Testimonial letter from Sw Anand Niketana
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 Niketana (Hubertus Gerardus Gertrudis Beckers). It is "Exhibit A-103" 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.
 AFFADAVIT I, Acharya Swami Anand. Niketana, a.k.a. Hubertus G.G.Beckers, being duly sworn, so depose and say as follows: 1. I am a Minister of the Religion of Rajneeshism and have been ordained on September 15th, 1982. 2. I have been involved in the Religion of Rajneeshism, since I became a disciple or sannyasin over seven years ago. After several years of studies into Sufism, Buddhism and the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, I came in contact with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and realised that He was what I had been looking for, the Teacher of the Age and my Master. I was initiated into the Religion by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in Poona, India. 3. Since my initiation I have studied books and teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and attended his discourses in Poona every morning for approximately two years. I have also practiced meditation deeply for five years using Rajneesh Dynamic meditation (TM) and Rajneesh Neo-Vipassana techniques. 4. I have since performed initiation ceremonies, marriages and ceremonies for the dead in Holland at Rajneesh Meditation Centers and Rajneesh Neo Sannyas Communes. I presided over a great number of celebrations at various Rajneesh Meditation Centers throughout Holland, in particular during the annual Stad Rajneesh Festival at de Stad Rajneesh Neo Sannyas Commune in Heerde, which was attended by over 3500 visitors last May. 5. From the years of studying the religious teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and from my own personal observation and awareness developed through years of meditation, I consider Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh as the greatest religious guiding force in the world today. In a critical situation as the one we are faced with on this planet, where the atmosphere of international relations is deteriorating progressively and politicians seem to lack vision and clarity in order to bring about fundamental changes in man’s relation to his fellow man as well as his environment, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh isfor me the living monument of wisdom and compassion, capable of bringing a sense of wholeness and positivity to humanity. 6. I visited Rajneeshpuram from July 1 to July 11 of this year during the Second Annual World Celebration and just as in the previous year during the first Celebration, I observed Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in the course of his religious work, blessing all of 15.000 visitors and disciples individually during his daily drive through the ranch as well as performing religious duties at both the First and the Second Annual World Celebration during the daily Satsang - silent meeting between Master and disciples - and Darshan - singing and dancing celebration on July 6 -where he sat in silence with 5000 and 15000 disciples respectively, enjoining them silently to raise their spiritual awareness through the transference of his spiritual energy and love. 7. It is my conviction that no other man exists in the world today who can compare with the exceptional nature of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s religious teaching and spiritual leadership in motivating and raising the spiritual awareness and consciousness of over three hundred thousand sannyasins throughout the world, and in trying to awaken them to the experience of Enlightenment. The force of love and creativity which flows from the energyfields which he has created around the globe in his communes is to my mind the most significant religious development in the world to date. I feel deeply obliged to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh for making his vision of the new man available to me. [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.)
