Testimonial letter from Sw Anurag Jayen

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 Anurag Jayen. It is "Exhibit A-2085" 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.

To Whom It May Concern: My name is Anurag Jayen, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is my teacher. This letter is an attempt to express my personal sentiments regarding the quality of his teaching. We call him 'Bhagwan' because we feel he emits a certain quality, a rare quality. "Bhagwan" means "The Blessed One" and it is an impersonal term. We would also refer to Jesus or Moses or Buddha as 'Bhagwan' if they were living today for they were certainly "Blessed Ones." The beauty and depth of their messages for humanity has conveyed a sense of this extraordinary quality of perception. In appreciation of this quality we call Shree Rajneesh 'Bhagwan'. I became connected spiritually with Bhagwan after he ceased giving public discourses. I was familiar with much of the available literature published, which were transcriptions of his daily discourses. For seven years he poured forth like a bubbling spring clarifying, exposing the inner beauty and truth hidden in all great religious traditions. Jesus of the west, Buddha of the east, the islamic mystics, the Hassidic Rabbis, Heraclitus and Pythagoras of Greece, came together, stood side by side in spiritual brotherhood translating a new language for today. Throughout these years of Bhagwan’s oral teaching, there was an underlying current, rhythm and continuity. For me this inner message revealed was the fact that the experience of Silence and the Remembrance of God; Emptyness and Fullness, are actually the main keys toward which each individual may encounter peace, joy and personal fulfillment. The previous religious teachers who had inspired me so often wrote or spoke of joy, peace and contentment and yet enshrouded their message within a labyrinth of religious orthodoxy and obscure symbolism. Bhagwan’s message was refined, eloquent and simple. It rang true. It permeated all the truths that I had previously garnered and held sacred for myself. One’s personal prayer is deepened in Silence The smallness of oneself is dissolved in Silence The greatness of God is exposed in Silence The beauty of life on earth is enhanced with Silence Really, who has a tongue that can tell? Bhagwan has chosen Silence to me this is the greatest Teaching Through Bhagwan many words have been spoken, they were recorded and made available for our minds’ benefit. The Blessing, the Benediction of this teaching is exemplified in his Silence It is a quality. It is very rare. It assists mankind. It is perfectly OK. Love, [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.)