Testimonial letter from Sw Deva Madyapa
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 Deva Madyapa (Paul Francis Bedson). It is "Exhibit A-1474" 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.
 7/17/1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I am a graduate of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. I am a Bachelor of Arts, graduating with Honours in a double-major course of Philosophy and Drama, in 1975. My deep interest in Philosophy lead me along many paths before I came across the writings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Frankly, I was amazed not only by Bhagwan’s knowledge of the full spectrum of philosophers and philosophies but also by his method of accepting everything that other philosophers have asserted, expanding their viewpoint and eventually transcending it. His knowledge and understanding are incredible, he can quote from Wittgenstein to Sartre to Sophocles, to Kierkegaard, all in one paragraph. His own philosophies are drawn from every possible tradition, never rejecting, always finding the gem of inspiration in any philosopher’s writing. I feel that Bhagwan’s philosophy often comes close to the works of Wittgenstein ..... in essence, they are saying that Truth cannot be expressed, it can only be experienced .... and the more intensely we commit ourselves to experience, to life ... then the closer we come to Truth, to God. Bhagwan transcends philosophy, not by rejecting it but by pointing out its limitations and going beyond them into the fields of humanistic psychology, the arts, poetry and religion. Even a superficial reading of any of the over 300 books which Bhagwan has given to the world, will give the reader a feeling for the breadth and depth of Bhagwan’s vision, knowledge and insight. His books have been translated into many languages and are distributed all over the world ...... in this way Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has made a profound and immensely valuable contribution to mankind. His affect on mankind should be recognized and appreciated. My wife and myself are presently residing in Rajneeshpuram and were fortunate to participate in the Second Annual World Celebration of Rajneeshpuram, attended by over 13,000 followers of Bhagwan from all over the world. This festival gave me a glimpse of Bhagwan’s influence on the world. America is a country renowned for its religious tolerance so I feel that religious discrimination should not cloud your vision in and of itself, Bhagwan’s contribution to the fields of philosophy, humanistic psychology, the arts and religion is phenomenal. Bhagwan should be encouraged to stay in this country, where he can continue his work and continue to further his cause of inspiring and uplifting humanity. He is truly a genius and should be assisted in His work. In this matter I am concerned and remain, Yours Truly, |
(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.)
