Testimonial letter from Jean Lyell
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 Jean Lyell. It is "Exhibit A-1729" 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.
 57 BROMPTON SQUARE • LONDON SW3 2AG • 01 - 589 6124 To whom it may concern I venture to suggest to the relevant authorities in the United States of America that favourable consideration be given to granting permission to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers to remain in the U.S.. I and other members of my family have been admirers of Bhagwan for some eight years, since his days in Poona, and I can truthfully say that no other human being has had such a profound influence on my life. There an very many other people like me all over the world of every colour and back-ground and country. In this century, Man's technological and material progress has been truly awesome and our world has become a village which may be completely circled within a few hours. But there is more to life than expensive hardware and this has been expressed in the constant search by the human race for a state of mind more fulfilling, more rewarding and one bringing true happiness. The increasing use of drugs and alcohol emphasises this restless desire, but these bring no lasting contentment. In my view, the teachings of Bhagwan, who seeks to share his enlightenment with us, can point us all in a new direction; it’s really just as simple as that. Each one of us must learn, through meditation and the awareness of our inner selves, that this world really could be a better place where nuclear war was no longer an imminent danger and the land and seas and living creatures who share them with us are no longer abused by the human race. The decision to allow Bhagwan to continue his work in the United States is probably the most important decision you are ever going to make. And please don’t imagine that he is surrounded by heavenly saints- he is not!!! They are ordinary human beings who make mistakes just as you and I do, and they haven’t given up all there bad habits either: but their aim are towards a better , higher level of human conscious-towards a better world. Please help, there are too many arms factories, too many drug pedlars, too many sick people, please help Bhagwan to show the world a better alternative. Yours very sincerely, |
(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.)
