Testimonial letter from Ma Veet Asmi (German)
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 (Margarete Scherrmann). It is "Exhibit A-2318" 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.
 Margarete Scherrmann (Ma Veet Asmi) To whom it may concern. I was born in 1945 and after my time in school I attended a seminar for Kindergarten Teachers. From 1965 - 1969 I worked in several Children's Homes. From 1969 - 1972 I studied at a Pedagogic High School and since then I have been working as a teacher at Primary and Secondary Schools, my main subjects are German and English. Besides school work I dealt with work in Teacher's Union and Women's Liberation movement, and was organizing vocational groups for teachers. I was meeting Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh at a time when I was looking for some kind of values I hadn't experienced before. I attended a self-experience group in a Rajneesh Meditation Center in which I came in contact for the first time with Bhagwan's meditations and His sannyasins. I have been always working with children and people and therefore I was deeply touched by the love and care towards myself and other participants I experienced in this group. I realized that this work was done in the spirit of Bhagwan and that He is the source of all this energy. I started to practise Bhagwan's meditations, to read His books, and to hear His discourses. I participated in several groups for inner growth in Rajneesh Meditation Centers. So it was not only theoretically I got into Bhagwan’s teachings, but experienced them by the change of attitude towards myself. It was a change from inside not by changing circumstances as it was before. Bhagwan’s discourses often deal with education and children. His attitude is based on love and trust, the base of humanity. His opinions are really exceptional in this field. During my stay in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, I experienced how much His presence leads people towards love and trust and enables them to live their lives totally and intensely. The work with children here on the Ranch is without pressure or forcing them. The children are part of the commune and are fully responsible for the kind of work they do. That impressed me deeply, because pressure is the basic attitude in normal school life. This city created by His energy and love is an important example for how people can live together in peace and joy and be effective in their work, as it can bo seen here. This desert is going to be changed into a flowering farm and city. Even when I return to my country His energy and love will be with me and I am very glad that this commune in His presence in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, exists. Margarete Scherrmann |
(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.)
