Written and directed by Paola Di Florio & Lisa Leeman
Creating a biographical film of a yogi such as Paramahansa Yogananda involved unusual considerations. In addition to the typical challenges of chronicling someone no longer on the physical plane without sufficient footage to tell the full story, it was important to convey his mystical gifts and charisma, Awake: The Life of Yogananda got around this admirably by combining voiceover with archival footage of not just Yogananda, but also admirers including George Harrison, Krishna Das, musician Ravi Shankar, Bikram Choudhury, physicist Anita Goel, USC’s Varun Soni and Steve Jobs, who had Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi on his iPad and shared it widely. There is also some not particularly useful reenactment.
Deepak Chopra calls Yogananda a “spiritual genius,” and he was, by all accounts, an extraordinary individual. He traveled alone to the United States in 1920, and after three years in Boston the dark-skinned man in orange robes and turban realized L.A. would allow access to broader acceptance. From his base in Mt. Washington he inspired millions to seek self-realization through kriya yoga and meditation. The sign over the entrance to his center read: Self-Realization Church of All Religions.
Yogananda considered yoga a science, and he had what was then a radical idea to go inward to connect with God. Among the first to understand what we now call neuroplasticity, the idea that we can create our own reality, he said, “Your life follows the grooves that you yourself have created in your brain.”
When backlash in the press sent the yogi back to his homeland he noted with relief that, “It’s wonderful to walk among people who don’t need coaxing to be spiritual.” Nonetheless, Yogananda felt compelled to return to the U.S. As he approached the time he knew he would be leaving his physical body, he appeared to experience increasing altered states of consciousness, and checked out at age 59 right after giving a speech expressing his hope for a united world. Although the film barely scratches the metaphysical surface of this astonishing man and ultimately left me hungry for more information and deeper insight, I’m grateful for a window into his life. (CounterPoint Films)
