Testimonial letter from Maurice R. Stein
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 Maurice R. Stein. It is "Exhibit A-120" 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 5 pages.
 Brandeis University Rajneesh Hotel To Whom It May Concern: I have been asked to comment upon Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s qualifications as a teacher of religious thought. I am enclosing a copy of my curriculum vita. My interest in Bhagwan's writings started eight years ago and has continued to this day. I have listened to his audio tapes and have seen some video tapes. I have never become a disciple nor have I visited his ashram but I feel that contact with his books and tapes is adequate to justify an informed judgment. My relevant fields of interest are sociology of religion, social psychiatry and community sociology. I have taught and published in these fields for over thirty years. In my opinion, Bhagwan has provided a brilliant and original set of materials for work in all three. His commentaries on the classic texts of the world religions are in a class by themselves as regards showing the contemporary relevance of these ancient writings. His work with his disciples as reported in the darshan diaries shows a degree of psychological insight that would make any Western psychologist feel proud. The meditations that he has devised combine catharsis with meditation in such a way as to open both the heart and the mind. The community that he had in Poona which I have explored through interviews and books appears to have been an exceptional place with genuine educative, psychological and spiritual healing powers. His plan to develop a model community in Antelope deserves to be supported. However, if it is to be true to his precepts, it must develop in harmony with its neighbors. In sum, I consider Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to be a uniquely brilliant spiritual teacher. It is a privilege to have him in America. I have used his books in courses for several years and my students have profited greatly from them. It is regrettably that he has become controversial but this country need not hesitate to accomodate controversy especially with regard to someone whose intellectual and spiritual gifts are of such magnitude. Respectfully |
(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.)
