Testimonial letter from Ma Marga Salama
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 Marga Salama (Miss Kanae Okiyama). It is "Exhibit A-2639" 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.
 August 3rd, 1983. To Whom it May Concern, I became familiar with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during August of 1982, by reading His book " The Mustard Seed " . To me the content of that book said something really beautifull. I have never had my heart moved so much by any other book, it was a powerful thing. In December of the same year I visted Shantiyuga Rajneesh Meditation Center. At that time I had decieded that I wanted to become His disciple, but I discovered that He had already gone into silence. I was puzzled, and felt unsure about what could happen under a silent Master, so for half a year I practised some of His meditation techniques and participated in some therapy groups. I became aware that my apprehensions were unnecessary because I could find all the answers I needed in His books. When I became lost and didn’t know what to do I found that if I simply read a paragraph from one of His books I felt reassured once again. I decieded that I could trust this Master so on the 4th of June 1983 I took sannyas and became His disciple. I will never forget the blue sky that dawned within myself while I was reading through Bhagwan’s books. I became a beautifull bright blue sky and felt myself from inside to outside begin to melt. This things are only my feelings but this is the reason I or cause of why I decieded that I wanted this man as my Master, That blue and deepness of the sky and its intensitity were the inspiration which Bhagwan gave to me. Yet it still took me half a year to become His disciple and form some conception about meditation. From continuing to meditate the result was an understanding and the establishment of my trust for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh as a religious Master. Now as His disciple I can still find the answer to my problems in His books. I have always been receiving his answers and guidence. This means that even though Bhagwan is in silence I can still find His spoken teachings in various forms. This makes me happy. What remains for us to learn cannot be spoken with words, it can only be communicated through silence. Bhagwan’s silence is very important for me in Japan as I am so far away from Him. When I feel the warm and gentle signs that surround me, like the blue sky and blowing wind, I press my palms together and follow my peaceful heart. Bhagwan's silence gave me this fundamental freedom. I follow Bhagwan with my heart, he is my Master. For me this is the meaning of a Master in silence. 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.)
