Testimonial letter from Edwin H. Elkin
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 Edwin H. Elkin PhD. It is "Exhibit A-1718" 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.
 INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I am writing this letter in support of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's request to stay in the United States since, in my opinion, he is one of the world's foremost teachers, educators and spiritual guides. I experienced Bhagwan personally during a two-month stay in Poona, India in 1979, and during a visit to Rajneeshpuram in 1982, and can confirm that his ongoing work towards individual and social growth is beneficial, profound and comes from the highest place of integrity. I currently work as an academic advisor at International College, continuing the tutorial system of teaching, which has included among its tutors Buckminster Fuller, Ivan Illich, and Yehudi Menuhin. I am also the Community Liaison Director for Media For Peace, and the Creative Arts Director of A Creative Change Place. I was a founding member of the Gestalt Institute of Washington, D.C., a Fulbright Scholar in Psychology at the Sorbonne in Paris (1962-1963), and the Vice Preside of the QUEST CENTER FOR HUMAN GROWTH in Washington, D.C. (1970-1979). I have found the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh of great personal value to myself, and continue to refer to his books and audio tapes as sources of incredible wisdom for my students and colleagues. His continuing prescence in the United Staes is an enormous asset to the country and to the State of Oregon, and I strongly favor all attempts to keep him among us. Please feel free to contact me if I can provide any additional information Sincerely yours, |
(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.)
