Awake: The Life of Yogananda
The story...is compelling, as is the testimony of devotees...enough to make a modern soul look inward.
Awake: The Life of Yogananda
AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda is an unconventional biography about the Hindu Swami who brought yoga and meditation to the West in the 1920s. Paramahansa Yogananda authored the spiritual classic “Autobiography of a Yogi,” which has sold millions of copies worldwide and is a go-to book for seekers, philosophers and yoga enthusiasts today. (Apparently, it was the only book that Steve Jobs had on his iPad.) By personalizing his own quest for enlightenment and sharing his struggles along the path, Yogananda made ancient Vedic teachings accessible to a modern audience, attracting many followers and inspiring the millions who practice yoga today.
Filmed over three years with the participation of 30 countries around the world, the documentary examines the world of yoga, modern and ancient, east and west and explores why millions today have turned their attention inwards, bucking the limitations of the material world in pursuit of self-realization.
Archival material from the life of Yogananda (who died in 1952) creates a spine for the narrative, but the film stretches the dimensions of a standard biography. The footage includes stylized interviews, metaphoric imagery and recreations, taking us from holy pilgrimages in India to Harvard’s Divinity School and its cutting-edge physics labs, from the Center for Science and Spirituality at the University of Pennsylvania to the Chopra Center in Carlsbad, California. By evoking the journey of the soul as it pushes its way through the oppression of the human ego and delusion of the material world, the film creates an experiential immersion into the unseen realms. AWAKE is ultimately the story of humanity itself: the universal struggle of all beings to free themselves from suffering and to seek lasting happiness.
Filmed over three years with the participation of 30 countries around the world, the documentary examines the world of yoga, modern and ancient, east and west and explores why millions today have turned their attention inwards, bucking the limitations of the material world in pursuit of self-realization.
Archival material from the life of Yogananda (who died in 1952) creates a spine for the narrative, but the film stretches the dimensions of a standard biography. The footage includes stylized interviews, metaphoric imagery and recreations, taking us from holy pilgrimages in India to Harvard’s Divinity School and its cutting-edge physics labs, from the Center for Science and Spirituality at the University of Pennsylvania to the Chopra Center in Carlsbad, California. By evoking the journey of the soul as it pushes its way through the oppression of the human ego and delusion of the material world, the film creates an experiential immersion into the unseen realms. AWAKE is ultimately the story of humanity itself: the universal struggle of all beings to free themselves from suffering and to seek lasting happiness.
Genre
Documentary,
Bio-pic
Web Site
Runtime
87
Language
English
Director
Paola di Florio,
Lisa Leeman
FEATURED REVIEW
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) is known as the "Father of Yoga in the West." In this enlightening documentary by Paola di Florio and Lisa Leeman, we learn about the extraordinary life and work of the founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. As a boy Yogananda had visions and felt that the ...
Played at
Playhouse 7 10.17.14 - 3.22.15
Royal 10.18.14 - 11.06.14
Claremont 5 10.18.14 - 11.02.14
Lumiere Music Hall 4.28.15 - 4.28.15
Town Center 5 5.26.15 - 5.26.15
Awake: The Life of Yogananda Get Tickets
There are currently no showtimes for this film. Please check back soon.