Testimonial letter from Sabine Hindelang

From The Sannyas Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

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 Sabine Hindelang. It is "Exhibit A-49" 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.

Dr. Sabine Hindelang
Marientalstr. 28
44oo Münster
West-Germany
Münster 7/2o/1983

To whom it may concern

I studied history, German language and philosophy at the University of Münster. After my first examination in 1979 I have been employed at the Evangelical Theological Seminary at the University of Münster working in research projects on the history of Lutheranism. In 1983 I received my PhD in history. The main fields of my research are the role of conservatism in the 19th century and the beginnings of the Lutheran Church in America (Henry Melchior Muhlenberg).

It was four years ago, that I first heard of Bhagwan Shree Raj-neesh. I read some of his books and started to experiment with the meditation techniques developed by him. I felt that his words touched me so deeply that I wanted to see that man. I travelled to Poona in 1979. Since that time Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is my spiritual master. The personal presence of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the meditations and group programs have changed my life and made it richer in many ways.

For me Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is an outstanding figure whose approach to life influences many people all over the world. Although he has now stopped giving public discourses his work goes on. His mere presence can have a strong impact on everyone. His influence can not only be seen in the lifes of his Sannyasins, it also has effects upon people who are not his disciples. This became very clear to me just a few days ago when I went to a lecture on neo-religions given by a professor of catholic theology. Many of the students of catholic theology who participated in the discussion, reported that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had become an inspiration in their religious life and they expressed their respect for the creative impulses coming from the neo-sannyas-movement.

Tome it seems undoubtable that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has a great attraction for people; this is especially true for people working in the fields of humanities, art, psychology, and education. He is able to create an atmosphere in which a new creative potential can flower.

[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.)