Testimonial letter from David Thomas Kyle
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 David Thomas Kyle. It is "Exhibit A-80" 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 one page.
 DAVID To Whom It May Concern I am writing in support of permitting Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to stay in the United States as a religious leader. As a teacher, counselor and writer I’ve found the spiritual and psychological teachings to be valuable in my work. Although I am not a follower of Rajneesh I have read a number of his books and have experienced the value of his insights and wisdom in my own life. As a teacher of Eastern philosophy and religion for several years at the college level, I can affirm that Rajneesh comes from a classic tantric religious tradition which includes Tibetan and Zen Buddhism, Taoism, tantric Hindu sects, Sufism and certain froms of mystical Christianity. Many teachers and masters from this tantric linage observe periods of silence as Rajneesh is doing at this time. The large number of books recording his teachings confirm the philosophical and spiritual basis of his religion. I have friends who have taken the vows of sannyaisn to be a disciple of Bhagwan. I can attest to the value and positive change that has come into their lives as a result of their commitment to this religion. Many thoughtful people who are not followers, consider Rajneesh to be a spiritual master on the level of a Buddha and a Jesus. As he is a religious leader that has a world-wide following I encourage you to give Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh the immigration status that is afforded all international religious figures. Respectfully |
(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.)
