William Walker Atkinson and Yogi Ramacharaka

Although the monograph makes no mention of it, the idea of silver cord which links the body’s psychic form to its physical reality isn’t solely confined to the teachings of the Rosicrucian order. 

In 1904, a mysterious occult figure known as Yogi Ramacharaka gained renown amongst mystic circles as the author of a much-heralded tome on yogic philosophy called Hatha Yoga. This book, and the 13 that followed it up to the year 1909, detailed in length esoteric aspects of Oriental occult belief, Hinduism, Christianity and the long-lost art of “psychic healing.” 

If you’re wondering how an ascetic Yogi from India managed to pass down years of accumulated knowledge to a publishing agency in Chicago, then it’s prudent to mention that this information seems to have been relayed through a devoted student of Ramacharaka known as Baba Bharata. Apparently, Bharata came to America in 1893 to attend Chicago’s world famous World’s Fair. According to retellings of the story, Bharata had been deputized by the Yogi to spread his teaching far and wide, lest his wisdom should perish with him.

In Chicago, Bharata is said to have met up with an enterprising author by the name of William Walker Atkinson, a man who would later become known as the father of the New Thought movement. It is then Atkinson who is said to have acted as a scribe, recounting in pious detail the complex spiritual theories and insights of the Yogi. Fittingly, the books were then published under Ramacharaka name.

Unfortunately, no mention of Bharata or Ramacharaka can be found anywhere in the annals of history. This is despite the fact that the former is said to have made an appearance before U.S parliament upon his arrival in America, and the latter is said to have been a religious scholar of much renown across the Far East. That leaves us with Atkinson as the sole author of these fanciful tomes, and in light of the author’s later works, it seems quite clear that Yogi Ramacharaka was nothing but a pseudonym, used to add greater credibility to Atkinson’s own theories.

Interestingly enough, one of the theories printed under the Ramacharaka alias makes clear mention of the silver thread theory, expounded upon in this very experiment:

“The Astral Body is always connected with the physical body (during the life of the latter) by a thin silk-like, astral thread, which maintains the communication between the two. Were this cord to be severed the physical body would die, as the connection of the soul with it would be terminated….”