Testimonial letter from Ma Veet Asmi (British)
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 Veet Asmi (Persephone Arbour). It is "Exhibit A-729" 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 graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, London, U.K. in 1954 with an A.R.C.M. For the next fifteen years I played professional oboe for symphony orchestras, opera, chamber and solo work. Towards the end of this period I moved into the sphere of humanistic psychology and for the last thirteen years have worked as a psychotherapist in individual counselling and groupwork throughout Europe. My first contact with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was as far back as 1973 when, in my work as psychotherapist, I heard Him mentioned by colleagues as having an understanding of man, his complexities and problems, far surpassing any teachings available in any curriculum anywhere. I went to India and experienced for myself the powerful work being done in Poona with His guidance and found straightaway that my two worlds of music and psychology could meet. My work as, specifically, a music therapist grew from that experience and my work as psychotherapist was enriched beyond anything I could have hoped. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is unique and of unrivalled stature in His grasp and understanding, and through His therapists, practice of psychology. Music is an integral part of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s work - in meditation, in sitting with Him, in the group work done, in His teachings - music is the door to the heart and therefore to man’s essential being. In my work I have found music to be the most powerful tool for helping people to explore themselves internally as well as express themselves freely through movement and dance - any ideas I may have had have come directly from the way Bhagwan has spoken of and used His truly impressive understanding of the two worlds of science and music. This country should be honoured that a man of this unique depth of understanding, ability and compassion should choose to live and work here. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is an internationally recognized religious teacher, a man who is able to synthesize true education with spiritual growth. The creation of Rajneeshpuram as a spiritual centre of world renown in the short space of two years is indicative of the richness and energy that can be brought to this country, not only for spiritual seekers per se, but also for those seeking in other ways through the arts and sciences. Yours faithfully, |
(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.)
