Testimonial letter from Ma Prem Hamido
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 Hamido (Gertrudis Maria Houben). It is "Exhibit A-26" 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 3 pages.
 AFFIDAVIT I, Gertrudis Maria Houben, also known as Ma Prem Hamido, being duly sworn say as follows: 1. I am a 71 year old retired teacher, living at Giraffestraat 9, Nijmegen, Holland. I was a headmistress of primary schools and later teacher of secondary schools. I got a M.A. degree in theology. 2, At the same time I was a catholic nun in a convent in Holland, which I entered when I was 18. In the beginning I had a good time there but as life continued it became more and more disappointing, more and more difficult for me to recognize in that life the experience of the Love of God. I saw my fellow nuns physically growing but alas not becoming better Christians. The church and the superiors and the so-called spiritual guides had nothing to offer. During my study of theology, especially of the New Testament, it became clearer and clearer to my consciousness, that God is Love. One night I knew for sure that I had to leave the nunnery and so I did at the age of 55. 2. Out of the monastery I went on meditating, sought help in transcendental meditation, but I was not satisfied with it. 3. Utterly satisfied I was when a book of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh fell in my hands in 1979. It was so fortunate to immediately recognize him as the great real spiritual Master, even more as a revelation of godliness, whom I dared to entrust myself fully. 4. I broke with TM, went to Poona, and became His sannyasin. 5. He has given me what no one in the Christian world could give me, not even the best priest. His endless Love crystalized in Him, He is Love, His egolessness and utter compassion with all people have impressed me deeply, and He is the living reality of His teachings. He can give the spiritual guidance to all seekers, which the catholic church and her priests are not able to do. Knowing Him one sees alas the poverty and incapability of churches and monasteries to give real inner guidance to many godwilling church-goers, monks and nuns. I have not renounced Christ whom I have loved very much, on the contrary I have found in Bhagwan the continuation of Christ, His love and His work and I know as a disciple of Christ that there is nothing better now than to be a disciple of that living Master Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The above is within my personal knowledge and if called upon I would competently testify thereto. [signed] Subscribed and sworn to before me this 19th day of July 1983 |
(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.)
