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The Spirit of the Upanishads
Here in one compact volume is the "cream of Hindu philosophical thought," a collection of aphorisms, sayings, and proverbs culled from the Upanishads, the sacred writings of India, and assembled by one of the most influential writers and editors of the New Thought movement of the early 20th century, the adherents of which were profoundly interested in the collective spiritual wisdom of all humanity.
This 1907 volume features the fruit of Hindu thinking on:
* The Real Self * The Way * The Student * The Teacher * The Law of Karma * Spiritual Knowing * and more.
American writer WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON (1862-1932) was editor of the popular magazine New Thought from 1901 to 1905, and editor of the journal Advanced Thought from 1916 to 1919. He authored dozens of New Thought books under numerous pseudonyms, some of which are likely still unknown today, including "Yogi Ramacharaka" and "Theron Q. Dumont."
85 pages, Hardcover
First published March 3, 2006
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26 people want to read
About the author
William Walker Atkinson
2,508 books400 followersPseudonyms: Theron Q. Dumont, Yogi Ramacharaka, Swami Bhakta Vishita & Swami Panchadasi
William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 – November 22, 1932) was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is also known to have been the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Theron Q. Dumont, Swami Panchadasi and Yogi Ramacharaka and others.
Due in part to Atkinson's intense personal secrecy and extensive use of pseudonyms, he is now largely forgotten, despite having obtained mention in past editions of Who's Who in America, Religious Leaders of America, and several similar publications—and having written more than 100 books in the last 30 years of his life. His works have remained in print more or less continuously since 1900.
William Walker Atkinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 5, 1862, to William and Emma Atkinson. He began his working life as a grocer at 15 years old, probably helping his father. He married Margret Foster Black of Beverly, New Jersey, in October 1889, and they had two children. The first probably died young. The second later married and had two daughters.
Atkinson pursued a business career from 1882 onwards and in 1894 he was admitted as an attorney to the Bar of Pennsylvania. While he gained much material success in his profession as a lawyer, the stress and over-strain eventually took its toll, and during this time he experienced a complete physical and mental breakdown, and financial disaster. He looked for healing and in the late 1880s he found it with New Thought, later attributing the restoration of his health, mental vigor and material prosperity to the application of the principles of New Thought.
Some time after his healing, Atkinson began to write articles on the truths he felt he had discovered, which were then known as Mental Science. In 1889, an article by him entitled "A Mental Science Catechism," appeared in Charles Fillmore's new periodical, Modern Thought.
By the early 1890s Chicago had become a major centre for New Thought, mainly through the work of Emma Curtis Hopkins, and Atkinson decided to move there. Once in the city, he became an active promoter of the movement as an editor and author. He was responsible for publishing the magazines Suggestion (1900–1901), New Thought (1901–1905) and Advanced Thought (1906–1916).
In 1900 Atkinson worked as an associate editor of Suggestion, a New Thought Journal, and wrote his probable first book, Thought-Force in Business and Everyday Life, being a series of lessons in personal magnetism, psychic influence, thought-force, concentration, will-power, and practical mental science.
He then met Sydney Flower, a well-known New Thought publisher and businessman, and teamed up with him. In December, 1901 he assumed editorship of Flower's popular New Thought magazine, a post which he held until 1905. During these years he built for himself an enduring place in the hearts of its readers. Article after article flowed from his pen. Meanwhile he also founded his own Psychic Club and the so-called "Atkinson School of Mental Science". Both were located in the same building as Flower's Psychic Research and New Thought Publishing Company.
Atkinson was a past president of the International New Thought Alliance.
Throughout his subsequent career, Atkinson wrote and published under his own name and many pseudonyms. It is not known whether he ever acknowledged authorship of these pseudonymous works, but all of the supposedly independent authors whose writings are now credited to Atkinson were linked to one another by virtue of the fact that their works were released by a series of publishing houses with shared addresses and they also wrote for a series of magazines with a shared roster of authors. Atkinson was the editor of a
William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 – November 22, 1932) was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is also known to have been the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Theron Q. Dumont, Swami Panchadasi and Yogi Ramacharaka and others.
Due in part to Atkinson's intense personal secrecy and extensive use of pseudonyms, he is now largely forgotten, despite having obtained mention in past editions of Who's Who in America, Religious Leaders of America, and several similar publications—and having written more than 100 books in the last 30 years of his life. His works have remained in print more or less continuously since 1900.
William Walker Atkinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 5, 1862, to William and Emma Atkinson. He began his working life as a grocer at 15 years old, probably helping his father. He married Margret Foster Black of Beverly, New Jersey, in October 1889, and they had two children. The first probably died young. The second later married and had two daughters.
Atkinson pursued a business career from 1882 onwards and in 1894 he was admitted as an attorney to the Bar of Pennsylvania. While he gained much material success in his profession as a lawyer, the stress and over-strain eventually took its toll, and during this time he experienced a complete physical and mental breakdown, and financial disaster. He looked for healing and in the late 1880s he found it with New Thought, later attributing the restoration of his health, mental vigor and material prosperity to the application of the principles of New Thought.
Some time after his healing, Atkinson began to write articles on the truths he felt he had discovered, which were then known as Mental Science. In 1889, an article by him entitled "A Mental Science Catechism," appeared in Charles Fillmore's new periodical, Modern Thought.
By the early 1890s Chicago had become a major centre for New Thought, mainly through the work of Emma Curtis Hopkins, and Atkinson decided to move there. Once in the city, he became an active promoter of the movement as an editor and author. He was responsible for publishing the magazines Suggestion (1900–1901), New Thought (1901–1905) and Advanced Thought (1906–1916).
In 1900 Atkinson worked as an associate editor of Suggestion, a New Thought Journal, and wrote his probable first book, Thought-Force in Business and Everyday Life, being a series of lessons in personal magnetism, psychic influence, thought-force, concentration, will-power, and practical mental science.
He then met Sydney Flower, a well-known New Thought publisher and businessman, and teamed up with him. In December, 1901 he assumed editorship of Flower's popular New Thought magazine, a post which he held until 1905. During these years he built for himself an enduring place in the hearts of its readers. Article after article flowed from his pen. Meanwhile he also founded his own Psychic Club and the so-called "Atkinson School of Mental Science". Both were located in the same building as Flower's Psychic Research and New Thought Publishing Company.
Atkinson was a past president of the International New Thought Alliance.
Throughout his subsequent career, Atkinson wrote and published under his own name and many pseudonyms. It is not known whether he ever acknowledged authorship of these pseudonymous works, but all of the supposedly independent authors whose writings are now credited to Atkinson were linked to one another by virtue of the fact that their works were released by a series of publishing houses with shared addresses and they also wrote for a series of magazines with a shared roster of authors. Atkinson was the editor of a
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 3, 2019
Actually a wide range of quotations from the vast literature of Hinduism
The slender hardcover volume that I have is the centennial edition published by Cosimo Classics. The text looks like a photocopy of the original text from 1907 when William Walker Atkinson published it under the pseudonym "Yogi Ramacharaka." As such the text is a bit smudged in places and a bit faded in others, but not so much that the reader really misses anything. Amazon has several different editions listed, one by the Nabu Press and another by Kessinger Publishing, but I believe they are all essentially the same text.
Although the blurb on the back cover states that the aphorisms are "culled from the Upanishads," that is only technically correct since "Upanishads" refers to a genre of Hindu literature and not just to the traditional works written before the current era. At any rate I was interested to note that quite a few of the aphorisms are from "Yogavasishtha" which Georg Feuerstein in his "Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga" identifies as "a didactic poetic work" from the ninth to the thirteenth century CE. Other quotations are from the "Upadesha-Sahasri" written by Shankara (?788-822 CE), while still others are from "Miscellaneous."
The aphorisms are presented in fourteen parts from "Part I The Threshold," "Part II The Absolute," "Part III The Real Self," and so on to "Part XIV Liberation." Here are some examples of the wisdom within:
"Said Prajapati: whence does come this fear! With the thought, 'why did I fear?' disappeareth all fear; for, fear comes of duality." --Brhadaranyakopanishad (p. 43)
Note the archaic expression and that " Brhadaranyakopanishad" is the "Brihadaranyaka Upanishad" in the modern parlance.
"A mere cover of bark satisfies one; but another seeks satisfaction in wealth and luxury. The feeling, however, is the same in either case, and the difference is really no difference at all. He, indeed, is the miserable man of poverty who has in him the most insatiable desire. The mind being all contentment, what can make the rich or the poor?" --Vairagyasataka (p. 53)
The "Vairagya Satakam" ("One Hundred Verses on Renunciation") was written by the poet Bhartrihari (seventh century, CE) within the Advaita Vedanta tradition. By the way, surveys and polls in modern times have shown again and again that beyond a comfortable subsistence more wealth does not increase human happiness.
Another verse from Bhartrihari is "There is the greatest misery in hope; in hopelessness is the height of bliss." (p. 53)
"If the wise man of the world who carefully picks holes in the character of others, would but expend the same skill on himself, what could prevent him from breaking through the bonds of Ignorance. (p. 54)
This aphorism is attributed to "Smrti" ("Smriti") which means "that which is remembered." The term refers to a vast Hindu literature in religion and law.
"That patience which would empty the ocean drop by drop, at the tip of a straw of the Kusa-grass, will, untiringly sustained, establish control over the mind. --Gaudapadacharya (p. 59)
According to Feuerstein, Gaudapada Acharya was the teacher of Govinda who was Shankara's preceptor. He was an advocate of Advaita Vedanta, which I should mention is one of the six orthodox philosophies of India and one that I greatly admire. Uh…by the way, I hope it wouldn't take that long--that is to establish control over the mind!
"The emptying of the mind of the whole of its illusion is the true rechaka [breathing out:]…; the full realization of the idea 'I am Spirit' is the true puraka [breathing in:]…; and the firm steady sustenance of the mind on this conviction is the true Kumbhaka [the breath held:]. This is the true Pranayama of the enlightened; fools find it only in torturing the nose." --Aparokshanubhuti (p. 64)
According to Feuerstein, "Aparokshanubhuti" ("Unmediated Realization") is a work attributed to Shankara. The "realization" is that of the Self (as Atman) as synonymous with Brahman.
One more:
"The traveler with his mind firmly fixed only on the goal he is approaching, never feels the motion of his legs along the road he treads; act thus in all you do." --Yogavasishtha (p. 82)
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Yoga: Sacred and Profane (Beyond Hatha Yoga)”
The slender hardcover volume that I have is the centennial edition published by Cosimo Classics. The text looks like a photocopy of the original text from 1907 when William Walker Atkinson published it under the pseudonym "Yogi Ramacharaka." As such the text is a bit smudged in places and a bit faded in others, but not so much that the reader really misses anything. Amazon has several different editions listed, one by the Nabu Press and another by Kessinger Publishing, but I believe they are all essentially the same text.
Although the blurb on the back cover states that the aphorisms are "culled from the Upanishads," that is only technically correct since "Upanishads" refers to a genre of Hindu literature and not just to the traditional works written before the current era. At any rate I was interested to note that quite a few of the aphorisms are from "Yogavasishtha" which Georg Feuerstein in his "Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga" identifies as "a didactic poetic work" from the ninth to the thirteenth century CE. Other quotations are from the "Upadesha-Sahasri" written by Shankara (?788-822 CE), while still others are from "Miscellaneous."
The aphorisms are presented in fourteen parts from "Part I The Threshold," "Part II The Absolute," "Part III The Real Self," and so on to "Part XIV Liberation." Here are some examples of the wisdom within:
"Said Prajapati: whence does come this fear! With the thought, 'why did I fear?' disappeareth all fear; for, fear comes of duality." --Brhadaranyakopanishad (p. 43)
Note the archaic expression and that " Brhadaranyakopanishad" is the "Brihadaranyaka Upanishad" in the modern parlance.
"A mere cover of bark satisfies one; but another seeks satisfaction in wealth and luxury. The feeling, however, is the same in either case, and the difference is really no difference at all. He, indeed, is the miserable man of poverty who has in him the most insatiable desire. The mind being all contentment, what can make the rich or the poor?" --Vairagyasataka (p. 53)
The "Vairagya Satakam" ("One Hundred Verses on Renunciation") was written by the poet Bhartrihari (seventh century, CE) within the Advaita Vedanta tradition. By the way, surveys and polls in modern times have shown again and again that beyond a comfortable subsistence more wealth does not increase human happiness.
Another verse from Bhartrihari is "There is the greatest misery in hope; in hopelessness is the height of bliss." (p. 53)
"If the wise man of the world who carefully picks holes in the character of others, would but expend the same skill on himself, what could prevent him from breaking through the bonds of Ignorance. (p. 54)
This aphorism is attributed to "Smrti" ("Smriti") which means "that which is remembered." The term refers to a vast Hindu literature in religion and law.
"That patience which would empty the ocean drop by drop, at the tip of a straw of the Kusa-grass, will, untiringly sustained, establish control over the mind. --Gaudapadacharya (p. 59)
According to Feuerstein, Gaudapada Acharya was the teacher of Govinda who was Shankara's preceptor. He was an advocate of Advaita Vedanta, which I should mention is one of the six orthodox philosophies of India and one that I greatly admire. Uh…by the way, I hope it wouldn't take that long--that is to establish control over the mind!
"The emptying of the mind of the whole of its illusion is the true rechaka [breathing out:]…; the full realization of the idea 'I am Spirit' is the true puraka [breathing in:]…; and the firm steady sustenance of the mind on this conviction is the true Kumbhaka [the breath held:]. This is the true Pranayama of the enlightened; fools find it only in torturing the nose." --Aparokshanubhuti (p. 64)
According to Feuerstein, "Aparokshanubhuti" ("Unmediated Realization") is a work attributed to Shankara. The "realization" is that of the Self (as Atman) as synonymous with Brahman.
One more:
"The traveler with his mind firmly fixed only on the goal he is approaching, never feels the motion of his legs along the road he treads; act thus in all you do." --Yogavasishtha (p. 82)
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Yoga: Sacred and Profane (Beyond Hatha Yoga)”
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