Testimonial letter from Ma Satya Bharti
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 Satya Bharti. It is "Exhibit A-1744" 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.
 July 18, 1983 To whom it may concern: For all of my adult life I have been a writer. I have written poetry, short stories, novels, nonfiction and a play. My two most recent books, DEATH COMES DANCING (Routlege & Kegan Paul) and DRUNK ON THE DIVINE (Grove Press), have both been translated and published in a variety of foreign languages. I have also edited, and written introductions to, numerous books on a variety of religious subjects. I am an alumna of Brown University, New York University and Sarah Lawrence College. I am married and have three adult children. I first came to knew about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in 1970. I began practicing one of his innovative meditation techniques and reading some of his discourses and letters to his disciples. Bhagwan’s words were sheer poetry. They affected me profoundly, both personally and as a writer. What he said was so clear, so simple, and so obviously true. He had the ability to take the most complex thought and translate into terms that were immediately accessible. Religious theory, in his hands (i.e., through his words), ceased to be theoretical; it became practical, empirical and, ultimately, transforming. His words were never dry or ponderous. He taught (he teaches), but with humor, grace, lightness and a delightful sense of the absurd. His words touch the heart and illuminate the soul. He has something profound to say to me, to you, and to anyone who has the courage to hear it. And he says it with an eloquence that is awesome to someone like myself who has spent most of my time and energy in the attempt to communicate. In 1972 I became a disciple of Bhagwan’s. I lived in Bombay when he was in Bombay and was privileged enough to have frequent personal contact with him, during which time he gave me a great deal of direct spiritual guidance. He also helped me enormously with my work so that my writing began to flow more spontaneoulsy and freely than it had ever done before. And always he was there, as he still is there, as the inspiration for what is possible for each of us. In Bombay I attended Bhagwan’s discourses whenever they were given. When Bhagwan moved to Poona and, shortly thereafter, I with him, I attended his discourses daily for almost six years. I also worked full time as an editor, a publisher’s representative and a book distributor, managing, somehow effortlessly, to write several books during this same time period. It would normally be impossible to do so much, and accommplish so much, in such a short time, but around Bhagwan the impossible seems to become possible, ordinary even. One takes for granted, almost, the miraculous. And it is the miraculous that is happening, day by day, in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, where Bhagwan is now residing. We are farming land that was heretofore unfarmable, and building a city; writing books and composing music; dealing with the mundane in a way that is both healing and holy. None of it would be happening without Bhagwan; without his presence, without his inspiration, without his guidance. Bhagwan is, without question, the most outstanding religious teacher since Buddha. His capacity to transform hundreds of thousands of people's lives is unique. People from all over the world have heard his call and been touched by him and changed by it. His words are a part of it, his teaching is a part of it, but, more than anything else, who he is is the essense of what Rajneeshism Is. We have a Buddha in our midst here, and he is turning others into Buddhas. A miracle. A gift. 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.)
