Testimonial letter from Jan W. Frijling
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 Jan W. Frijling. It is "Exhibit A-869" 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.
 Frijling Interviews TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN The undersigned, Jan W. Frijling, Managing Director and Owner since 15 years of the Market Research Organisation known as Frijling Interviews declares the following. After studying High School and working for a few years with Several Market Research Companies, I started my own company. Now a days the number of employees has grown to 620 and the company conducts business with Government agencies and business companies in and outside Holland. My contact with Bhagwan grew out of personel interest. I went to Poona, India in 1979 where I met Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and His disciples. I stayed for one and a half months. In 1980 I returned to Poona again for one and a half months. In 1982 I visited a big commune in England for three weeks and in 1983 I visited Rajneeshpuram in the United States of America. In between and up till now I have stayed in several Rajneesh centers in England, Germany, Belgium and Holland. Sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a few weeks. I am not a disciple from Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh I just follow my own way and do my work in Holland. During my visits I was very impressed by Bhagwans work and became more and more interested in His work for humanity. This enlightened religious Master is unique in our world. Neither in Poona or in Rajneeshpuram or in any other place where His disciples live have I felt any pressure when visiting the communes. I had total freedom to come and go and to look where I wanted and at what I wanted. Everybody was very open. I could talk freely, ask all the questions I wanted and share what so ever I wanted to share. During my stay in Rajneeshpuram in 1983 I looked around with open eyes and visited every part of this city. I looked everywhere in all kinds of places. My conclusion after all these experiences, is that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is a man of exceptional abilities who has attracted a lot of people from all over the world and from all levels of society. My feeling is that it is essential that He gets the opportunity to continue His work in your country, well known in history as an open and hospitable nation. J.W. Frijling |
(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.)
