartfelt and blissfully dream-like, and any spoken voices would have been superfluous there.There were also incidents that I was not aware of previously. His strong vocal support for Gandhi (even in the face of strong opposition), defying the ban on blacks to attend his classes by setting up separate meditation groups for them and encouraging inter-racial marriage (so many years ago), showed the Man that he was. Many speak of equality and ideals, but very few have the courage to match their acts with their speech when the world is against them.I was also amazed, and witnessed his personal pain, at the loss of his long time friend and his life's work in USA, and then admired his determination to selflessly build up the work all over again. There are deep lessons to be learnt from these incidents, the way he braved his problems, the way he humbly and silently accepted his pain.Leo Cocks' reminiscences were deeply touching - "I have given you my unconditional love, do not fail to take advantage of it".The movie treads a fine balance between showing the great Yogi's divinity, visionary actions, and his humanity. Like the Autobiography, it is to be viewed again and again.

This is a well-made movie about Yogananda, one of the first to bring yoga, its practice and philosophy, into the mainstream of American life. He authored the classic "Autobiography of a Yogi", one of the first books on yoga many of us read in the 1970's. The film contains a lot of documentary footage of Yogananda, stitched together with interviews, in a pleasing coherent manner. Not New Age woo-woo. I learned some new things about the man's life. It's positive and uplifting, at a time when not many movies are. Not a deep, mind-altering classic, maybe 4 1/2 stars, though I'll give it 5 since it does what it sets out to do and left me feeling good.

The poignant story of Paramahansa Yogananda who came from India to the West to disseminate the teachings of Yoga to the world is beautiful and moving in its rendition. The images draw the watcher into the story of the life and work of a man for the ages. There are times, when I feel as though I am right there and a part of the story. – So rich are the colors and sounds woven into the story, I feel as though it is happening around me and I am more than just a spectator. I am an actual participant.I have watched this video many times and find as I write this account – I want to view it yet again. I am so pleased to have this documentary DVD in my personal collection.

Pretty disappointing. Purchased it in the hope it has mostly Yogananda’s original documentary footage, as I know that SRF has hours of documentary shooting of the Master in America and in India, as I watched it in some place. Instead, to a great extent it is a staged and reenacted film in the worse American tradition of creating a “documentary” film based mostly on imagination of its producers. This film employs number of amateur actors as well as celebrities, and supposedly scientists with multiple long second and third hand interviews and commentaries. Though, some figures and interviews with them are valuable. But, in the end, is this film supposed to be about Yogananda, his life and teaching, or about general public with wide spectrum of notions and authors views and commentaries on Awakening? If to remove that 50% of water from this film, it would be good. Still, I have to admit, that those inserted clips of the Master leave the impression of sacredness and love.