AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda

I was very pleased to view this DVD and experienced some wonderful experiences while watching it. For the lone dissenting viewer, this is not for the spiritual renunciate or one who is deeply into YG or vedic life. This is too superficial for you. But the majority of westerners viewing this in US, Canada, UK, Europe as well as Hindus in these lands or even India will greatly enjoy this. For some this may be the first time they hear about Yogananda. I tremendously enjoyed seeing the video footage of other great souls of India long deceased- Gandhi, Sri Yukestwar, and Anandamayi Ma. Vivevekananda, a great hindu saint, was the first to come to the USA. Yogananda came later. Both of these men, great souls in themselves were aided by great satgurus, Ramakrishna and Sri Yukteswar who supported and made possible their young disciples efforts in the west. They don't work in isolation but helped by those of their order whether living or deceased. They came from the east out of our need, our spiritual crisis in the west by rejecting God for materialism and science. I respect all of the above named and have read their works. Two world wars have come out of the west and if the bankers and military industrial complex had their way we would have world war III now, which would completely destroy the majority of our civilization and possibly the planet. The greed and selfishness that abound now could destroy this planet and yet because these saints came, others after them, those not of our civilization, and with Divine help this hasn't occurred. When the current criminal regime are routed and this cyborg, materialistic greedfest is finally defeated and rejected by humanity, you will see a great resurgence of the ancient teachings which these saints and Christ taught. They all taught the same teachings. One does not preclude the other but reinforces the other. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi copied Yogananda in that both taught the "Science" of Religion. This was their appeal to the west. This is how they got the west to return to the education of divine values. Do these techniques and meditate you will be better at your job, make more money, be happier, get a spouse, etc. They couched religion in scientific terms to which the westerner would be receptive as many westerners reject religion because so much of it is empty dogma. This was the only way the west would accept what the east had to give. This message was superbly portrayed in this movie. Like many westerners "Autobiography of a Yogi" was the first book I read about eastern values. I read it not because I picked it out because I had no interest in religion or Hinduism. The bookstore salesperson said, "you are going to have a difficult life. I think you need to read this." So I bought it and read it and fell in love with it. This was totally foreign to any concept, I had about life and opened new venues in life for me. I have a great fondness for Yogananda because of this and I have been on retreats to his ashrams in California. I have always had good experiences there. He has been a positive force in my life and led me on to study and see other religious figures in India and I studied the Hindu religion. My family disapproved because this wasn't the right form of God to their way of thinking. As a Christian I never stopped being a Christian, but found I gained a lot more of God and new ideas about God by studying Hinduism. I feel a great debt of gratitude to the Indian saints and those I met because of them. They helped me personally in life even to this day. While I love science and have made my living doing it, i need God. If forced to chose between a world of science without God or God without science, I would chose the latter. The two are not mutually exclusive as we are currently taught, but greatly reinforce each other when combined together. Having studied the lives of the Indian and Christian saints, they never lead easy lives. None of them. From St Francis of Assisi to Padre Pio to all of the above, most of these individuals lead lives that lesser men would have succumbed to in negativity and defeat. Still while extolling the virtues of this film and this saint, YG did himself exaggerate in his book and most likely events in his life. Things were not always as YG portrayed them but rather as he wished them to be. I know of some scandals about his ashram at Mt Washington. It seems like all the western and eastern religious figures have had sexual scandals and that is also true of YG and the Self Realization Fellowship. These are after all men and women, not gods. If you expect all your gurus and mayis to be what they say they are you will be mightily disappointed in life. Still don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Their teachings are worth reading and practising, whether the guru or mayi practices what they preach. Don't lose your faith in God because the your religious teacher isn't what you believed them to be. As the Hindus say the guru points the way to God, no one in their right mind would chose their guru over God. Whatever his indiscretions and if other reviewers are correct that he fathered a child, Yogananda was still an exceptional man and has brought eastern teachings that are valuable to the west. I feel he was a good man and was a positive influence on my life. Having never met YG it was a pleasure to see and hear him as he was in the video and to see Ranchi. All these places you read about from his book but never will see in person. There is one more point I would like to make about YG. I wasn't aware until I saw this movie how powerful his gaze could be. He did have great interest in and studied the vedic science of hypnotism. I feel he had this siddhi with his gaze that made him such a powerful speaker and teacher. Having met people with siddhis most of these people succumb to ego and fail to reach their spiritual potential. And they fall in consciousness. Only those who achieve it and do not flaunt if for fame and fortune are worthy of possessing it. Rare is that individual who can realize that self control. Nice touch that the movie ends with George Harrison's song "My Sweet Lord". He went to India to see Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Chopra was a medical doctor trained in India who came to the US with self destructive habits who was the main teacher of Mahesh Yogi's TM ayurvedic mission in the US. While he is listed as a alternative medical pioneer he received his basic training under Maharishi, and then left him to set up his own ayurvedic and alternative medical practice in the west for his own income. Note the lack of acknowledgement to his former guru. No man is an island. We all benefit from the helpful guidance of our teachers and parents whether we stay with them or not, we wouldn't be what we are without having known and been guided by them. I feel obliged to put these little insights in because most of the young audience will not be aware of them. To return to our lone dissenter, this is a superficial review of YG's life . I would heartily endorse reading "Autobiography of a Yogi" Yogananda's most famous publication in the west and if time and desire permits to read further of his works, Sri Yukteswar's work and the lives of the other saints mentioned. They won't steer you wrong.

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.

Such a well told biography.

An introspective documentary about the life and criticisms, Master Paramahansa Yogananda had to endure through, trying to spread the message of love and Kriya Yoga to the West.

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.

Excelente vídeo. Lastima que no tiene subtítulos.

こんな宇宙の本質をDVDにて良いのだろうか？されど世俗のマーヤの強しこと。

El documental es muy bueno, pero lo tuve que regresar porque no está hecho para la región 4

スピリチャルな一本、持っておいて損はないでしょう。自然な感じをつかめる一本

compre la película hace como medio año. no había podido verla hasta ahora. pero no funciona, no la puedo ver en ningún dispositivo