Testimonial letter from Dot Bardarson
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 Dot Bardarson. It is "Exhibit A-597" 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 4 pages.
 July 14, 1983 To Whom it May Concern: Bahgwan Rajshneesh is the kind of individual who should be welcomed with open arms and hearts by the United States of America. The qualities of this great man can only enhance and enrich the quality of the lives with whom he comes in contact. Americans are very fortunate to be able to pick the brains of someone so compassionate, so erudite, and so articulate. I cannot believe that the United States is giving him a hard time. I have known of Rajshneesh for about 6 years, first through my brother who is a Senyasin, and lately through books and tapes that I have been fortunate enough to obtain. Personally, I have no desire to dress in shades of red to commit myself to another lifestyle that would set me apart from "the norm" in Seward, Alaska. But my commitment to the ideals set forth by this great man grows every day. I cannot take exception to anything he puts forth in his tapes and books. They are truly an inspiration to my daily life, a conglomerate of the great religions of the world for all time, a guide for one who has rejected all of them. Lately his teachings have been creeping into my art, producing a greater depth than I thought possible. Rajshneesh is internationally known as a man of exceptional ability with outstanding performance well above the standard. The United States will be proud to have him in our ranks. Sincerely yours, P.S. I am a practising artist in Alaska, in watercolor and printmaking. Enclosed is my brochure and resume. I am listed in "Who's Who of American Women" and "Artist's of Renown" and being considered for the current edition of "The World Who's Who of Women". I have been a member of the Alaska State Council on the Arts for 6 years and chairman of the Visual Arts Committee for the state of Alaska. dot bardarson box 636 seward alaska 99664 |
(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.)
