Testimonial letter from Ma Prem Savita (American)
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 Savita. It is "Exhibit A-825" 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.
 July 19, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I am writing in regards to the application for permanent residence status of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. This is an opportunity for the United States to welcome a man of truly exceptional abilities. Bhagwan is a man of vast knowledge, an internationally recognized religious teacher, and the spiritual leader of more than 300,000 disciples throughout the world. His presence in America cannot help but be a tremendous asset, culturally, economically, and spiritually to the country as a whole. I am a 1969 graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, Ma. with a B.A. degree in Medical Technology. I became a registered medical technologist and specialized in the field of clinical microbiology. I worked for 7 years at Massachusetts General Hospital and New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston, and during this time I had the opportunity to work with many exceptional doctors and surgeons and utilized some of the most advanced technological equipment in the field of medicine. I first became acquainted with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh when I visited his ashram in Poona, India, while making a world tour in 1975. I was immediately impressed by the depth of his knowledge in all fields and his very modern approach to religion, philosophy and life in general. I became one of his disciples and spent several months at his ashram where I attended his daily discourses and broadened my knowledge of world religions and philosophies Mainly I feel that I grew into a much more complete individual and with the help of Bhagwan’s teachings I returned to America with a greatly increased capacity for fullness and enjoyment of life. At the present time, I am a member of the City of Rajneeshpuram, OR. where I work as a medical technologist at Pythagoras Clinic. Bhagwan’s spiritual guidance is manifested in every aspect of our community’s growth. In my work at the Clinic, I see his teachings being put to work and a whole new practice of medicine emerging, one that is concerned with both the inner and outer man, caring for not only his physical but also his emotional and spiritual needs, and thus, the "cure" results in a much more complete individual. Our way of life here is also conducive to a higher state of physical well-being than that which is commonly found in most communities. In accordance with Bhagwan's teachings, we regard the body as a temple, which is treated with respect. We have no alcohol or drug abuse in our community, and hypertension and other stress-related diseases occur in a markedly lower percentage of our population. In fact, those who may enter our community with a previous history of high blood pressure often show a consistent improvement in this condition. This is perhaps due in part to the open expression of emotions and problems and to self-acceptance in all aspects of life, which is encouraged here. I feel that Bhagwan's spiritual guidance is resulting in stronger individuals, both physically and emotionally. The United States has always prided itself in its open acceptance of scholars, teachers, religious and political leaders. This is another great opportunity to provide a place of residence for a truly extraordinary man, one who is highly respected by educators and religious leaders alike and is revered by his many followers throughout the world. America cannot help but benefit through this action. 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.)
