JJKNapier-1 Letterhead
There are four known letterheads featuring the name of Osho's organization Jeevan Jagriti Kendra, with its address at 115, Napier Town in Jabalpur. They are so far the earliest solid record of JJK's existence. This, the first one, was also the first of any of his letterheads to feature an image, and also the first to have its text information in the Roman alphabet. That's a lot of firsts for one simple piece of paper. The irony is that it seems to have been little used; at least, the wiki knows of only one letter that used it, on a fine-quality hand-made paper as it happens. Perhaps there is a story regarding its rarity, or perhaps many other such letters are waiting to be found.
The next two letterheads in this one's lineage did not have images, but the fourth did, an old Indian design which was becoming fashionable in the nascent counterculture movement in the west, which it's hard to believe Osho was unaware of. More about that there.
One last item of downstream lineage regards the image here. It did show up again in another little-used letterhead (Novelty-1 Letterhead) which had zero text information of any kind, just this image. The fact that this image was used in two different letterheads raises the question of its possible meaning and/or significance. If it has one in Indian culture, it is not known by the wiki, so drop us a line if you know, how-to info in the discussion page.
Transliteration issues
The name Jeevan Jagriti Kendra also needs to be discussed here. It comes various forms, all transliterations from जीवन जागृति केन्द्र. The two basic variations are Jeevan/Jivan and Jagruti/Jagriti, making four combinations which have all shown up in Osho's published works. The combination which has shown up the most has been Jivan Jagruti Kendra, which is the one on this letterhead and the second as well. On that basis, we perhaps should be using that version in the text here as well, but there is a case to be made ...
And the case is this: when talking about what is written in the past, we should be doing our best to present it as it was, so we can be clear about our sources. That is done in the description of the letterhead below. When talking about an ongoing entity however (Osho's org), we should be clear about transliterating जीवन जागृति केन्द्र according to the least confusing, usually the most recent (and continually evolving and improving) standards of transliteration.
Thus, the diacritic ी which represents the vowel after J in Jivan/Jeevan, is most consistently and accurately rendered as "ee", not "i". It is the same diacritic as in Rajneesh. Back in those days, "i" was considered an acceptable simplification that did no harm and was in widespread use. Now, in the interest of consistency and phonetic clarity, it is being phased out. More and more, a Roman "i" does not stand for either the diacritic ी or the diacritic ि, but only for the latter. And we note that "Rajneesh" eventually became how Osho's first name was rendered, totally consistently. And we also note an evolution within the short time between JJKNapier-1 and JJKNapier-4, with "Jivan" turning to "Jeevan" (same diacritic ि / ी issue as with Rajnish/Rajneesh, which did not evolve).
The diacritic ृ, representing the so-called "vocalic r" as in जागृति, has also been rendered in various ways over the years, reflecting both evolving fashions and the preferences of individuals along the way, with more than a dash of inconsistency thrown in. Thus, in the 60s and early 70s there was a preference in Osho's published works to make this difficult vocalic r as ru, as in "Jagruti". It can be noted that the preference for ru MAY be connected with the Gujarati people around Osho who were prominent in doing his work. Other renditions have included ri, r with a dot under it, plain r and sometimes even ra. Scholars have preferred the r with a dot or the plain r, and this is the current trend of G**gle Translate.
But one place where this vocalic r shows up prominently is in the name of the most beloved Hindu god/avatar Krishna. Scholars will make that Krsna but the people (who in the end make language what it is) will not likely let go of Krishna very easily, and so here we will also go with that sentiment. We will further note that that has NEVER been Krushna or Krashna. So when talking about जीवन जागृति केन्द्र, Jagriti will be preferred for now, in these JJKNapier pages.
This letterhead has, in the upper left corner:
- Acharya Rajnish
And below that, the image, of a ship's (steering) wheel, or what?
And on the bottom:
- Jivan Jagruti Kendra, 115, Napier Town, JABALPUR (M. P.)
Only one letter is known so far to have been written on this letterhead:
