Paramhansa Yogananda told us more than once that in a former life he had been William the Conqueror. Some months after his passing, an inspiration came to me: I suddenly realized that I had been his youngest son, Henry, who later was crowned as Henry I.

What was at stake in 12th century Europe, and in England in particular, that caused a Self-realized master to incarnate as William the Conqueror? Our thesis is that William the Conqueror’s vision anticipated the role that England, specifically, would play in bridging East and West, uniting the strengths of each to bring mankind to the present time, an age of energy.

Thomas Edison was one of the foremost inventors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Not only did he play a key role in ushering in the modern age of electricity, he also laid the groundwork for many of the technological innovations that modernized the world. In the process, he also created the first modern industrial research laboratory.

At age thirty-five, Thomas à Kempis began writing “The Imitation of Christ”, one of the most popular and influential Christian works of all time, second only to the Bible. Paramhansa Yogananda recommended this book “unreservedly” saying, “It is a wonderful book. It is no mere imitation of Christ: It is Christ.”

Amidst great physical abuse and suffering, John wrote to a brother monk: “Where you don’t find love, put love and you will find it.”

Millions of people saw the stigmata and witnessed Therese’s weekly visions of Christ’s passion and death, among them, Paramhansa Yogananda in 1935. Yogananda later revealed that Therese had been Mary Magdalene in a past life, and for this reason, was blessed with Christ’s wounds and the weekly visions.