Testimonial letter from James A Gattuso

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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 James A Gattuso. It is "Exhibit A-61" 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 will link to a pdf file of the original letter when the pdf is created. It has one page.

Center of New Thought Philosophy
CHURCH and Education Society
Offices: 148 N. Portage Path ♦ Akron, Ohio 44303 (216) 867-4978
49 Beck Avenue * Akron, Ohio 44302 (216) 384-9555
August 17, 1933

To Whom it may concern,

It has been brought to my attention that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh may be deported from the United States because the Immigration Dept, has not or will not recognize him as a spiritual leader.In a way this does not at all surprise me.After all,I shouldn’t expect a group of politicians to recognize a spiritual deader;that us not their area of expertise.

However,it is mine.I have been a practicing minister for ten years and have majored in philosophy and comparitive religion during my college years.I feel that I can detect a true spiritual leader VS. a fraud.In fact I wrote a book on TM,exposing the fraud of that organization.

In all my years of study,! have never encountered anyone who is more of a spiritual leader and master as Bhagwan.I should clarify that I did not come to this conclusion overnight.I first encountered Bhagwans’ teachings two years ago.A friend told me he is an enlightened master.A living Buddha.A Christ! I was very skeptical for I have heard this before about such enlightened people as M.Haharshi Yogi and Sai Baba.However,I was willing to take a look.I read two or three of his books and listened to dozens of tapes.The spiritual transformation that is taking place within me as a result of this being,exceeds anything I have eveer encountered in my entire life.I have found in Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh,what was lacking in all other religions.And I can tell you that I have studied all other religion in great depth.

As far as I’m concerned the only reason you or anyone else does not recognize Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh as a spiritual master is simply because you are not willing to look deeply enough into his teachings and to do so with an open mind.

In response to Bhagwans’ silence,it is time for him to be silent. He has said all that can be or needs to be said.Words can only take you so far on this spiritual journey.Silent meditation takes you the rest of the way.

[signed]
Founded 1975 • Ministers/Codirectors: Rev. John Maguire & Rev. James A. Gattuso, Jr. •Member LN.T.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.)