Testimonial letter from Ma Prem Pravira
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 Pravira (Heide Sibley). It is "Exhibit A-671" 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.
 Ma Prem Pravira TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I am a practising concert violinist and a member of the "Heidleberg Chamberorchestra” in West Germany. At the age of eight I started learning violin with Professor Maria Grevesmuhl at the Conservatoire of Music in Bremen. In 1977 1 took part in the National Music Competition for strings, "Jugend Musiziest" in the category "Chamber Music" and won 3rd prize. One year later I took part in the same competition, this time in the category of "Soloist" and again was honoured with the 3rd prize. During 1977-1979 I was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of West Germany, where I acted as 2nd Concert Master from 1978-1979. With this orchestra I joined several concert tours through Europe, Israel, and Mexico, as well as the Music Festival in Montreux/ Switzerland, the Beethoven Festival in Bonn/West Germany, and at the Music Festival in Edinburg/ScottIand. In 1979 I entered the ’student class’ of the conservatoire and became the 1st Concert Master of the Conservatoire Orchestra. Many times I had the opportunity to play as a soloist accompanied by this orchestra at important public concerts. In the same year, I was sent as a participant of the German National Competition of the conservatoires, music academies, and institutes, and was the 1st Winner in the category of "Soloist". After passing the "Abitus", (the qualification for university entrance), at the Kippenberg-Gymnasium I Bremen , the same summer, I entered the violin master class of Professor Max Rostal at the Music University in Cologne. A little later I also became a student in the Chambermusic Class of Amadeus-Quasteff. During 1980-1981 I was 1st Concertmaster of the Music University Orchestra. During this time I started playing as a soloist and chambermusic player at public concerts and tours in Germany and the whole of Europe. In 1982 I became a member of the Heidelberg Chamberorchestra. Since early childhood I have been in contact with music. I had several deep experiences while playing music and I became religious. I started studying various religions of the East and West. Two years ago I heard about the enlightened master, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. In his books and tapes I heard him often speaking about things which I exactly had experienced myself. Because of these experiences I had the conviction that music is a door to a higher, divine world—that behind all technics and theories is another important space for a complete understanding of the music: the meditation..the silence. Through my intensive religious studies I became sure that being in the presence of an enlightened master like Jesus or Buddha, that the path would be much faster for me, ir not possible at all. When I listened to the words of Bhagwan I knew that I had found the master. I became a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and visited him a little later at the First Annual World Celebration in Rajneeshpuram. Through Bhagwan and his meditations, especially Satsang, (sitting in silence with an enlightened master) It became possible for me to go much deeper into the world of music and to get a far better understanding of it than before. Previously my relationship with music was a great tension, expecially at performances. In western music circles, competition and fight have taken place. All critic Is concentrating on mastering the technie and the music itself has been moved into the background. Since my connection with Bhagwan, I have become more relaxed. Instead of the tension, there Is a great joy. Where I had stage-fright and fear of the Critics in the audience, the fear of making a fault, or having a total black-out, all this is gone, and I am completely calm and cool. Often I feel such joy coming up that I wish I could dance my own music. Sometimes I am filled with a wonderful silence combined with deep gratitude to be alive and to have such an extraordinary man like Bhagwan as a Master, through whom all these experiences become possible. Because of Bhagwan, music has become a prayer for me. Through his presence, and the possibility to sit with this exceptional man and meditate, expecially artists and musicians, have the chance to experience their music from the spiritual and meditative aspect. Sincerely yours, |
(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.)
