Awake: The Life of Yogananda

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NARRATOR:
I was conscious

in my mother's womb.

Feeling the movements

in her body.

Aware of my own

helpless state.

This body bundle

of bones is not I.

Occasionally,

the darkness of the womb

would be dispelled

and light would visit me.

On one side I wanted

to express myself

as a human being,

yet, on the other side,

I didn't.

Because I felt I was spirit.

(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)

I see behind the scenes.

The visible man is a shadow.

As soon as I change

my consciousness,

I see everything,

just as if it were

a motion picture.

RAVI SHANKAR:

I distinctly remember

the excitement of meeting

Swami Yogananda.

He was straight

from the heart.

He looked strange,

like a woman with long hair.

But I remember

his powerful eyes.

He created such a stir.

KRISHNA DAS:
I remember

the first time I heard

Yogananda's voice.

I got a record,

I think, from SRF.

And I put it on,

and I didn't

know what to expect.

And then, this

booming, powerful

"I, Paramahansa Yogananda,

am singing.

"Sing with me."

I went... (GROANS)

(YOGANANDA SPEAKING)

I, Paramahansa Yogananda,

am praying.

Pray with me.

Bless me that

with the awakening dawn...

I may awaken

all souls with my own...

...and bring them to Thee.

He wasn't trying

to sing prettily,

wasn't trying to

entertain people.

He was singing,

you know, to God.

It was so powerful.

HARRISON:

While I was in India,

I was with Ravi Shankar.

He gave me

Autobiography of a Yogi.

Just looked at the cover,

and he just zapped

me with his eyes.

I mean I can't imagine...

If I hadn't read that,

I probably wouldn't

have a life. Really.

Yeah, I probably would have

kicked the bucket.

Or I'd just be, you know,

some horrible person

with a pointless life.

It just gave meaning to life.

HITENDRA WADHWA:

Steve Jobs apparently had

only one book on his iPad.

Lo and behold,

that book turns out to be

the Autobiography of a Yogi.

(FEMALE INSTRUCTOR

SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

MAS VIDAL:
Yoga, for many,

has become something

that you do with your body.

But the yogis

never taught that.

The way that

Yogananda taught yoga,

was use the body,

you have a body,

but it's really

about the mind.

Expanding your consciousness.

Who am I? Who you are?

Why we came to

this Earth as a human?

LI MIAO TSENG:
It's really

very easy to get lost

in the complexity of life.

FRANCIS CLOONEY:
We're

conflicted beings as humans.

One of the deepest

things about us

is that our lives

don't make sense,

except in the mystery.

Yogananda provided us

a vocabulary to talk

about the human spirit

that got away from dogma,

and doctrine, and ritual.

Whether it be a Hindu, Muslim,

Christian, Jewish, whatever

tradition you're part of,

Yogananda charted

a path inward

that connected you

with your own divinity.

NARRATOR:
Buried during

the Dark Ages...

Kriya Yoga was

revived for modern man

by the deathless

yogi Mahavatar Babaji.

Babaji instructed

Lahiri Mahasaya

to teach Kriya Yoga to others.

The transmission of

the ancient science

from guru to disciple.

Unknown to society in general,

a great spiritual renaissance

started in a remote

corner of Banaras.

(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)

(BELLS RINGING)

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

As the fragrance of flowers

cannot be suppressed,

so devotees from

every part of India

began to seek

the divine nectar

of this liberated master.

Day after day,

the guru initiated

one or two devotees

into Kriya Yoga,

the science of meditation.

Early in their married life,

my parents became disciples.

Lahiri Mahasaya

predicted my birth,

and that through this body

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