Testimonial letter from Rosemary Hamilton
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 Rosemary Hamilton. It is "Exhibit A-148" 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.
 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh came to my attention in 1974. I read The Silent Explosion in one night and booked a ticket for India the next day. At that time I was acting as Director of Social Research for the United Way in Vancouver British Columbia. My career had spanned a quarter of a century of practice as caseworker and supervisor, from remote areas in B.C. to the American Red Cross and the Boys and Girls Aid of Portland, Oregon. Two published papers ‘Diary of a Rural Social Worker’ and ’Let’s Put the Social Back In Social Work’ were adopted as teaching material by the University of B.C. I headed a research team which searched out the root causes of social problems, hoping to propose viable remedies. I reported the findings on TV and radio, and was appointed by special order-in-council of the Canadian government to serve on their billion dollar housing corporation. But answers there came none: the sense of futility deepened. I came to know that social reform too is powerless. The causes of these myriad social ills are rooted deep in the human psyche. Into this bleak scene the insight of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh penetrated like a shaft of light. His perception of the human situation is clear and simple. The individual psyche is the only reality; There is no better psychologist than this Mystic. In 1974 a commune started around him in India in which individuals through meditation could come to know themselves, to grow, and at the same time create an environment of openness and sharing. How effective is this experiment of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, how exceptional is His ability to communicate His vision to others and help them make it a reality, can be seen by anyone visiting Rajneeshpuram Oregon. A team of reporters from the Statesman Journal last month wrote: ”It has been almost two years since disciples of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh put their money down on a gamble they could turn the 100 square mile dusty remains of the former Big Muddy Ranch into a spiritual and social Shangri-la. The fruits of the free labour of roughly 1000 redclad sannyasins - men, women and children who are devoted to the 51 year old Indian guru - are impressive, if not startling". All visitors are impressed by the open affection, humour and the delight in hard work of those in the Rajneesh commune - including the children. An unwanted child is simply not possible here; the idea of a battered baby is ludicrous. Hundreds of adult friends support parents and children in times of trouble. And the drug scene is noted for its absence. ’Shangri-la’ is not the right word to describe this community; the word suggests something dream-like, lost-in-the-clouds. Rajneeshpuram is down to earth, here, now, in Central Oregon, living proof that men women and children can live together richly and joyously. [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.)
