Testimonial letter from Mary Ruth
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 Mary Ruth. It is "Exhibit A-202" 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.
 July 19, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: RE: BHAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH—Exceptional ability in arts and international renown Speaking as one with a few modest accomplishments in scholarship and teaching — Winner of best student award, English Department, Cerritos College (1969); Holder of master’s degree in language arts and literature, California State University, Fullerton (1972); Member of two honorary scholarship societies: Alpha Gamma Sigma, Cerritos (1969) and Phi Kappa Phi, CSUF (1971); Holder of two lifetime California Community College Teaching Credentials: Language Arts and Literature (1972) and Business Education (1983)*; Professor of English and Literature, Cerritos College (1972—1978); Magazine editor/ publisher, Laguna Beach Beacon (1979); Professor of Business Education, Orange Coast College (1983) — I wish to express my opinion that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has exceptional ability in the arts of oratory, communication, publishing and teaching, among so many other exceptional abilities, and is of international renown. Amazingly articulate and prolific, he is the author of over 1500 audiotapes made of his morning and evening talks from 1974 until mid-1981. More than 300 books have been transcribed from these tapes, a sizeable selection of which are bestsellers, and 175 have been translated into 17 languages. And although Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh entered silence in May, 1981, the Rajneesh Foundation International is still one of the world’s largest publishers devoted to a single author; fifty additional volumes are presently being translated into languages for worldwide distribution. Clear, knowledgeable and eclectic, he is a delicious fountain springing from the river of Eastern and Western religious thought. He speaks of Aristotle, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tsu, Kabir, Krishna, the Sufi masters, the Baul Mystics. He elaborates and elucidates sutras, koans, Sufi tales, Bible stories, Talmud law and, yes, contemporary jokes. Through education and entertainment, he reveals the thread of truth that runs through Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, Christianity, Taoism, Judaism and other world religions. Standing in front of a classroom has never been easy for me. I’ve found it difficult to deal with the students’ varying values and beliefs, difficult to cope with cynicism and religious radicalism. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's teachings have helped me immensely in this regard. They serve me as a solid foundation from which I can face a classroom with confidence. 1 consider Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh the ultimate Teacher of Teachers, a truly exceptional human being. [signed] |
(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.)
