Testimonial letter from Ma Prem Taranga
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 Taranga. It is "Exhibit A-465" 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 Taranga TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I am a graduate in Psychology (University of Durham, England) and have been a social worker in London for seven years. In 1977 I was looking into Humanistic Psychology in the hope of finding some kind of completion, a pulling together of many threads left hanging from my studies of academic psychology and my experience of working with people in their day to day lives. During this time I accidentally heard a tape of a discourse of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and was surprised to find that by the end of the tape I had decided I wanted to meet Him. A few months later, I did. I was thrilled to find in His discourses the very ’completion’ I had been looking for ... and more than that, His insights opened up new vistas both in terms of understanding the human psyche and its application to the life of twentieth century man. This included a phenomenal grasp of many other disciplines - modern physics, economics, ecology, technology - and their inter-relationship. His understanding struck me as masterful, yet everything was conveyed with a simple clarity that delighted me, without detracting from its depth or extent. It was brilliant - to be lived, shared and practised both at a personal and social level. However, this was not all. I found that just being in His presence was a very special experience, one of great joy and inner peace. This I could not explain, and cannot, but it remains. To be with Him now, in silence, is the most exquisite experience I have ever known, and one which permeates my whole life, inexplicably yet undeniably. In the commune at Rajneeshpuram I see the practical enactment of His teaching, a real alive advanced experiment that shows mankind what can be done, how beautifully we can live together on this earth. And I feel strongly the blessings of His presence, and see it reflected in the people and everything that is happening here. There is no doubt that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has much to offer the whole of humanity. His understanding of man, which outshines even the greatest psychologists of recent times, His understanding of the world today and the very special quality of His presence make Him not only exceptional, but incomparable, not only a great teacher but a spiritual leader in the deepest sense. He offers us religion and shows us how to live it in the world today. His presence in any country must benefit it immensely, economically socially and spiritually. His presence in America is a beautiful fulfillment of this country’s original hopes, its heart's desire. [signed] |
(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.)
