Testimonial letter from Ma Anand Nirved
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 Nirved (Sheila C. Siener). It is "Exhibit A-1454" 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.
 Rajneeshpuram To whom it may concern re Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh I am a graduate in social sciences from Edinburgh University, and hold a post-graduate qualification in professional social work practice from Stirling University. Many years ago I was fully involved in social work, concerned with social issues, and had begun seeking for answers in many directions, especially in the relatively new human growth movement and in psychoanalysis. A close friend of mine, an elderly psychoanalyst (and previously a Cistercian monk) who had trained under Carl Gustav Jung, returned from a visit to India to see a religious leader called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I recall my first visit with my friend on his return. I went with interest, amusement and not a little skepticism. I left with excitement in my heart, and a new hope for the future of humanity which has never left me since. I asked my friend, "How do you relate the teachings of this man to all your knowledge of psychology, psychoanalysis and comparative religion?” His reply stopped me. "It cuts through it all" he said. "It goes deeper than anything I have ever experienced, and makes all my ideas of how to help in mankind’s 20th century predicament seem irrelevant and futile. This man knows." It seemed out of the question at the time that I should ever travel to India, or become more involved with Bhagwan than on a purely intellectual level. However, as I read Bhagwan's books and began to meditate, I began to realise what my friend had meant. I became a sannyasin in 1976, and since then my life has taken on dimensions that I could never have dreamt of. My 74 year old father, Dr. R. B. Wilson, M.B.E., is rather a conservative, skeptical Scot, and deeply involved in the Presbyterian Church. Recently he visited me here in Rajneeshpuram. We had the most beautiful week together we have ever spent. He was openly amazed at the love and happiness that he found in everyone he met, and was uplifted by his visit, as his letters to me continue to testify. What more can one say? That Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is a religious leader of unique value to the world seems undeniable. America is the one country in the world which has the maturity and liberality of attitude to hear his message and benefit from his love. 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.)
