Testimonial letter from Ma Devagarbha
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 Devagarbha (Ilene Kravetz MA). It is "Exhibit A-326" 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.
 P.O. Box 10 To whom it may concern. Over the past eight years, my experiences in the Arts and Sciences have lead me to a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy (with honors and membership in the Honor Society Phi Beta Kappa) from Goucher College, Towson, MD in December 1978, extensive study in the pre-medical sciences, with work in medically related areas, travel across the United States, India and Israel, and, most recently, a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from Antioch University in Los Angeles. I came to know of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during my travel in the United States when a friend introduced me to a book entitled Only One Sky. My liberal arts education in philosophy had familiarized me with the works of Aristotle. Spinoza, Plato and Kant, but never had I been struck by the depth of knowledge about man and his universe as I found expressed in the words of the living Master this book claimed as its author. Six months later, I travelled to India to meet the man himself. I stayed at the Rajneesh Ashram in Poona for just four weeks, but attending Bhagwan’s daily discourses and meditations, and participating in two therapy groups during this time was enough to convince me that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was a man of exceptional depth, perception and ability in science and the humanities in general and religion, philosophy and psychology (my major fields of interest) in particular. My next real contact with Bhagwan came in the fall of 1981 when I moved to Los Angeles to enter the Master’s degree program in psychology at Antioch University. Antioch offered me a wonderfully rich and balanced program in the field, combining internship with classical academia, but by far the most powerful influence on my own development as a counselor during this time came through my participation in therapy groups led by Rajneesh counselors at Shravan Rajneesh Meditation Center. In their work I found an understanding of the human process reaching far beyond anything I had ever encountered before -both in university and in my practical work experience. After receiving my Masters in December of 1982, and wanting the quality of my professional work to share the clarity, strength and love I had felt so strongly in those who had learned through Bhagwan’s guidance, I decided to enroll in the Rajneesh Counselor course at the Rajneesh International Meditation University in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon. In my three months at the University, I learned an incredible amount about myself and found resources for counselling that I believe could never have been tapped except through the guidance of this Enlightened Master. Bhagwan’s presence in the United States is a true honor and opportunity for this country, home of a majority of the world’s top mental health practitioners. His presence here makes available to us the opportunity to go beyond all expertise we have heretofore experienced in the field of psychology. At a time when universities are cutting curricula due to financial cut-backs and therapists are having to "beat the bushes" for clients who cannot afford their average fees, the Rajneesh International Meditation University is expanding to accommodate the demand for groups, courses and individual sessions from people who have discovered the quality and uniqueness of Bhagwan's growth programs. Bhagwan is without question a man of "exceptional ability in the Arts and Sciences". Our country would be graced having him here in permanent residence. 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.)
