Testimonial letter from Sw Chitta Nirodha (American)
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 Chitta Nirodha. It is "Exhibit A-1860" 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.
 P.O. Box 10 To Whom It May Concern: I’m writting this letter in support of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s petition to be granted permanent residency in America for his exceptional ability in the Arts and Sciences. Before becoming a sannyasin, during the 1982 World Celebration on the ranch, I was a custom furniture builder in Colorado. My educational background consists of two and a half years study of French Literature in Strasburg and Clermont Ferrand, France. In 1978 I received a B.A. in French and German Literature from the University of Arizona. While in France, I was given one of Bhagwan’s books. I was a sceptic! You know... "what? A Guru?" But I never found the expected esoteric raps. The guy was clear and the content related to me at that moment. Since then I’ve grown more in love with Bhagwan from reading, watching videos, and listening to his discourses on tape. I never went to India. I came back to America. What a beautiful surprise that it worked out that he landed in Oregon! I arrived last summer here at the ranch and became a sannyasin. Bhagwan is so much of what I was looking for in the universities, or on the workbench. He pulls on centuries of arts and sciences, being clear on their value for us today. He is very strongly in support of the achievements of our societies. Where so much of the "spiritual world" condemns all that is modem as an evil. Bhagwan is here to show the balance of mind and spirit, they are both there. When I arrived here a year ago and met Bhagwan and saw the environment his inspiration is creating here...our ranch is becoming a garded tended with so much LOVE! Why?... because he doesn’t tell us what to do. The guidelines are more along the lines of "Live, love, Laugh", and everything else just seems to follow, and with such enthusiasm. I've never loved life so much! Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is an asset to this country. A man with such incredible abilities, who has sparked so much life in so many, should not be turned away in AMERICA.... of all places! Love, |
(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.)
