Testimonial letter from Ma Anand Diane
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 Ma Anand Diane (Diane Broeckhoven). It is "Exhibit A-788" 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.
 MA ANAND DIANE To whom it may concern L.S., In the beginning of 1979, I heard of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh from friends. I started reading His books and listening to His lactures, and I was really touched by what Rajneesh said . Most of all by the simplicity of His words. I am a journalist, so words are in fact my tools. What BHagwan said was for me the most simple truth. It went right to my heart. I didn’t have to translate his words with my mind, and that was a real revolution for me. In october 1979 I went to Poona for the first time, only for two weeks, because I am a mother of three children. A growing-proces started, very fast and concentrated. Bhagwan was my Master, the one for whom I was in search for many years. That is what I felt the very first moment when I met him. I became a sannyasin during my stay. After my return, I wrote an article in a Belgian Magazine, about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and the way of living and loving in Poona. It was one of the first articles published in Belgium about this subject, Born in Belgium (Antwerp, 4th of March 1946), and living about fourteen years in Holland now, I feel part of the two countries. I followed high school in Belgium, and later three years of dramatic arts and a study of the Dutch litterature. After that I started working for a big newspaper in Brussels, where my "carreer" as a journalist started. In 1970 I went to Amsterdam (The Netherlands), worked a year for a magazine, and then started writing for different Belgian and Dutch newspapers and magazines. Which is what I still do now. I also wrote four children-books, from which two got a litterature-price. In october 1980 I went back to Poona, for two weeks, to see my Master again and to meditate. During those two short stays ( 1979 and 1980), I took notitions. After my return in Holland I wrote a book for elder children (12-16 years), a diary of a girl about her stay in Poona. In Belgium it got a litterature-price for the best youth book of the year. In 1982 and 1983, I went to Rajneeshpuram( Oregon) tot celebrate the first and the second annual world celebration, in the presence of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. After the first festival, I published another book for children, about that festival. If you want, I can sent you these two books, which are my way of declaring my love to my Master. At the moment I’m working at my fifth children book, and I can assure you that Bhagwan is the source of my inspiration, in my life and work. I hope, and with me my family and friends, that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh can stay in Rajneeshpuram, where love and respect for each other are the only and basic rules. With those two ingredients, miracles can be done and people can live and grow in peace. The flame that burns in Rajneeshpuram, will unlit candles in the whole world... With love. |
(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.)
