Talk:Letter written on 25 Apr 1961 om

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This letter is the first in the wiki's collection of Letters to Anandmayee that is known to have been published. It is also the first to have been shown to run to two pages, ie the wiki has images of both sides and has put them together (not difficult with successive file numbers). These two facts lead to some interesting speculations, if not conclusions.

The pale blue marks

1. Its two-sidedness brings to light something about the "pale blue" marks which have been found on many previous letters, and that is: it is clear in this case that the marks are written on the back, and when seen from that side, they are even legible, with actual meaning, in this case "25".

Seen from the front, the marks are quite pale; from the back side, they are still somewhat light but much heavier than any such marks seen on other letters. Given the strong resemblance in paleness between this letter's first page and the other pages where these figures are seen, and given their lack of legibility on those pages, it is reasonable to conclude that all such figures are written on the back sides of those pages, and any "sense" to be extracted from them will have to consider they are mirror-images.

Publication

2. The edition of Bhavna Ke Bhojpatron Par Osho (भावना के भोजपत्रों पर ओशो) that the wiki has any info on was published by Diamond in 2002, and its arrangements may be different from JJK, Rajneesh Foundation or similar / related "house" editions. In particular, the Diamond 2002 edition does not have a TOC or chapter numbers, so to point to this letter's place in that edition may not locate it in earlier editions. But it's all we have currently, so the significance of the "25" will be far from precisely known. Certainly it is far more likely that it relates to to earlier "house" editions than to Diamond 2002.

In Diamond 2002, this letter appears on p 90. Perhaps as more published letters are correlated with that edition, more of a pattern can emerge. And/or earlier editions might show up. And the red tick mark on the first page may be pointing to something in that regard as well. Let's keep an eye on that.

"115"

And a relatively minor observation: It was noted in Talk:Letter written on 8 Mar 1961 am that the "115" portion of Osho's address was missing from his standard letterhead and inserted by hand in some earlier letters, but that insertion process had been abandoned. In the Diamond 2002 book, each of his letters seems to use this standard letterhead, with the "115" inserted, as part of their printed reproduction of the letter, even when it is not done in the actual letter, and even when a different letterhead was used, as in the case of this letter.

And the "115" is inserted before "Yogesh Bhavan", as Osho had done in the earliest letters, though this is not really the correct place for it. (Technically, it should come after "Yogesh Bhavan", as that is just the name of his house, and "115" belongs with "Napier Town" if it is to render a "correct" address.)

It is not known whether Diamond has done this on their own or followed the example of earlier house editions. Probably the latter would be my guess. -- doofus-9 02:34, 18 November 2019 (UTC)