Testimonial letter from Ma Latifa
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 Latifa. It is "Exhibit A-112" 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 4 pages.
 Ma Latifa AFFIDAVIT I, Ma Latifa, D.Litt.M.(R.I.M.U.), Archarya of Rajneeshism, president of Rajneesh Foundation Europe, do hereby declare as follows: I am a minister of the religion of Rajneeshism and was appointed on February 20, 1983. I have been awarded the honorary degree of D.Litt.M. by the Rajneesh International Meditation University. My involvement in Rajneeshism dates back to 1978, at which time I was initiated into the religion by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in Poona, India. During the following three years I attended His discourses every morning as well as numerous darshans in His presence. Further, I have studied many of the books of Bhagwans Shree Rajneesh and meditated deeply for the last five years using his techniques. Prior to my encountering Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh I received four years of training in psychology at Hamburg University, West Germany. As a psychologist, Bhagwan’s teachings have immensely deepened my understanding of human beings and human consciousness. The awareness I have developed through years of spiritual meditations and involvement in the teachings of Bhagwans Shree Rajneesh have convinced me that he is the greatest religious teacher in the world today. His love and compassion for all human beings have opened my heart and shown me the inner way to understand the psychology and innate religiousness of man. For the past few years I have devoted myself to spreading Bhagwan’s religious vision and love throughout Europe. I traveled extensively offering spiritual counseling to sannyasins or others seeking religious guidance. On September 7-11, 1983 I was invited to represent Rajneeshism at "FORUM", a religious conference in Austria which was attended by religious leaders from many denominations. During my visits to Rajneeshpuram in the past years I have witnessed Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh participating in a variety of religious activities. During his daily greeting He blessed every disciple. In morning satsangs and evening darshans He sat for one hour while thousands of His disciples basked in His presence, sharing with them in silence His spiritual energy and love. I have also received continous spiritual guidance and counseling from Bhagwan in response to written requests or questions, and often I realise His guidance and presence are always with us. My extensive travels in Europe during the last ten years have shown me that no other communes or ashrams have the quality and spirit of love and compassion. The love emanating from Bhagwan and the energy which His love creates are. unique elements of all Rajneesh communes throughout the world. In the last two years since Bhagwan went into silence, these communes have developed immensely, showing ever increasing creative activities and success. More and more people are becoming committed to their spiritual growth, becoming devoted to Bhagwan, especially those who are successful in their professions, and it came to my notice that many of these professional people come from the areas of arts, sciences and business. They are drawn by His creative vision for human beings today. As the creative and loving energy of the Buddhafield continues to spread, the United States can feel imminently blessed for Bhagwan’s presence. [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.)
