Testimonial letter from Ma Anand Sahajo
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 Sahajo (Ana Matten). It is "Exhibit A-1999" 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 Sahajo To Whom it may concern; The day Bhagwan came into my life was the day inspiration was born for me. I was eighteen years old, just out of high school, had studied dance for 12 years and was at a turning point. Life seemed a bit scary in its overwhelming, uncertain even boring way of being. My dance knew every step but it had no inspiration for to be able to dance one must have feelings to express, one must have a vision and an understanding otherwise its just a marionettes dance. Now was the moment when one finds the fire which rekindles the spirit and makes one go on or one disappears into a humdrum existence, so it seemed to me. Then he came and life became an adventure. To say he is a person of exceptional ability in the arts and science is an understatement. He is incomparable to anyones ability in arts, science, religion and probably anything he decided to do. The is not only a spiritual leader he is a genius. Topics ranging from the relationship between people to Einsteins theory of relativity are within his realm of understanding and he speaks as comfortably and intelligently about one as the other. Not only does he speak well, because any orator can spit out knowledge, but he explains it in such simple terms as only someone who truly understands could, I have never felt confused he has always helped me understand by reaching down to my simple level and step by step uplifting me so that even the most complicated theory becomes crystal clear. Not only filling me with knowledge but awakening my own thirst to know and understand; inspiring me to search within myself for answers to questions that only i know becuase they have only to do with me. Making my dance my own. Now here at the ranch, where i've been worshipping for almost two years, putting to practice what i've learned. Moving through my work, my relationships, my moods in an harmonious way. All this happens because of him. Through what he taught me and through just seeing who he is, what his life is about. He is love, his whole life has been lived out of love; what higher inspiration is there? Not the sentimental sort of love but that which respects life so totally that each act is done with the good of all living things in mind and heart. These are the foundations with which this city Rajneeshpuram are built. The sacred city of the lord of the full moon we have named it; can anything but creativity and insight and newness come out of something with such a beautiful name? He doesn’t speak in discourse now. My vision of his silence is like a mother who has cared for her baby and then the day comes when he has to walk, wants to walk, his body has been cared for so, now hes strong enough. When that day comes she most sit back and watch him, though he falls, she cant do it for him she can only sit behind him and reassure him by her presence. This is the best picture I have to describe what this feels like. The new man whom he has devoted his entire life to create is learning to walk, soon we will fly and even that day I would long for his presence because even flying seems only another step theres something even higher. This is what he does for me, he makes the impossible seem possible, not just through words, but my life is the proof. I dont want this to become an autobiography so you must take my word that since him my life is filled with creativity as each moment inspires the next and I feel grateful without reason just because life is a joy. This is what my dance contains, a light an inspiration to live life so totally that each moment is a lifetime in itself. This is true for all his disciples anything we do is transformed and thats what hes taught us, brought out in us and continues to refine. Yours with respect; |
(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.)
