Testimonial letter from Ma Suresha
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 Suresha. It is "Exhibit A-1919" 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.
 P.O. Box 10 To whom it may concern: I have worked with people for over 13 years as a performing artist and martial artist, participating in numerous classes, working competitively and successfully in both fields, as well as teaching classes and workshops for students of varied ages and backgrounds. In addition, I have trained and worked professionally as a school psychologist, shiatsu and breath therapist serving school systems, health clubs and meditation centers, while also working privately. These experiences have afforded me with a broad, well-rounded perspective in working with people who are interested in growing, or healing, and expanding their lives, whether it be on a personal level, familial, or career-related. For the last five years I have been a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and deeply involved in the meditation, worship and growth programs offered under his guidance. After being given the opportunity while in his commune to return to my former roles as a therapist, martial artist, actress and singer, I am now able to easily recognize the differences in doing the same type of work with the guidance and teachings of Bhagwan, and without; and the differences can be spoken for both from a personal standpoint as well as that of a professional watching the effects on the people I work with. On a general level, I must state that there is no doubt in my heart or mind that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is an outstanding and profoundly effective religious teacher. His guidance continues to improve and uplift the quality of my personal life and of my work. It has also been very evident through observing the people that I work with in whatever capacity that Bhagwan’s influence creates a remarkable difference - a difference that brings higher productivity with better mental, emotional and physical health when narrow-minded, closed hearts and competitive attitudes are replaced with openness, love, awareness and humor. This is in no way intended to describe or outline Bhagwan’s message or give the numerous details of its positive effects, but to give a general idea of the impact that I have felt in my own life and seen in the lives of hundreds of people I’ve worked with in recent years. It feels like this is merely a budding sprout of the potential of his teachings and it would literally be a crime to in any way prevent or inhibit them from being available to anyone in America. 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.)
