Testimonial letter from Iasos

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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 Iasos. It is "Exhibit A-711" 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.

IASOS
INTER-DIMENSIONAL MUSIC*VIDEO
July 21, 1983

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I am writing in regards to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I understand that the immigration office is considering removing him from this country on the grounds that he is not really a "religious" teacher, on the grounds that he is "in silence" and therefore not really teaching.

I wish to state emphatically that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is in fact a bona fide religious teacher, in every authentic sense of the word -he has a direct "connection" and sense of divinity, he has religious followers, and he has MANY books out and even video-tapes that expound his own personal religious beliefs. Therefore, in EVERY sense of the word, he is a religious teacher.

Religion is a very subjective, rather than objective phemonenon. For example, if a person believes he is having a religious experience, is he really having it, or does he just believe he is having it? It’s totally subjective. There is no objective external manner of verifying it, just as no one can objectively "prove" the existence of God. The subjective experience of a religious experience is its own proof and its own validation. If any one believes he is having a "religious experience", then in fact, that very belief means he is in fact having a religious experience. In the case of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the very fact that he has thousands of religious followers is tremendous proof of the authenticity of the relgious teachings he offers.

Although the teachings of Rajneesh are not in precise allignment with my own personal religious beliefs, I nevertheless, totally aknowledge him as an authentic and most influential religious teacher, with profound wisdom to share.

To expel Rajneesh from this country on the grounds that he is not really a religious teacher, would be the highest religious biggotry, on the same level as the Salem witch hunts. Just because he is not teaching the "traditional" American religions of Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, does not invalidate the authenticity and importance of his teachings.

I would strongly urge you to adhere to the American tradition of “FREEDOM OF RELIGION", and to accordingly honor his religious teachings though you may personally disagree with them. To expel Rajneesh on the grounds of him not really being a religious teacher, would be a flimpsy excuse indeed. This is the same type of mentality that crucified Christ because he dared to claim to be the Messiah.

In summary, I would strongly urge you to reconsider and to honor Rajneesh with the respect of an authentic and powerful religious teacher, proof of which is his thousands of religious followers and his numerous books, cassettes, and video-tapes.

I myself am an American citizen, and a professional recording artist.

I pray you uphold the American tradition of "FREEDOM OF RELIGION".

Sincerely,
[signed]
415-479-0700 Box 594 Waldo Pt., Sausalito, CA. 94965 U.S.A.


(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.)