Testimonial letter from Ma Prem Varsha

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 Varsha (Ingrid Nelson Kelley). It is "Exhibit A-1948" 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.

Rajneeshpuram OR 97741 U.S.A. July 23, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN -- I am writing this as a musician and an artist. My formal musical training notwithstanding, I have realized that art is a way of life, whether expressed in music, painting, poetry, or the way one tunes one’s car or washes the dishes. For a great artist, there is a certain magical understanding of life; a freedom from self-consciousness that allows the divine to enter and to be expressed through Him; and allowing us all to share a glimpse of God. In my life I have listened and looked; performed, pondered and gotten lost in the divine inspirations of many great artists. It has been my quest to learn from then; it has been my constant occupation since childhood. From all areas of fine and applied arts - from the universal heartbeat of Vivaldi’s Concerto’s, to the divine immediacy of the Shaker's furniture; William Blake and Alexander Calder; Johannes Brahms, William Shakespeare, Johann Sebastian Bach. And then I turned to Zen and Taoist Masters of the past, feeling closer to the bone, needing to drop myself to share the beauty I feel in the world around me. But they are not here. Their words and works remain to bring me closer, but not close enough. And then , Bhagwan. His words on the page speaking not from the past but the present; wholly, and ecstatically present, alive and among us. All the fine tuning inside me hummed in harmony with his existence. No longer to settle for the expression of great artists now dead, but to live in the presence of an artist so complete in his understanding and so free that he needs no medium to label himself with: all of his life is art: simple and beautiful. Here in Rajneeshpuram, building a city is our art form. We build it for Him; we build it for us; we build it for the whole world. Our work speaks for Him; for us; for the search for the freedom to be divine and whole. He teaches us to be artists of our own lives. To live creatively. How do we learn? We have only to be aware of His presence; to see his smile. He does the rest. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is undoubtedly an exceptional man. Without knowing everybody in the world I can still say he’s the most exceptional man alive. The most wonderful part of it is that he wants to share his magic, his freedom, his art with all of us. We are so lucky that he’s here. [signed] Ma Prem Varsha aka Ingrid Nelson Kelley B.Mus. Boston Conservatory of Music (Composition) 1971 Certificate in Drafting Technology Lowell Institute School Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981

(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.)