Testimonial letter from Hermanus Jozef Klijnman

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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 Hermanus Jozef Klijnman PhD. It is "Exhibit A-333" 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.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

My name is Hermanus Jozef Klijnman, and I am an astronomer of Dutch nationality. I was born May 25, 1951 in Bussum, The Netherlands.

I received a degree in astronomy at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands in 1978, specializing in theoretical astrophysics.

I also received a degree in teaching mathematics and physics.

During my studies I published togehter with a group of other physicists in the Journal of Physics A. I worked also as a teacher to students.

During my studies I saw Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh once on television and knew that once He would be my master. I was struck by His presence and by His being.

Several years later (in the beginning of 1978) I started to read a lot of books by Bhagwan and met some disciples of His. These books gave me answers to many questions I had carried. I became a disciple myself in June 1978, and travelled to Poona in July and stayed there for a while. During this visit I attended His lectures every morning and was trained in a counselling course.

All this provoked a big change in my life. When I returned to Holland I had asked Bhagwan for a name of a Meditation Centre, and I started the centre in 1979 in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

This year I visited Bhagwan again in Rajneeshpuram, and I saw a dream coming true. This is indeed the right place for those of us who wish for an ideal society. Here, under His guidance, we can make a truly beautiful place to live and to work.

His silence I found even more beautiful than any discourse. To only be in His presence and feel His love and joy and take part in His meditation, is a great blessing.

For me Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is the greatest living spiritual master at the moment and I think that through His work He has great meaning and value for everybody living today.

Date: July 17, 1983
[signed]
H.J. Klijnman, PhD.
Vleutenseweg 257, Utrecht,
The Netherlands.


(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.)