Testimonial letter from Silvia Cazoll
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 Silvia Cazoll. It is "Exhibit A-134" 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 My legal name is Silvia Cazoll and I am an Industrial Engineer, having obtained my degree at the National University of Buenos Aires, Argentina at the age of 22 with high honors. For the first four years after graduation, I specilized in clothing technology, working in the area of product engineering at the Lee Inc., Company the jeans factory. At the same time, I was also an assistant on the Faculty of Engineering, in the Material Investigation Department. My entire resume may be found in Who's Who, South American edition 1982. All these years, my life had been fundamentally divided in two senses: the search for the true religion on the one hand, of the inner spiritual path; and the unfoldment of my professional life on the other. These two aspects, religion and profession, were always counterposed in me, causing me much anguish and pain. In 1980 I decided to further my study of clothing technology and traveled to Milan, Italy, to take a course at the famous Instituto Secoli. Through persons with whom I came into contact at this school I found myself, almost casually at the Rajneesh Meditation Center in Milan, Vivek. In July of 1980 I came to know Bhagwan at Vivek. I began doing Kundalini meditation each day and to read his books. Without looking for him, I had found my Master. A living, enlightened master, at the head of his own religion, who united my pieces. Meditation as an inner path and work for love and as a meditation, with the best of results. Thousands of theories on productivity and efficiency, all useless, all created by neuroses, hate and non-understanding. of workers, of professionals, all were crumbling beneath my feet. Work could be converted into the most natural of meditations for the human, helping him to grow and interact with nature creatively. And this, exactly, is the true religion. This exceptional Master, unique, combines the best experiences of East and West, of the inside and the outside, of action and inaction, for all who desire these truths. I traveled in August of 1980 to Poona, to meet him and to take sannyas. It was incredible for me to experience the functioning of the Ashram in India, surrounded by the worst of conditions, flowering a clean place, super-organized, where everything flowed, the people were truly happy. For the first time in my life I saw people who were truly happy solely because they were working together in a commune, near their Master. I returned to Milan to finish my course. The energy of Bhagwan, the love, the work and the organization were all present at Vivek and in all the European centers I came to know. I collaborated at Vivek for a few months in designing some clothes and I began enjoying totally, for the first time, what I was doing. The religious woman and the engineer could be the same person. In 1981 I returned to Buenos Aires and formed a small work group which later became a small market research company, working as Bhagwan taught us. Our creativity and efficiency became famous in the market quite quickly. Little by little, all the professionals took sannyas. We had much fun and made much money and we were the best - all solely because of the teachings of Bhagwan was this possible. Very soon, Bhagwan arrived in Buenos Aires through his books and diaries and we ourselves opened a center. Bhagwan is the only living Master who personally leads His own religion, forming it and maintaining it Himself. It is marvelous that our humanity at this moment can count on a person of this spiritual dimension contributing to the advancement of thousands of years of civilization's teachings -teachings which, without a Master, would have been lost or misinterpreted. His presence in the world changes the total energy and makes possible the development of positivity, love and true religion. Oregon at this moment has the fortune of having the presence of Bhagwan and a group of sannyasins. Entering Rancho Rajneesh is like entering another energy dimension. The amount of work and the exellent results in only two years can only be explained by the presence of Bhagwan. Never in my work did I see such constant love, efficiency, productivity and fun all together. A tour of the Ranch gives the opportunity to view a unique phenomenon - of technological growth combined with total respect for nature. I am happy and proud of being a sannyasin and having this marvelous Master and invite all who can to come near this paradise and to see what can occur with Bhagwan, with His love. [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.)
