Testimonial letter from Maryan Beams
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 Maryan Beams. It is "Exhibit A-1080" 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.
 c/o Story To whom it may concern. From 1974 to 1977, whilst in my early fifties, I studied sociology at the Flinders University of South Australia under Professor Ivan Szelenyi, my friend and tutor, who subsequently became a professor of sociology at Madison, Wisconsin. My Honours thesis, on the Sociology of Childbirth, earned me a first-class Honours degree, and also a University Medal. Some of it was published in the periodical, Women's Studies International, and the thesis itself was used (and, indeed, still is being used) by doctors, midwives, members of consumer groups and others concerned with the practices of childbirth in Australia. Shortly after completing my thesis, I met Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh at the Ashram in Poona, India, and after a while became a sannyasin. As well as the changes that this meeting has made to my inner life, it has also affected my understanding of the world as a sociologist. It is as though things that 1 previously only perceived dimly have become illuminated - half-understood patterns have become clearer, discrepancies have fallen into place. The city of Rajneeshpuram, where I am fortunate enough to be visiting for a short while, is, inter alia, a unique sociological venture, and Bhagwan is the core, the inspiration, the heart of all that is happening here. I suspect that in a few years’ time we will all, with hindsight, recognise the beauty and creativity of Bhagwan's work here. For the present, we can only hope that what is happening can continue to flourish. [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.)
