KAREL  WEINFURTER - translator, writer, mystic

From Wikipedia:

Karel Weinfurter (May 27, 1867, Jičín – March 14, 1942, Prague) was a translator, writer and mystic. As a researcher in the field of occultism, he achieved world renown primarily with his work The Burning Bush or the Revealed Mystical Path (1st ed. 1923). He led the Psyché association of practical mysticism, published the Psyche magazine dedicated to mysticism and occultism, and was a member of the Universalia society of Czech hermeticists. Together with Gustav Meyrink, he was among the first to start practicing yoga in Bohemia at the end of the 19th century. He wrote almost a hundred books and translated around three hundred of them.

In mid-1921, he began editing the Occult and Spiritualist Review, the first Czech magazine that dealt with the synthesis of esotericism of various religious and philosophical systems, and in which, at the publisher's request, he first published an article on mysticism with a description of mystical exercises.

When the book entitled The Burning Bush, or the Mystical Path Revealed, was first published on Easter 1923, the fifty-six-year-old Weinfurter had no idea that a turning point was coming in his life. The book sold out very quickly and sparked an unexpected wave of interest in mysticism. Weinfurter's work was also recognized by some Catholic priests; monks in some orders trained according to The Burning Bush, and it sparked an interest in mysticism in the church, which was reflected in the translations of the works of several previously neglected saints into Czech.

  The Burning Bush

In 1937, at the invitation of the association, the British journalist and researcher Paul Brunton arrived in Prague, whose most important books Weinfurter also translated and published, and thanks to whom Czech mystics learned about Maharishi. The person of this Indian sage also became fundamentally important for the further development of Czech mysticism. Weinfurter was the first to translate Maharishi's basic writings into Czech (1940).

In his teachings, he followed both Western and Christian mystics, such as Meister Eckhart. He also followed Indian mystics and yogis, including Ramakrishna and his disciples (Weinfurter was in written contact with Abhedananda) or his contemporary Ramana Maharishi.

   The Burning Bush pubslished after WWII

 For Weinfurter, mysticism and yoga were synonyms of a mystical path, differing in details but identical in essence – in a silent concentration on the spiritual or divine essence of man.

Weinfurterian mysticism thus became an alternative for spiritual seekers who were unsatisfied or outright disappointed by the churches.Practically all figures who were active in the field of alternative (non-church) mysticism in Czechoslovakia drew, either directly or indirectly, from his work and translations.  

The period of development of mysticism was forcibly interrupted by the war. Weinfurter was taken into custody during the Heydrich era and died shortly after his release from a cold in a cold prison cell.

Weinfurter was a real "rennaisance man". He wrote also several books of fairy tales and short stories. He was also expert in entomology, translated many mystical books, for instance Thomas von Kempen -  The Imitation of Christ.

The secret forces of nature and man

 "Reading any profound mystical book carves a sharp furrow into the reader's soul. This furrow will last forever and will never be lost from his soul."     

"Mysticism is the doctrine and at the same time the practice of how to connect with God while alive, or how to sanctify one's life."                  

                                                                                             K. Weinfurter 

Thanks for reading

                                      Margaret