About The Author - Abd-ru-shin

Abd-ru-shin was born in Bischofswerda (Saxony) on April 18th 1875 into good middle-class circumstances. He bore the name of Oscar Ernst Bernhardt. In the security of a loving home he was given the opportunity to unfold his talents. After a business training he established himself in Dresden.

In the years that followed he made numerous journeys to distant countries. Thanks to his literary talent, he made use of the impression thus gained in successful travel books and stories, and plays also prepared during that period. After living for some time in New York. Abd-ru-shin went to England in 1913 and lived in London. There the outbreak of the first World War took him by surprise, and in 1915 he was interned in the Isle of Man. The seclusion of the internment brought in its wake an inner deepening. He pondered much over questions connected with the meaning of life, the task of man in Creation, with birth and death, responsibility and free will, with God and His Creation. With this there awakened more and more within him the great wish to help humanity and to show them the right way out of their affliction.

After his release in 1919 he became conscious of his task to open the way for a new Knowledge of Creation. For this purpose he chose the name Abd-ru-shin (Arabic: Son of the Light) in completion of a former earth-life which was a preparation for his present working. In the years 1923 to 1937 there came into being those lectures which were later combined and published by him in the Work “In the Light of Truth” The Grail Message.

In September 1938 he was arrested by the Nazis, he and his family were placed under house arrest and kept under the constant supervision of the Gestapo. Like every Truth-Bringer he too was hindered in his beneficial working. From the effect of these measures Abd-ru-shin died on 6th December 1941. But his Work lives on, and works to help all men who are earnestly seeking the Truth.

All who met Abd-ru-shin were deeply impressed by his simple naturalness and his kindly and at the same time majestic nature. Abd-ru-shin was opposed to any personal cult. Hence his admonition to heed the Word of the Grail Message and not the bringer, so that attention should not be diverted from the Word to the person. He did not compile his Message from other teachings of ancient and modern times, but drew his Living Knowledge from the purest and highest Source, thus Creating his Message from the Grail, which indeed is his actual identity!