Testimonial letter from Ma Satyam Theresa

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 Satyam Theresa (Theresia Brechmann-Auer). It is "Exhibit A-1795" in the Noles collection.

The original letter was handwritten in German, a text transcription has not yet been created. A text version of its translation 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.

The image in the text box links to a pdf file with the original letter, the translation, and a notary statement attesting to the validity of the translation. It has 4 pages.

translation Rajneeshstadt Schloss Wolfsbrunnen 3446 Meinhard Schwebda WEST GERMANY July 23, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I was born in Austria in 1950. My professional life, first as a secretary, then as a hotel and catering manageress for six years, was successful but lacking a spiritual or religious sense. I first came in contact with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in 1979/80 during a group therapy. The therapist, Dr. Bernhard Mikir, a practising catholic, worked with therapeutic and meditation techniques developed by Bhagwan. I became interested in his writings, which helped me deal with myself and the world better. In 1980 I spent three weeks in a Rajneesh Ashram and was so impressed that I gave up my job as Assistant Manageress at Peter Daimler Catering Centers to join the community. I became a disciple of Bhagwan and I now live in Germany’s largest neo-sannyas commune, "Rajneeshstadt". Bhagwan has had a positive practical influence on my work there, taking care of the children and managing the kitchen. I saw Bhagwan for the first time at the 1982 Festival in Oregon. It is very important to have the chance to see my master once a year, and to go back to Germany full of love, joy and openness, which we can pass on to the many visitors to our castle ashram. Bhagwan has helped innumerable people bring a meaning to their lives and to become positive members of this society. He is of such exceptional value, that any country should feel proud to welcome him. With kind regards, . . . . . . . . Ma Satyam Theresia (Theresia Brechmann-Auer)

(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.)