Testimonial letter from Sun Bear
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 Sun Bear. It is "Exhibit A-93" 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.
 BearTribe August 2, 1983 To Whom it May Concern: I am the Medicine Chief of the Bear Tribe Medicine Society, a group of Native and non-Native people, working and sharing together. As a spiritual leader and teacher, I have travelled extensively, both at home and abroad, lecturing and teaching on Native American philosophy, spiritual truths, and earth awareness. I am the author of a number of books, and founder of MANY SMOKES MAGAZINE, the oldest Native American magazine now in publication, founded in 1961. My own autobiography will be published this fall. I first became aware of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during my travels several-years ago, and have since followed the growth of his following with some interest. Although I have never met him personally, many of his followers have attended my lectures and workshops, both here in the United States and in Europe. I have found them to have inquiring minds and to be extremely open to new ideas. From what I have seen, I do not feel that Rajneesh attempts to lock his followers to his teachings, only, but rather encourages them to look and study in many directions. It seems to me it would be a tremendous religious discrimination to deprive his people of his leadership and presence here, by denying his visa. I believe each spiritual teacher has his own knowledge and his own gift to bring to the world. The United States of America was founded on principles that included religious freedoms for all peoples. During this time, when our country has been quick to criticize other governments, notably Russia and Iran, for their oppressive stands on human rights issues, it seems vitally important that we, as a country, allow all of our people this continued freedom to study and practice whatever religious teachings they wish. It is my personal sense, as well as the teaching of my native tradition, that each man has his own vision, and that should be respected. As we say, we never judge another person unless we have walked in his moccasins. I believe Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to be an exceptional leader and teacher in his own right, not only for those who regard themselves as his followers, but also in helping others to overcome prejudices. Certainly, Eastern religions have as much place here as do the Catholic and Protestant teachings from Europe, and our own Native traditions. I believe that Rajneesh should be allowed to continue to live in the United States, if he wishes, and pray that the immigration officials involved will come to this compassionate and proper decision. In the final analysis, I see this as an excellent opportunity for the United States Government, by allowing Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s continued presence here, to show the world that we do, indeed, offer true religious freedom to all those who enter here. Yours 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.)
