Abd-ru-shin

Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, also known as Abd-ru-shin or Abdruschin (April 18, 1875, Bischofswerda, Saxony, Germany - December 6, 1941, Kipsdorf, Ore Mountains, Germany) is best known as the author of the "In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message".

A variety of organizations seem to have been inspired by Abdruschin's ideas: philosophy clubs and associations (most prominently the Grail Movement) have been formed by readers of the Grail Message.

Abdruschin himself didn't form or formally support any religious or spiritualist organizations nor is he known ever to have been a member of one. On the contrary his work seems to place a high value on individual responsibility and self-discovery.

After a brief commercial training Oskar Ernst Bernhardt began his literary activity while still a young man. This often led him to foreign countries. In 1915 he was interned in England. Released in 1919, he first went to Dresden, later to Bavaria and in 1923 began to write the first lectures of the Grail Message. In 1928 he settled in Vomperberg in Tyrol.

There he wrote "In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message". He was labeled a "dangerous" element by the Nazi authorities and exiled from Austria in 1938. He was kept under surveillance until his death in 1941.

The Grail Message is his best-known work and continues to be read widely. It has been translated into over 20 languages.