Testimonial letter from Ma Sat Prabodhi

From The Sannyas Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

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 Sat Prabodhi. It is "Exhibit A-354" 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
Oregon, 97741
July 27, 1983

To whom it may concern:

In August of 1981, prior to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s arrival in Oregon, a few disciples had an opportunity to work long, hard hours in the Central Oregon heat. They lived under rugged conditions as the transformation from the "Muddy Ranch" to "Rancho Rajneesh" began, and they thought they knew the meaning of "work." Nothing, however, could have prepared them for the intense increase in energy and sense of purpose they experienced once He was here.

For nearly two years now the presence of Bhagwan has filled every moment of every day for those of us who work/worship at Rancho Rajneesh. In myriad ways we have been stretched: first by His words in thousands of discourses, then by His vision of a community rooted in love, meditation, awareness and work as worship. Now, most profoundly, in the inspiration of His silence.

Those of us who live in Bhagwan’s Buddhafield realize the uniqueness of our situation, the rarity of the opportunity we have to bring into fruition a community based on the principles of egolessness.

With His example, we learn through our daily worship how to exchange our former values--values based on individual possessiveness and self-serving--for values which come out of a recognition that each of us is a part of something larger, part of a system which is now in a delicate balance.

We learn--from His words and from His silence--an awareness that opens us to the necessity of total devotion to that larger community. It becomes our privilege--not our duty--to farm or build or clean or cook for twelve or fourteen hours a day, seven days a week.

And we learn--in His presence--how to be playful as we work. We don’t work for five days and play for two; we don’t put in our eight hours anticipating five o'clock. A visitor to our city hears laughter in the fields and singing in the kitchens.

To read about egolessness is one thing. To live in the presence of one who has achieved it is quite another. And to help give shape to His vision is, for us, prayer.

From the early morning gachchhamis to His mid-afternoon drive-by and on through evening gachchhamis, we are constantly reminded of why we are here. Each task is seen as an opportunity for meditation. The emphasis here is on watching our own ego-needs, seeing that they create personal misery and inhibit the flow of the community. We see that when we let go of these selfish needs, our own well-being flowers and the creation of the city moves more fluidly.

Bhagwan is a model for us, a constant daily reminder of the unity of creation. And in our worship we are slowly healing the wounds of lifetimes.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
Ma Sat Prabodhi


(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.)