Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism

Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism is a 1905 New Thought primer by the American attorney-turned-occult-writer William Walker Atkinson, published under his Yogi Ramacharaka pseudonym by the Yogi Publication Society in Chicago. The book sits at the conceptual intersection of Theosophy, popular Hindu yoga, and American mental-science New Thought: it covers prāṇa and the chakras, karma and reincarnation, and a series of concentration practices intended to produce higher consciousness.

Originally issued as twelve monthly lessons between October 1904 and September 1905, the course was intended as a sequel to Atkinson's Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy. The first four lessons offer a sustained commentary on the theosophical manual Light on the Path by Mabel Collins; the remaining eight address karma yoga, jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, dharma, and Atkinson's account of matter, force, and spirit.

No occult teaching is ever wasted — all bears fruit in its own good time.

p. 3 · Lesson I, "Some Light on the Path"

First lines

We greet our old students who have returned to us for the Advanced Course. We feel that, hereafter, it will not be necessary to repeat the elementary explanations which formed such an important part of the former class work, and we may be able to go right to the heart of the subject, feeling assured that each student is prepared to receive the same.

Contents

Reception

Atkinson — whose Ramacharaka books and The Kybalion (under the Three Initiates pseudonym) sold in the hundreds of thousands across the early 20th century — is now read by historians (Philip Deslippe, Mitch Horowitz) as one of the principal channels by which a Westernised version of Indian yoga and pseudo-Hermetic teaching entered American popular culture. Modern Indologists are sharper: B. K. S. Iyengar and Mark Singleton's later work treats the Ramacharaka books as significant in spreading yoga in the West but as serious distortions of the Indian traditions they claim to transmit. The book remains in print through public-domain reprint houses and is frequently encountered as a New Thought / esoteric Americana primary source rather than as a reliable guide to classical yoga.

Frequently asked

What is the Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism about?

Published in 1905 under the pen name Yogi Ramacharaka, this sequel to Atkinson's Fourteen Lessons presents twelve monthly lessons covering the soul's path, prāṇa, karma and reincarnation, and three branches of yoga — karma, jnana, and bhakti. The first four lessons offer a sustained commentary on the theosophical manual Light on the Path by Mabel Collins.

Who was Yogi Ramacharaka?

Yogi Ramacharaka was a pen name used by William Walker Atkinson (1862–1932), an American attorney and prolific New Thought writer. Atkinson presented the persona as a Hindu yogi to lend authority to his texts. Scholars including Philip Deslippe and Mitch Horowitz have documented the attribution in detail.

How does this book relate to classical Indian yoga?

Historians of religion treat the Ramacharaka books as significant popularisers of yoga in the West while noting that they depart substantially from classical Indian traditions. Atkinson blended Theosophical cosmology, New Thought mental science, and selective readings of Vedantic and yogic texts — a synthesis scholars describe as Western esotericism rather than authentic Indian yoga.