Testimonial letter from Sw Anand Santosh
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 Santosh. It is "Exhibit A-105" 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 3 pages.
 AFFIDAVIT I, Swami Anand Santosh, being duly sworn, do depose and say as follows: 1. I am a Siddha of Rajneeshism- I was appointed on March 2, 1983. 2. From my early youth I spent most of my life searching for a path to truth. This led me to explore many spiritual traditions and the field of psychology in which I received a B.A. and M.A. My academic qualifications and subsequent professional activities in the field of mass communication led to recognition in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities and Who's Who In the West. It was in 1975, while practicing as a psychotherapist, that I first heard of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I went immediately to Poona, India, to meet Him. With that first meeting, I experienced a profound sense of knowing that I was in the presence of one who truly knew the divine; that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was an Enlightened Living Master. He accepted me as a disciple in December 1975. 3. For most of the following six years, I lived at the Shree Rajneesh Ashram in Poona. I was fortunate to receive training, with Bhagwan’s guidance, in meditation, religion and utilization of therapy as a spiritual growth technique. I observed Bhagwan consistently demonstrate His ability to clarify, with penetrating insight, complex personal and inter-personal problems. With tremendous caring and love, He helped us to find new ways of living which were realistic, relevant and, best of all, worked. 4. Every morning I sat with Bhagwan for 2 hours while he shared His experiences of truth in daily discourses. His artistry, intelligence and depth of understanding when speaking of past spiritual masters, religion and psychology, brought alive for me a whole world which I had hardly glimpsed before. Through His discourses and the books created from His discourses, I learned more of life and how to be a helping psychological and educational professional than I did through any other source. 5. In 1978 I was appointed Dean of Rajneesh International Meditation University. Bhagwan provided me with guidance during many evening Darshans through in-depth discussions of the nature of real education. His amazing ability to put aside extraneous matters and focus on the heart of an issue was, for me, a tremendous benefit and a joyous experience. 6. I am presently Director of the Rajneesh Institute for Dehypnotherapy. The Institute provides spiritual guidance and counseling to individuals and groups, and also to the aged, the terminally ill, and those concerned with death and the experience of dying. What is so beautiful and unique about the Institute’s programs is that they incorporate the practical embodiment of Bhagwan's life-affirmative vision to integrate the mystery of death with the wonder of life. I have experienced deep transformation myself as a result of being with Bhagwan. Due to acceptance of Bhagwan's life-affirmative teachings, I was cured of polysystic kidneys, a terminal illness. In my experience, the participants in the Institute develop psychological health and spiritual maturity. My professional opinion as a Siddha and psychologist is that this is directly attributable to the inspiration of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and His remarkable ability to commune with each individual on a spiritual, essential basis, which transcends normal barriers. The pioneering work of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, seen most clearly in the community here at Rajneeshpuram, will benefit the welfare of all Americans and serve as a model for peoples and governments around the world. 7. During the past year, Bhagwan has continued to provide me with guidance through His Personal Secretary. He has offered advice on past life experiences and birth and death-related issues which have arisen in the meditation and therapy groups. I find His insight into these little-known issues truly remarkable. I have experienced deep transformation myself as a result of being with Bhagwan. Bhagwan has provided me with a glimpse of truth and has greatly expanded my potential to help myself and others. The foregoing is within my personal knowledge and if called as a witness, I could testify competently thereto. [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.)
