William Walker Atkinson se je rodil 5. decembra 1862 v Baltimoru v Združenih Državah Amerike. Leta 1894 je začel delati kot odvetnik, vendar je po nekaj letih zaradi preobremenjenosti doživel živčni zlom.

Iskal je rešitev in jo našel v gibanju New Thought (Nova Misel). Preselil se je v center gibanja v Chicagu in leta 1900 postal urednik revije Suggestion, promotor gibanja in avtor številnih del ter obenem ustanovil Atkinson School of Mental Science. Pod lastnim imenom je pisal dela, ki so obravnavala teme gibanja New Thought in postala precej priljubljena in vplivna.

Drug sklop 13-tih knjig pa predstavljajo dela, ki jih je pisal pod psevdonimom Yogi Ramacharaka in jih je objavilo Yogi Publication Society v Chicagu. Nastala so na podlagi njegovega druženja s Swamijem Vivekanando, ki ga je navdušil za hinduizem in predvsem z Babo Bharato, s katerima se je srečal na World Parliament of Religions leta 1893.

Sicer pa je bil Yogi Ramacharaka zgodovinska oseba. Rodil se je leta 1799 v Indiji in vse do leta 1865 svoje življenje posvetil iskanju lastne filozofije, ki jo je nato predal svojemu učencu Baba Bharata in ga poslal na zahod, da bi jo predstavil svetu. In res so bila predavanja učenca na srečanju svetovnih religij zelo dobro obiskana in so požela velik odmev. Mnogi so želeli, da bi zasnoval novo religijo, vendar pa je Bharata želel zgolj zapisati filozofijo svojega učitelja. A za to ni imel posebnega daru, tako da je to delo prevzel W. W. Atkinson in ga v znak spoštovanja do vira te filozofije zapisal pod njegovim imenom.

W. W. Atkinson je bil prostozidar, član Teozofskega in društva Golden Dawn, ki je pisal pod številnimi psevdonimi: (Ramacharaka (13), Theron Q. Dumont (10), Swami Panchadasi (5), Theodore Sheldon (1), The Three Initiate (1) The Kybalion in kot Magus Incognito (1) The Secret Doctrines from Rosicruacian), s svojim imenom pa podpisal 58 naslovov ter tako zbral zavidljivih 105 del. V njih je obravnaval zakonitosti mišljenja, zdravljenje z magnetizmom, mistično dihanje, karmo, zakonitosti vibracije, polarnost, projiciranje misli, vizualizacijo in indijsko filozofsko tradicijo. Tako je tudi avtor (ali eden izmed treh avtorjev - druga dva naj bi bila Paul Foster Case in Marie Corelli) znanega dela The Kybalion, študije hermetične filozofije starega Egipta in Grčije.

Umrl je 22. novembra leta 1932 v Los Angelesu.

William Walker Atkinson was born December 5, 1862, in Baltimore, USA. In 1894 he was admitted as an attorney, but profession as a lawyer was not easy and after some years he experienced a nervous breakdown.

He looked for healing and found it with New Thought. He moved to Chicago and became as well an active promoter of the movement and editor of Suggestion, a New Thought journal. He also founded so-called Atkinson School of Mental Science. Under his own name he treated New Thought subjects. These books became very popular and influential.

The other series of 13 books were written under a pen name Yogi Ramacharaka and were published by the Yogi Publication Society in Chicago, and were based on his contacts with Swami Vivekananda and especially Baba Bharata, who arrived in USA to attend the World Parliament of Religions (1893).

Yogi Ramacharaka was an actual person, born in India in about the year 1799. He set forth at an early age to educate himself and to develop his own philosophy for living. In about the year 1865 he indoctrinated with his philosophy his pupil Baba Bharata and in 1893 sent him forth to carry their beliefs to the new world. Baba Bharata was an instant success. Many wished him to start a new religion, but he felt only the drive to write on the subject. Having no talent for writing, he collaborated with W. W. Atkinson and they wrote the books which they attributed to Yogi Ramacharaka as a measure of their respect.

Supposedly W. W. Atkinson was a freemason and a member of the Theosophical Society and Golden dawn; he wrote under several pen names: (Ramacharaka (13), Theron Q. Dumont (10), Swami Panchadasi (5), Theodore Sheldon (1), The Three Initiate (1) The Kybalion and as Magus Incognito (1) The Secret Doctrines from Rosicruacian), and with his own name undersigned 58 titles, collecting in that way 105 works in a whole. In them he wrote about psychology-related topics such as mind power, self-healing, mental fascination, and popular occultism. It is said that he is the author (or one of three - the two others were Paul Foster Case and Marie Corelli) of the well known Kybalion, a study of the hermetic philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece.

He died November 22, 1932, in Los Angeles.
 

Njegova dela in internetni viri

His works and online resources

Obiščite spletno stran, posvečeno življenju in delu W. W. Atkinsona:
http://users.telenet.be/ananda/ramach.htm

Visit the web site about the life and work of W. W. Atkinson:
http://users.telenet.be/ananda/ramach.htm

Obiščite spletno stran, posvečeno delu in filozofiji W. W. Atkinsona:
http://www.ramacharaca.com.br/acervo_1.htm

Visit the web site about the work and philosophy of W. W. Atkinson:
http://www.ramacharaca.com.br/acervo_1.htm

Znanost o dihu
Hatha Yoga, ali filozofija jogijev o fizičnem zdravju
Filozofija jogijev in orientalski okultizem - tečaj
Filozofija jogijev in orientalski okultizem - napredni tečaj
Niz lekcij o radža yogi
Znanost psihičnega zdravljenja
Lekcije o jnana yogi - yogi modrosti
Bhagavad Gita (komentar)
Duh Upanishad
Življenje onstran smrti
Vril, ali življenjski magnetizem
Solarni pleksus ali trebušni možgani
Reinkarnacija in zakon Karme

The Science of Breath
Hatha Yoga, or The Yogi Philosophy of Physical Well-being
Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism
Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism
A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga
The Science of Psychic Healing
Lessons in Gnani Yoga - the Yoga of Wisdom
The Bhagavad Gita (Commentary)
Spirit of the Upanishads
Life Beyond Death
Vril, or Vital Magnetism
The Solar Plexus or Abdominal Brain
Reincarnation and Law of Karma

Pripravil: Anton Rozman