Testimonial letter from Cornelia Hertenstein
This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.
This letter is from Cornelia Hertenstein. It is "Exhibit A-1148" in the Noles collection.
The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has 2 pages.
 Cornelia Hertenstein To whom it may concern. In writing this letter, I would like to support Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, whose disciple I have been for over six years and by whom I have benefitted widely in my personal and professional life, in his wish to stay in his present residence in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, for a greater period of time. This wish, I have heard, can be granted to personalities of outstanding abilities by whose presence the United States of America will be enriched. I had the opportunity to spend two short holidays in Rajneeshpuram and witness the growth of this beautiful community. Never before in my life have I seen another place where people of all creeds, races, ages and professions have lived and worked together in such a peaceful way, tolerant of each other’s individuality; at the same time, I was overwhelmed by the amount and quality of work performed in the construction of the city, the amazing creativity with which the work was done, and the cheerfulness and joy I noticed all around. To illustrate how I have personally benefitted by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the spiritual Master in whose loving atmosphere this experiment has become possible, I would like to write about an episode that happened some years ago. I was staying in Poona, India, for a visit at the time, and was hospitalized for a serious heart disease in the Medical Center connected to the Shree Rajneesh Ashram, then located in Poona. Being a doctor myself, I was very interested in getting an impression of what medical care would be like in a place like this. Apart from finding a very high standard in purely professional terms, I was absolutely overwhelmed by the way in which all of the staff, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists etc. were giving their very best to make my illness as easy for me as possible. Although I was in a painful and life-threatening condition, I remember these four weeks like having had a continuous bath in compassion. I am almost certain that I would not have been able to survive and to have my health fully restored, had I been treated in different surroundings. This experience has given me an absolute trust, in my professional life since, in that it is possible to combine scientific skill with a loving attitude towards one-s patients, and that it is the combination of the two that heals. A short visit to the medical facilities in Rajneeshpuram, this year, has shown me that things are devellopping even more beautifully there in the meantime. All this would certainly not have been possible without the spiritual inspiration of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who is deeply loved by all the citizens of Rajneeshpuram and many more disciples abroad like myself. I feel that the USA, a country with a great democratic tradition and an outstanding pioneer spirit, is predestined to give a home to a personality like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who is offering his great potential of creativity and originality in an experiment that might show us a way in which people can live together happily and peacefully. Sincerely, |
(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)
