Testimonial letter from Ma Puja (Canadian)
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 Puja. It is "Exhibit A-1445" 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 Puja To Whom it may Concern. I am a Mental Retardation Counsellor having earned a degree at Fanshaw College in London, Ontario, Canada in 1979. I worked with the London and District Association for the Mentally Handicapped for 2 years before moving to Vancouver, B.C. It was at a Meditation Center in Vancouver where I first listened to a tape lecture of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and first experienced "Nataraj", a dancing meditation. At that time I was a Supervisor in a group home run by the Vancouver-Richmond Association for the Mentally Handicapped. I counselled teenagers and adults in domestic skills, communication, money management, personal relationship, relaxation and recreational activities. My work was greatly influenced by the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I used many of Bhagwan’s meditation techniques as a way of working with hyperactive behavior. The results were astonishing! I also applied Bhagwan’s loving and exceptional understanding of man and his problems to my work. The main theme in many of Bhagwan’s taped discourses is to love and accept yourself. Most of the handicapped people I worked with had a very low self-esteem and have been abused and rejected all their lives, often by their immediate family. It was such a gift to come to an acceptance of myself and to share with the handicapped that they too are beautiful just as they are. The teenagers and adults I counselled often would hold on to my mala and look at Bhagwan's picture and were obviously deeply moved by it. Even though these people had brain damage and physical defects, they understood and responded to love and affection, and even they knew that Bhagwan was an extraordinary being. The presence of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh as a valuable religious leader in America today has been recognized by many sensitive, open, and loving individuals. I encourage you to take a deeper look for yourselves and maybe you’ll recognize his and your own beauty. Sincerely |
(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.)
