Testimonial letter from Sw Ananda Siddhartha
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 Ananda Siddhartha. It is "Exhibit A-113" 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 one page.
 RAJNEESHSTADT AFFIDAVIT September 18, 1983 I, Swami Ananda Siddhartha, being duly sworn to depose and say as follows: I am an Acharya of Rajneeshism and was appointed July 11, 1983. I was initiated into Neo-Sannyas by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in 1973. In 1974 I founded Purvodaya Meditation Center in Bavaria, Germany, which was the first Rajneesh Meditation Center outside India at that time. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh gave the name and His blessings for this center. I visited Shree Rajneesh Ashram in Poona, India, regularly from 1973 onwards and usually stayed for three months every year. For me, being in Bhagwan's presence during those visits, a new understanding of myself started to develop inside. Through listening regularly to His discourses, I received exceptional spiritual guidance, which enabled me in return to guide spiritual seekers who would come to Purvodaya for meditation and inner growth programs. Bhagwan also gave guidance concerning the coordination of Purvodaya Meditation Center. In His loving and compassionate way He referred to the importance of human beings working together with mutual love and respect, thus creating an environment where human consciousness could rise. Purvodaya, dedicated to spreading Bhagwan's teaching and love, became one of the largest centers for spiritual growth in Germany. Being in Bhagwan's presence during the religious celebrations in Oregon in July 1982 and 1983, I felt His blessings showering on all of us. The silence He is sharing with us in Satsang and Darshan has a tremendous impact on the spiritual growth of His Sannyasins. I have had experiences with many other teachers of all walks of life as well as spiritual teachers, but Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh surpasses them all in total love and compassion, thus teaching and awakening His disciples to the light and true religiousness which is potentially inside of them. He is a truly exceptional religious leader and teacher, and I am tremendously grateful to have met Him. 1 am utterly convinced that the USA will gain much by inviting Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to make His home among their people. The USA will surely benefit as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh continues to share His presence. [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.)
