Testimonial letter from Ma Prem Daya
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 Prem Daya. It is "Exhibit A-1858" 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.
 Ma Prem Daya To whom it may concern: I am a disciple of the living enlightened master Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. That seems to be difficult for most westerners to understand in that our religious teachers are usually less than perfect translators of some long since deceased beloved master. Bhagwan defies that tradition in that he is alive and he is teaching here and now and he needs no translator of his message. He is the embodiment of his own message of love, joy, freedom and the celebration of life. His commune shows that people can live and work together in that atmosphere and his energy and physical presence are central to the commune. Our work and life are an expression of the love and gratitude that we feel for the opportunity to make his vision real. In the past in his daily discourses, he has spoken brilliantly on the world’s religious teachings, on psychology, on science, art and the state of the world past and present and shows an understanding and perception of these fields which far surpasses any one or combination of teachers that I have had in the past -whether it be my university experience or through the informal contacts I have had with people in all these fields throughout my life. My life was deeply transformed during that phase of his work. Through his words and mediations I experienced the true meaning of the love, freedom and celebration that opened up the expression of creativity in all aspects of my life whether it was through my work or the quality of the way in which I lived and played with those around me. As his work has moved into silence, I feel that transformation continuing even more strongly and more subtly as I feel this silent communication penetrating more deeply into my heart. Without words, I feel his message less intellectually and more as an experience of my entire being. In his satsangs and darshans thousands of his disciples from all over the world are able to gather together to share this ecstasy and celebration of our heart through the presence of our Master, our beloved Bhagwan. I trust that you will consider his petition for status as a permanent resident favorably so that we can continue to live and learn here in his presence. Lovingly, |
(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.)
