Testimonial letter from Margareta Skog

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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 Margareta Skog. It is "Exhibit A-77" 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.

Fil mag Margareta Skog
Erkenskroken [xx]
S-121 66 Johanneshov
Sweden
Stockholm 83-07-21

To whome it may concern

Since 1976 I am working as an assistant at the Stockholm Institute of the Sociology of Religion. In our research we deal with matters of religion which have to do with today"s man. A field which has created a great interest among sociologists of religion are the New Religious Movements and they have been subject of many studies as well in the USA as in Sweden.

During the years I have been working at the Institute I have been following these movements with particular interest (see "Kyrksamheten i Stor-Stockholm den 13 och 14 november 1982”, Smarre Meddelanden 1983:1, Religionssociologiska Institutet, Stockholm).

It is through this interest - or studies - that I have learnt to know about the work of Bhagwan, from the years in Poona and lately in Oregon. I have then been impressed particularly of the way he is making a synthesis of religion and different therapeutic teenies and methods helping today"s man to find himself and God. (I am planning a study tour to the USA at Christmas and I will then visit him in Oregon to be able to study him "in situ").

I find it correct to say that Bhagwan is a person of exceptional ability. I furthermore find his work an enrichment to Western culture and religion.

[signed]
Margareta Skog


(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.)