Testimonial letter from Ma Atit Maria
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 Atit Maria (Maria Francesca di Chiara). It is "Exhibit A-1073" 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.
 My name is Maria Francesca di Chiara, sannyas name Ma Atit Maria. I am an architect, and have an architect’s office in Palermo, Italy. I got my degree in Palermo. Then I had a scholarship for Egypt, where I got very interested in the relationship between man and his social organisation in the world, especially in relation to architecture, as architecture can satisfy men’s spiritual and material needs. Man needs only a few simple and essential things; a place to sleep, eat, work, meet with others, etc. Looking around at the existing architecture I was aware that, though some of these needs were satisfied, there was still a jarring note; people were not happy with it and I myself wanted to create something better. Very few architects in the world have been able to really come close to these human needs. I studied all the works from Michelangelo to Lloyd Wright, the American architect of our century, to Le Corbusier, who is a genius. At that time also I started reading Bhagwan’s books. The poetry existing in His words, His way of dressing the photos of His house, His garden. His commune, were fascinating me. Everything was so simple, yet so creative! Maybe, I thought, here is someone who can help me in my work, teaching me a new way. So I left for India. If I were expecting something, I definitely found much more. I found a world of harmony; the gardens, the fountains, the dancing space, the boutique, the snack bar - all the spaces had found a simplicity, a fragrance, a colour that was harmonious and flowing. For every need, there was an elegant and harmonious anser. The same happened in Rajneeshpuram. I could say that I had found the professor of architecture. With Him, all my efforts in the planning and designing fields are disappearing. [signed] |
(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.)
