Testimonial letter from George L. Collins

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 George L. Collins. It is "Exhibit A-2087" 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.

6970 Brace Street Houston, TX 77061 To Whom It May Concern Please accept my request that all and full rights and priveleges be accorded to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh accorded to anyone else seeking admittance to the USA. There can be no question of his status as a religious leader with thousands of followers both here and abroad. It is hard to understand our acceptance of Cuban (released prisoners, undesirables, anti-US, & Communist)immigrants and to deny admittance to those who come to promote and support our democratic ideals. It is hard to understand our acceptance of those who come and live on welfare; and deny those who come not only self-sufficient--but adding to our economy millions of dollars in building an agri-community and a prosperours city as well. It is hard to understand official denial in this case when many native Oregonian neighbors who have visited the ranch find the hard work and creative techniques of farming and ranching to be nothing short of a miraculous transformation of some of the most wasted, arid, barren land into an unbelievable oasis of truck-farm produce, wheat, grapes, trees, dairy and chicken farm, etc. Unbelievable! What a refreshing contribution to our country to see demonstrated a successful farm and ranch under the most adverse conditions. Also, unbelievably, the Rajneesh have built lakes and check dams to provide water; have initiated successful business enterprises; and all in an unbelievably short time. I have visited with residents of Madras, Portland, Vancouver WA, and others who support the Rajneesh endeavor as a boon to Oregon. Though our own background and beliefs are founded in the Christian religion, we have two sons who have accepted Bhagwan’s philosophy and a daughter-in-law who has been a folower for over ten years--all three living in Rajneeshpuram. We visited the ranch for three days in August of 1983 and find everything about the life style and conduct of the Rajneesh to be wholesome, positive, and refreshing. Everyone who is living and working in the commune are doing so because that is what they want most to do and take much pride in the accomplishments of their hard work. Few communities can claim such trouble free, crime free, self supporting citizenry. Again may I encourage all those in official positions to speed the granting of Bhagwan’s VISA. Not only is this the right thing to do; but the sooner it is done, the sooner the controversy, bitterness, and turmoil over it can and will cease. Sincerely [signed] George L. Collins retired UH professor, School of Communication, University of Houston 20 July 1983 PS. Please pardon typing errors on borrowed campground typewriter. We are on vacation. Thanks. [hand-written:] I recommend permanent resident status!

(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.)