Testimonial letter from Ma Prem Maitreyi
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 Maitreyi (Dianne Binn). It is "Exhibit A-1812" in the Noles collection.
The original letter was handwritten. The image below links to a pdf file of the original letter. It has 5 pages.
 The letter is hand-written but carefully enough for OCR to function moderately well. It also contains an enclosure, verbal portions transcribed following Maitreyi's letter. 1200 Florida Street, Key West, Fl 33040 To Whom It May Concern, I am a calligrapher/graphic designer/teacher who moved to the Santa Cruz area a year ago to continue my position as program assistant and graphic artist for Ned Romano's Smoke While You Quit Program. I have been affiliated with this program since the fall of 1980 in Key West, FL. I have been self-employed in the graphics art field for several years (since 1970)(biz name: Something Else) as well as teaching calligraphy classes and neo-yoga classes. I am enclosing a few xerox copies of information about the above as well as writing this on the Florida letterhead of the stop smoking program. I became a sannyasin (disciple) of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in December of 1980 but never traveled to Poona, India because of the commitments and demands of my work... work, incidentally a.k.a. worship, which has become and continues to be a new and enrichening adventure because of the love showered on me from this man, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. This love has come to me thru his tapes, his books, his videos, his sannyasins - but it has come to me most intensely thru his presence when I was able to attend the 1st and 2nd Annual World Celebrations at Rajneeshpuram, OR. My involvement as an artist has been enhanced from this exploration into sannyas - creatively and therapeutically; my involvement as a teacher and an assistant has allowed me to share this with others. I consider it a great gift that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is in this country and that his presence is making possible the creation of Rajneeshpuram. Following is a quote from the Oregon Journal, Portland, Oregon, April 1982: (which helps to express my views on this) “Take a trip to the ranch and look over the operation. A tour may convince you that what the Bhagwan's disciples are doing is silly and will never work. Or you may wind up convinced that their efforts to turn a the arid ranch land into an agricultural oasis containing a city of 2,000 people is a step in the direction mankind must take if it is to prevent the world from self-destructing." Sincerely, "Here the effort is to create a totally different kind of therapy, true to the very meaning of the word. Enclosures below are three newspaper clippings celebrating Maitreyi's calligraphy business and the "Smoke while you quit" program run by her husband: The Key West Citizen Drawn to the art of letter-writing Once upon a time it took longer to print a book than to write one. That was before the invention of the printing press revolutionized the written word and sounded the death knell for a highly specialized group of artisans who practiced a tradition that dales hack to the Roman empire.. Despite the convenience and speed of the printing press, however, calligraphy — the art of fine handwriting — never quite went the. way of other crafts sacrificed in the name of progress. Enjoying a revival that began slowly at the turn of the century, calligraphy is practiced by an ever-increasing number of people who do it for a living, as a hobby, and as a means of.relaxation and meditation. “Calligraphy is an art form that has to do with the brain shift," explains Mai, an artist and a follower of Eastern philosophy who teaches calligraphy. "The left side of the brain is verbal; it controls logic, lime, spatial perceptions, analytical matters; “The fight side of the brain Is non-spatial, non analytical, non-verbal. A lot of my students find calligraphy helps them relax; it's a little bonus they never expected,” she says. First attracted to the art form In college, Mai studied it and learned its historical background as well as the letter-formation methods for a large number of calligraphic styles. After the course ended, Mai's interest - and skill in calligraphy prompted her -to practice it ; first as a hobby, then as a distinctive way of writing notes, letters, poetry, invitations and greeting cards. Gradually the hobby developed into a job sideline designing stationery and logos; hand-lettering signs, certificates and proclamations. Now Mai teaches calligraphy to small classes where individual attention is stressed. The courses consist of five sessions (each 90 minutes long) over the space of five weeks The cost is $5 per class. Another class is being formed and will begin this week, advises Mai, adding she will hold a free demonstration class Monday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. For further information call 294-0767 San Francisco Examiner NED ROMANO SMOKED three packs of cigarettes a day for 25 years, and he wasn’t selective about location or situation. He smoked in the shower, positioning an ash tray on a ledge just out of reach of the water. And he smoked even though he had worsening emphysema. “I’d roll around on the floor, coughing and in pain, and then get up and have a cigarette,” Romano says. The thing was, he loved smoking. “Tobacco is a wonder drug,” he says. “What else — in a seven-second whisper — can take you up or down as your mood dictates, is Inexpensive as far as drugs go, is easy to carry around and use and, best of all, lets you ‘shoot up’ almost anyplace you want with little or no disapproval?".
But he also knew smoking was killing him. If he was lucky, his doctor said, he had two years to live. Unless he quit. So he did — and started again just as he always had so many times that he lost count. “I tried every conceivable method,” he says. “Special holders, filters, lemon juice, five-day plans, ten-day plans, acupuncture, hypnosis, brain massage, will power, even divining rods. Nothing worked." In 1973, Roman thought he’d ended his addiction. Then tragedy struck. In 1974, his 17-year-old son, a talented filmmaker with 27 credits already behind him, died of a heart attack. “I went back to smoking like there was no tomorrow,” Romano says. Two years later, he was a tangle of emotions. Still struggling over the death of his son. Angry at tobacco makers for turning out a lethal product but unable to extricate himself from his love-hate relationship with cigarettes. “I just couldn't believe that someone hadn’t figured out a way to quit,” he says. “I decided to research in earnest as if my life depended on it because it did.” His digging at the New York Public Library did more than uncover 30,000 published reports on smoking. “It made me realize how very significant a part of our history tobacco was — and has been since John Rolph planted the first successful crop in this country in 1613. My attitude changed from anger to awe. Tobacco happens to kill people in inordinate numbers, but you can’t dismiss it lightly. It’s a tremendous historical, social and i commercial force.” Romano eventually became a consultant to the National Health Institutes (“most of the people who work there are smokers,” he says), and because of his familiarity with the subject, he started his own stop-smoking organization. He operated in Hawaii, on the island of Maui, then worked in Key West, Fla. Now he and his wife, Mai, are settled in Santa Cruz and Romano is running “Smoke-While-You-Quit" programs in Northern California (his next introductory meeting is Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in San Francisco Federal Savings and Loan Association in Capitola). “My quarrel with the way most stop-smoking organizations work is that they approach the failure to quit as they would a moral deficiency,” he says. “If you became a better person, you wouldn't do this thing. “To me, it's not a moral issue; it’s a biochemical problem. I offer what is basically a drug withdrawal program. I don’t twist arms or use scare tactics. Those never helped anyone stop anything. People know when they’re addicted to any substance, what it’s doing to them, but they can’t think rationally about it. The other side of the brain — the pleasure side — takes over." MORE AND MORE, ROMANO says, kids are putting pressure on their parents to take his course. “The kids can think rationally about cigarettes,” he says. And the way society now views smoking has helped too. “There’s been an enormous change in attitude over the last few years,” he says. “Smoking isn’t nearly as acceptable now.” Romano has worked with 1,000 smokers and claim an 80 percent success ratio. “I think that's because tb< program is full spectrum,” he says. Romano, now 55 hasn’t had a cigarette since 1976. He’s been through est and “had my head turned around totally” during two months of study in India. He’s accepted his son’s death and, in a way, he says, “confronted my own death because the quality of my life is so different. I found the ideas handed down to me 50 years ago didn't work. I’ve had a wonderful catharsis." He isn’t interested in starting a chain of stop smoking clinics. But he does dream about doing his thing on television. “If we could hit a million people and succeed with even 30 percent,” he says, “that would be incredible.” THE PENINSULA TIMES TRIBUNE Saturday, July 31, 1982 B—3NC Ned Romano, a reformed hardcore cigarette smoker who empathasizes with smokers, has developed a very gentle way to help them quit. They don't even have to give up their cigarettes until after completing the "Smoke While You Quit” program. Romano, who has lived in Santa Cruz for the past two months, stopped smoking in 1965 after his doctor told him he would die in two years of emphysema unless he gave up cigarettes. But the stopping didn’t take and for the next 10 years Romano fought a frustrating and unsuccessful battle to quit smoking. He tried everything, including acupuncture, aversion therapy and hypnosis. "I had such a horrendous time stopping,” he said, “that my interest in helping others is more empathy than evangelism.” Romano finally stopped in 1976 and has not had a cigarette for the past 5½ years. He doesn’t even crave one, and this from a man who in his smoking days, couldn’t take a shower unless there was a lighted cigarette within reach. His main insight into a way to stop smoking came during a trip to India when he learned about different breathing techniques. “I found cigarette smokers don’t know how to breathe,” he said. "The brain is fooled into thinking hey are taking a nice, big breath, but they are just drawing in ugly poison." After using the breathing techniques to help himself stop smoking, Romano decided to organize a stop-smoking program. “I'd love to say it was altruism,” he commented. "But I know that if I didn’t keep myself aware, I might start smoking again.” Romano also feels smokers are stressed, so the program incorporates relaxation techniques. His assistant, Maitreyi, has developed a series of deep relaxation exercises. “A curious thing happens in the program," he said. “It's like a click. A person goes from being a smoker to a non-smoker, even if still smoking.” The difference, he explained, is that when a smoker begins the program, cigarettes are in charge. By the end, the person is in control and can make the decision, of whether or not to smoke. Romano, who gave classes in Hawaii and New York before coming to California, said about 1,000 persons have taken the program. He says a follow-up study showed that after one year, 80 percent of the participants were not smoking,' He explained that the program makes people so aware of their smoking that “smoking becomes an unacceptable enterprise.” Romano has glowing words to say about what happens to people who successfully give up smoking. “For me it was a rebirth,” he said. “After I stopped, I had more self-esteem ... I felt more confident and willing to take risks.” Romano explained that unsuccessful attempts to quit smoking are frustrating and demoralizing. "After being able to give up smoking,” he said, “people have a sense of ‘I can do anything.' ” The next session of the "Smoke While You Quit” program will begin at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills on Sunday. Romano will explain the program at two introductory meetings, at 7:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday at the Ramada Inn, 2151 Laurelwood Road, Santa Clara. And. Romano said, people can arrange to pay for the program from money saved by not buying cigarettes. [pic caption:] |
(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.)
