Testimonial letter from Sw Anand Joost and Ma Anand Marga

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 Sw Anand Joost and Ma Anand Marga (Sir Joost Vanhecke and Mrs. Simonne Blanche). It is "Exhibit A-703" 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.

NOTE that the letter's photocopy is off-center and some words are partially missing ... Kalmthout, 18 July 83 Dear Sirs, This letter is to bring your attention to the very exceptional personality of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. We are: - Swami Anand Joost (Sir Joost Vanhecke), Eikelstraat 31, 2180 Kalmthout, Belgium Graduate from the Namur Jesuits University (Belgium) Graduate from the Louvain Catholic University (Belgium) Master in Philosophy and Lettres, specialized in roman languages University thesis on "Absence and presence in the poetry of J. Torres Bo(?) (Torres Bodet was the successor of Huxley as the UNESCO director, was a high official in the government of Mexico and ambassador in Paris. Sir J. Vanhecke was a personal friend of his.) Professor of French in the State High School of Anverp (Belgium) - Ma Anand Marga (Mrs. Simonne Blanche), same addres Graduate from the Catholic University in Louvain Master in Sciences, specialized in botanic University thesis on the T-RNA methylation Collaborated with the professor Gilles in the department of genetics in (?) We have been married since 15 years and have 4 children. We came in contact with Bhagwan’s teachings through a friend, and stayed for month in his Ashram in Poona (India). We first have to face the fact that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is mous all over the world and that almost all the newspapers and TV stations from the affluent countries have at least once talked about him. His books are translated in more and more different languages, and in Belgium a university thesi(?) been written about him in the An(?)er(?) State University at the sociology depart(?) And secondly, we have to agree with the fact that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has superior vision in the world of art and sciences, and a transcen(?) view of mankind which is for us a uge step forward in the evolution of man. T(?) means: Some people have already said that the XXI century will be metaphysic o(?) will not be (like Andre Malraux, high official in de Gaulle government in Fra(?) writer and Prix Goncourt). Teilhard de Chardin (paleontologist) in the 1950' convinced the catholic world that the biologic evolution of the planet reached the point of self-evolution. Now the time has come, where the world moved to a planetary consciousness in all dimensions and where the materal power of destruction and the psychic power of supra-human have to over come a limitation: the XXI° century will be metaphysic or will not be. It means the only physical forces will have to bec(?) conscious of their metaphysical energy to let the evolution continue or, it is the end of the planet. And this is where Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh comes in. He creates in people's minds a radical change in consciousness, particul(?) on those who think about the future of the world and who, in all fields, work to prepare the world for the 21° century. The meditation he teaches, is the means by which the invidual can trans(?) his basic physical energy into super-consciousness. The ego and its effect disappear to transform itself in universal consciousness. (Radio France organ an international meeting in Cordoue about this theory, 2 years ago. The meeti(?) reports are edited in Paris by Stock editions. The same vision has been share by e.a. Fr. Capra, Nobel price of Physics.) But Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has more over this unique element: the spiritual energy of this extraordinary man is able to create a new divine Jerusalem: Rajneeshpuram in Oregon State. There, men and women, young and old, from all over the world, irregardless of race nor class, under his spiritual guidance and nourished by his religious teaching learn how to create the new man in hi: absolute individual freedom. Dear Sirs, Please accept our respect. [signed x2]

(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.)